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Sam Chambers

@spatiosam.bsky.social

Border Studies / Biometeorology / Spatiotemporal Analytics / Landscape Ecology / Critical Geography

128 Posts156 Follower 381 Folgt

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · 3d ago

“[R]emoteness is a relational phenomenon that must be continuously reproduced and defended” and “governmental efforts to do so measurably increase the risk of human mortality. Selective access also obscures the scale of this phenomenon.” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Manufacturing Desolation: Unauthorized Border Crosser Mortality, Disappearance, and the Sociopolitical Construction of Remoteness in U.S. Boundary Enforcement

U.S. boundary enforcement has long been organized around an effort to redirect unauthorized border crossing into remote and inhospitable expanses of desert terrain. Using southern Arizona’s West De...

tandfonline.com

Simulated Chollas @simulatedchollas.bsky.social · 3d ago

Words from @harshawalia.bsky.social on Ceuta border crossing:

On CEUTA:
Because a lot of what I am going to say will pushback against much of what is out there (against large north american leftist influencer accounts), first to locate myself in this:
If you know any of my work, especially on the ground, you know that I am an anti-imperialist. I am a long time student of and organizer within anti-colonial & internationalist movements, including Palestinian liberation.
I am also a migrant justice organizer, writer, and connected to migrant justice movements in different parts of the world - including some organizations in Ceuta, whose on-the-ground documenting over the past two days influences my thinking.
1) FORTRESS EUROPE:
I have written about Ceuta, Melilla, Canary Islands and EU border externalization for the past 15 years.
In a nutshell: the engineering of Fortress Europe began with the fencing of Melilla and Ceuta in 1993 (enclaves located on the African continent - claimed by Spain who currently holds jurisdiction / Morocco has long demanded their return / both layered upon Amazighen land claims - and form the only land border between Africa and Europe).
Today, the EU externalizes border controls based on three primary routes, with the "western route" traversing the border between Morocco and these enclaves, as well as across the Strait of Gibraltar to the European mainland or across the Atlantic from Morocco or Mauritania to the Canary Islands.
From the 1990's to early 2000's the enclaves were slowly militarized with a spike in monitoring and razor wire fencing.
Spain's history of empire and imbrication with the European civilizational project-constructed upon and against the Muslim world since the Reconquista-has made it an eager participant in physically and conceptually fencing its enclaves on African soil.
Spain's marginal status within the EU has also influenced its migration policies, especially after the Eurozone debt crisis of 2010 and the imposition of EU policies of austerity. Frontex (EU's border agency) act…

Pedro Sánchez, congratulated the Spanish and Moroccan forces (Guardia Civil and Auxiliary Forces of Morocco) after declaring the crossing a "violent assault on Spanish soil". Moroccan border officials dug graves for the dead they had beaten up and killed, their bodies never returned to their families. Over 60 migrants were prosecuted for "human trafficking."
2) THEORIES OF US-ISRAELI INVASION
The evidence being pulled up by some major left influencer accounts in north america for this being a US-Israel military maneuver includes hot-takes and clipped videos about most migrants being military aged-men.
This ironically parrots the exact same discourse that has long shaped far-right anti-migrant discourses in Europe.
Actually, the vast majority of migrants (upto 75 percent in some years) for the past twenty years on the western migration routes, especially Ceuta, Melilla,and Canary Islands, has been men aged 18-39.
Such takes also ignore the painful eye witness accounts that suggest that those who did die en route (at least 67 people so far, with many bodies still being recovered) were young children.
Most fundamentally, such takes completely ignore that, across state & imperial geopolitics, migrants do have some degree of agency, that undeniably there were refugees and migrants who crossed, that migrants do otherwise regularly attempt to cross and die crossing at Ceuta, and that migrants in and/or from Morocco are regularly waiting for favourable crossing conditions (whether state or legal or smuggler engineered).
We can't deny that many migrants themselves have reported that they acted based on information (that was unfortunately incorrect) about Spain's recent supreme court ruling regarding expulsions.
Completely erasing the overall dynamics of migration from the conversation is mind-boggling.
Before the latest round of arrivals, at least 27 people died trying to reach Ceuta and overall 247 people have died on the western route since early 2026.
Even if one were to …

