We All Suffer Wall Disease Now
Artist-Activists Russ McSpadden, Virgina Maria Romero, Kate Scott, and Sarah Towle discuss how walls make us sick and the power of creativity and the grassroots to tear them all down
Introducing two new must-read books poised to bring a potent, first-hand view of the walling-off of the US Southwest borderlands to audiences everywhere, and how to confront Wall Disease, which isn’t just a Cold War Berlin affliction anymore. open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
09.02.2026 16:20
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Thank you, Will Stancil! Your courage is contagious!
04.02.2026 11:35
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Can There Be Human Rights in a Security-Obsessed World?
In this tribute to Amnesty International, Ute Ritz-Deutch and I discuss the post-9/11 human rights record of the US immigration deterrence-to-detention-to-deportation Border Industrial Complex.
Can There Be Human Rights in a Security-Obsessed World?
77 years ago, the UDHR proclaimed all humans “born free and equal in dignity and rights,” without distinction of any kind. But human rights and dignity are not being respected in the US under ICE. Pls share:
open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
12.12.2025 16:25
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The Judges are performing their constitutional duty & following the law. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same thing about the Justice Department in this regard.
08.12.2025 18:10
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"Just like family separation, I think we're starting to see people take to the street in really vocal opposition in a way President Trump has shown before that he will ultimately back down" -- interesting report from Jacob Soboroff on how Charlotte is organizing against ICE
19.11.2025 15:32
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We got here because Democrats thought campaigning with a Cheney would be more effective that standing up for the Human Rights and the Constitution. Grow some balls, Dems!
30.10.2025 15:51
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"Man goes scorched earth on ICE agents kidnapping people in his hometown."
Source:
old.reddit.com/r/PublicFrea...
22.10.2025 04:21
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Central PA Champions of Refugees to Receive 2025 Peace & Justice Awards
Phuong Truong, Executive Director of the International Service Center, to be honored; Sarah Towle, author of Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands to offer the Keynote Address
Central PA Champions of Refugees to Receive 2025 Peace & Justice Awards, and I have the honor of offering the Keynote Address! Oct 21 in Harrisburg, PA.
Meet me there, or in Burlington, VT, Oct 17; Amherst, MA, Oct 18; or New Paltz, NY, Oct 19. More dates to come!
open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
17.10.2025 12:34
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Indeed you do. And you're leading the rat pack.
24.09.2025 12:07
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Webinar & Breaking News: The Ecological Impacts of the Boondoggle Border Wall On People, Animals, and the Environment, With Borderlands Conservationists Erick Meza and Russ McSpadden
Sunday, September 28, 2025, 2:30-4:00 ET (11:30-1:00 PT) pm, via Zoom
Webinar & Breaking News: The Ecological Impacts of the Boondoggle Border Wall On People, Animals, the Environment, with Borderlands Conservationists @erickmeza7.bsky.social and Russ McSpadden, Sunday, September 28, 2:30-4:00 pm ET. Registration link in post below.
open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
24.09.2025 12:06
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Global Apartheid & The New Jim Code
NOT TO BE MISSED! Critical chat on the Border Industrial Complex: who it benefits, what it destroys, and how we can all Resist and Reclaim human rights and the rule of law.
Don’t miss this 30,000-foot deep dive into the global leviathan that is the Border Industrial Complex - who it benefits, what it destroys, and how we can Resist its impunity - with @petramolnar.com Todd Miller of @theborderchronicle.bsky.social and Dora Rodriguez
open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
05.09.2025 17:45
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In the former official’s opinion, it was more likely that the vessel was carrying migrants on a human smuggling run. It would be impossible to know for sure, however, given that any evidence of drug smuggling was destroyed in the attack.
You know that boat the administration blew up? A former law enforcement official told the NYT the boat seemed to be carrying not drugs but *’migrants *
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...
04.09.2025 00:32
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This is right. We don't have the language to describe what we're seeing right before our eyes. That contributes to the disorienting effect it's all having, which I think people like Stephen Miller, who expressly uses the language of fascism as a weapon, understand perfectly well.
27.08.2025 12:28
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Liberals Cannot Stop Authoritarianism by Compromising With It
They should heed Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza's warning at LibCon2025 to not fall for the false narratives that authoritarians use to consolidate power
The first part of this long post by @radleybalko.bsky.social provides an excellent account of LibCon2025 and is an important reminder not to cede leadership of the struggle for liberal democracy to reactionary centrists (however well-funded they are).
29.08.2025 12:56
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Trump Administration Live Updates: President Revokes Kamala Harris’s Secret Service Protection
There is no possible legitimate reason to do this. It’s what despots do. It’s petty. It’s dangerous. It’s unAmerican. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
29.08.2025 12:57
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Practicing Humanity: Welcoming the Immigrant
A. Mauricio Matiz reflects on the gifts gained from aiding others during his year at the now shuttered St. Francis of Assisi Church Migrant Center in New York City
In a world beset by rising fascism, where US democracy is under attack by those who seek to control us through division, paranoia, hate, and fear of “the other,” Mauricio Matiz’s experience reminds us that a nation without empathy can never be great.
open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
29.08.2025 13:05
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"It is a stunt sending tanks into D.C. ...But stunts can be super serious and terrible and terrorizing," says @monicapotts.bsky.social.
20.08.2025 11:30
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ICE Invaded Their Community. Their Grassroots Response Is a Model for Strategies of Resistance From Sea to Shining Sea
Tips and tools to prepare you and yours when ICE & CBP roll into your town...
When the raids are over and companies have been reimbursed, parents are gone. Children cry themselves to sleep at night, traumatized for life, not knowing if they will ever see their loved ones again.
The real costs of our tragic immigration policies are human.
open.substack.com/pub/sarahtow...
08.08.2025 12:08
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Webinar Announcement: On Global Apartheid, "Smart" Walls, and the Border Industrial Complex — with Petra Molnar and Todd Miller
Sunday, August 3, 2025, 1:00-2:30 pm ET,* for the HOPE KNOWS NO BORDERS BOOK CLUB & WEBINAR SERIES. Description and registration link below:
From machines reading our passports, faces, eyes? From travel to an eye scan being your ticket to food. No, this is not my next novel. It's the Border Industrial Complex.
Join me @petramolnar.com, Todd Miller @theborderchronicle.bsky.social, Dora Rodriguez, Aug 3. Until we know, we cannot resist.
28.07.2025 10:59
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