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A review by savaging
Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration, and Homeland Security by Todd Miller
5.0
An extraordinary and bone-chilling book. I was reluctant to read another book about climate change because I already know how this story goes: we're making the earth unliveable and those in power are just ignoring and denying reality, right?
Not so, reveals Miller: those in power are proactively preparing for climate change, with massive investments and detailed plans. But the crisis they're readying to confront isn't environmental destruction. No: it's the people affected by it -- the masses who lose their homes and their land and maybe become ungovernable, maybe look for a home elsewhere, maybe demand a redistribution of what resources remain. Instead of trying to sustain the earth's life systems for all, states are preparing to sustain the system of capitalism and the power of those who rule.
Miller reveals that every agency with guns, guards, and gates is preparing to combat climate refugees. They talk about it in their public memos. They are supported by the same old war profiteers with new, all-encompassing technologies.
It's a rough book to read, but there are some things I really love about it. Miller shows that we can't think of migration and climate change as two separate issues, because the State doesn't. We must fight border militarization while demanding environmental care, or else it's a fascist hellscape for us all.
The book also makes a powerful argument that we're in this together. The border isn't a place, it's a politics. With current technologies, any region that experiences environmental crisis, even well inside national boundaries, can become blocked off and contained. Any state can refuse entrance to "internally displaced people." Those who live near the border already know that border militarization technologies are used against US citizens -- Miller shows that these weapons can be turned against anyone, at any time.
I wouldn't say this is a hopeful book, but it does have a clear-eyed analysis that feels helpful for navigating the road ahead.
Not so, reveals Miller: those in power are proactively preparing for climate change, with massive investments and detailed plans. But the crisis they're readying to confront isn't environmental destruction. No: it's the people affected by it -- the masses who lose their homes and their land and maybe become ungovernable, maybe look for a home elsewhere, maybe demand a redistribution of what resources remain. Instead of trying to sustain the earth's life systems for all, states are preparing to sustain the system of capitalism and the power of those who rule.
Miller reveals that every agency with guns, guards, and gates is preparing to combat climate refugees. They talk about it in their public memos. They are supported by the same old war profiteers with new, all-encompassing technologies.
It's a rough book to read, but there are some things I really love about it. Miller shows that we can't think of migration and climate change as two separate issues, because the State doesn't. We must fight border militarization while demanding environmental care, or else it's a fascist hellscape for us all.
The book also makes a powerful argument that we're in this together. The border isn't a place, it's a politics. With current technologies, any region that experiences environmental crisis, even well inside national boundaries, can become blocked off and contained. Any state can refuse entrance to "internally displaced people." Those who live near the border already know that border militarization technologies are used against US citizens -- Miller shows that these weapons can be turned against anyone, at any time.
I wouldn't say this is a hopeful book, but it does have a clear-eyed analysis that feels helpful for navigating the road ahead.