The current Spanish government is more pro-Palestine than the Moroccan monarchy, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020 and joined Trump's Gaza Peace Board this year.
However, we shouldn't only understand what is happening through the analytic of US hegemony or Israel. In particular, we must hold the centrality of Western Sahara as a struggle for self-determination on it's own terms, rather than as secondary analytic to US-Israeli imperialism.
This is especially true because Spain has actually fluctuated it position on Western Sahara over the years.
In 2021 Spain reversed its position supporting an independent referendum in Western Sahara and ended up backing Morocco's plans for Western Sahara after Morocco eased its border and 8,000 people entered Ceta (Morocco's response to Spain admitting Brahim Ghali of Polisario Front for treatment). Then, Algeria severed it's relationship with Spain because of Spain's reversal on Western Sahara (including cutting off gas pipeline access). At the same time, Spain re-opened the Moroccan-European pipeline (under the same govt of Pedro Sanchez).
Only recently have Algeria and Spain re-established relations, though Spain has yet to reverse it's position on Western Sahara.
Days ago, Morocco named a 1,055km highway cutting over Western Sahara after Trump. But Morocco is not simply a client state of the US or Israel. Morocco is an occupying power with consistent territorial expansion and control over Western Sahara.
It is this context of Western Sahara, and Algerian-Spanish state relations, that is most likely driving Moroccan state interests and their weaponizing migration as a strategic tool of political pressure onto Spain.
4) "MIGRANT FLOOD"
While the far-right stokes the manufactured language of "migrant crisis," some on the left are playing into the idea of migrants being "pawns" and imperialist powers "flooding" Spain with migrants.
Different state & capitalist interests are **always** manufacturing and controlling irregular…

As usual, geopolitical hot takes ignore and erase especially Black African migrants, despite the reality of what's happening on the ground. ELIN reports that most don't have food, hygiene access, and many need medical attention. This is the reality of what's happening on the ground
- and at border sites everywhere - and what needs our solidarity and mutual aid (donate to them & no name kitchen if you are able).
The biggest beneficiaries through are the far-right across Europe who are stoking anti-migrant, anti-Muslim racism. Italy's far right PM Giorgia Meloni, for example, has temporarily suspended it's Schengen arrangement with Spain, backed by Finland and Denmark - even though Ceuta isn't even in the Schengen zone. And Spain has been a recent outlier in EU policy not only with respect to Palestine, but also faced EU backlash for it's recent regularization program.
Yet, in the past day, Spain and Germany's centrist responses have been to "assure" the EU that the borders are fortified, and "not a single migrant who landed in Ceuta has reached the mainland of Europe." This rebuttal simply buttresses the premise of border securitization. The Spanish government has also blamed the surge on smuggling and trafficking networks - something to be extremely vigilant about because one of the main methods of criminalizing migration in the EU today is through anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling initiatives.
Immigration is arguably a much more divisive issue in Spain (across party lines) than Palestinian liberation is, and is thus much more likely to be manipulated in the upcoming elections.
In Ceuta itself in the past day, Nazi organizations and figures, like Alvise Perez or those from Nucleo Nacional, have descended in Ceuta to foster racism and division and to literally hunt migrants who are remaining. But residents of Ceuta, many Muslim, Chrisitan, and/or of Moroccan descent, have been rallying today against this while chanting "Ceuta antifascista!" and "Fuera fachas do nue…

Nadja@radikaalinadja.bsky.social · 3d ago

@harshawalia.bsky.social has posted something smart on Ceuta on fb

Simulated Chollas @simulatedchollas.bsky.social · last wk.

“Together, currency devaluations, corporatist union intimidation of independent organizing, counterinsurgency, and early forms of border militarization were key to quelling labor militancy and social movement unrest in the borderlands”

Sam Chambers@spatiosam.bsky.social · last wk.

From 2024: “As corporate boosters push to shift supply chains from China to northern Mexico, military expansion in the borderlands secures manufacturing zones for transnational capital.” nacla.org/nearshoring-...

Kiara Wyndham @kiarawyndham.bsky.social · 3w ago

Love this paper showing how "the institutional structure of US fiscal federalism allows some jurisdictions to function as tax shelters for wealthy residents and corps, while conversely subjecting other jurisdictions to severe fiscal stress, even in broadly prosperous metro areas." bit.ly/4ykwWYx

Tax base fragmentation as a dimension of metropolitan inequality

Abstract. The United States devolves responsibility for providing critical services to local governments. With limited centralized transfers, the ability t

academic.oup.com

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · last wk.

Nearshoring and the Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border

As corporate boosters push to shift supply chains from China to northern Mexico, military expansion in the borderlands secures manufacturing zones for transnational capital.

nacla.org

Sammy Roth @sammyroth.bsky.social · 2w ago

Insane new research. Scientists gave asthma patients free electric stoves to replace their gas stoves, then checked to see if symptoms improved. Not only did symptoms improve, ditching gas was *better than medicine.* Details in today's newsletter: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/electric-s...

Researchers used electric stoves to treat asthma. It worked.

The latest evidence that gas is bad for your health.

climatecoloredgoggles.com

The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)@theserfstv.bsky.social · 2w ago

Camels are dying from heat stroke. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Africa's camels are dying from extreme heat as temperatures soar

Herders and experts tell the BBC how Africa's camels are suffering because of extreme heat.

bbc.com

Jeff Abbott @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social · 2w ago

Immigrants and asylum seekers are being made to travel hours to El Paso from across the southwest for their check-ins with ICE. These trips often end with them being placed under surveillance with an ankle monitor. These visits are causing fear and anxiety for them and their loved ones. My story:

Immigrants are traveling hundreds of miles to El Paso for ICE check-ins

Immigrants with scheduled ICE check-ins are being forced to travel from across the Southwest to El Paso for their check-ins.

elpasotimes.com

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · 2w ago

“Due to intensified immigration enforcement & changes in economic migration incentives, the inflow of younger undocumented workers to the U.S. has slowed, & a growing segment of the agricultural workforce remain employed in farmworker positions into later adulthood” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Population Aging and the Burden of Chronic Health Conditions Among Mexican-Born Undocumented Farmworkers in the U.S - Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

The aging of Mexican-born undocumented farmworkers in the U.S. may compromise agricultural productivity and lead to increasing chronic disease in this population, yet research on aging and chronic dis...

link.springer.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Wyoming will become the first state in the US where you cannot receive a B.A. in Philosophy." dailynous.com/2026/07/23/u...

University of Wyoming to Drop Philosophy Major - Daily Nous

As for Fall 2027, incoming students at the University of Wyoming will no longer be allowed to major in philosophy. The news was shared by philosophy professor Bradley Rettler in posts on social media....

dailynous.com

Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 2w ago

🚨Lauren Gutterman, former chair of the American Studies department and AAUP UT Austin Chapter VP: “Iván’s case is a warning for all faculty across the university, because it suggests that achieving excellence in your field is no longer enough to secure tenure and promotion.” ⬇️

UT border surveillance scholar was a shoo-in for tenure. UT denied him.

American Studies scholar Iván Chaar López fears UT’s unexplained tenure denial violated his academic freedom amid scrutiny of controversial fields.

statesman.com

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · 2w ago

57% of adolescent and young adult farmworkers in Arizona reported experiencing heat-related illness symptoms while working conectaarizona.com/el-57-de-los...

El 57% de los adolescentes y jóvenes que trabajan en los campos agrícolas de Arizona sufrió golpes de calor, señala investigación de ASU – Conecta Arizona

Trabajadores agrícolas en un campo cerca de San Luis, Arizona (Foto: cortesía de Adrián Laborin y Fiorella L. Carlos Chávez, Arizona State University -

conectaarizona.com

The Border Chronicle @theborderchronicle.bsky.social · 3w ago

BREAKING🚨: 120 buoys staged for Trump's Rio Grande floating barrier broke loose near Eagle Pass, closing bridges. They're drifting toward Laredo, where officials declared an emergency, expecting them at the Colombia Bridge by Sunday, threatening water supplies & trade. Read full story: 🔗🦂

Breaking News: Laredo on Alert as Trump's Buoys Cause Chaos on the Rio Grande, Close International Bridges

Hundreds of massive orange buoys staged for a controversial DHS floating barrier project broke free near Eagle Pass and are now drifting toward Laredo, threatening bridges, commerce, drinking water su...

theborderchronicle.com

La Marea @lamarea.com · 3w ago

El arquitecto israelí Eyal Weizman se ha convertido en uno de los grandes investigadores de crímenes de guerra gracias a la metodología que ha desarrollado junto a su equipo en Forensic Architecture.

Eyal Weizman: “Israel emplea la arquitectura para continuar el genocidio” | lamarea.com

PATRICIA SIMÓN | El director de Forensic Architecture publica un libro extraordinario: 'Ungrounding. The Arquitecture of Genocide'.

lamarea.com

Extreme Temperatures Around the World @extremetemps.bsky.social · 3w ago

HISTORIC 53C DAY- 38C at NIGHT 52.7C Omidieh IRAN All time record and 2026 World Record MINIMUMS ! 38.3 Delhoran IRAN 33.1 Uchkuduk UZBEKISTAN Next days WORSE 53/54c Middle East 49/50C former USSR 50/52C CHINA NIGHTS up to 40C MOST EXTREME HEAT WAVE IN WORLD HISTORY

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · 4w ago

“We are seeing a massive expansion of surveillance and surveillance technology across the borderlands” www.latimes.com/world-nation...

Trump administration’s $46-billion 'smart wall' races ahead on the U.S.-Mexico border

The U.S. is rapidly building what it calls a 'smart wall' on the Mexico border, combining tall steel fencing with advanced technology such as sensors and cameras.

latimes.com

Samuël Coghe @samuelcoghe.bsky.social · last mo.

Happy to announce that my article 'Rethinking Commodity Frontiers: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Capitalist World Economy' was published in OA in Geschichte & Gesellschaft! @ggjournal.bsky.social @commodityfrontiers.bsky.social You can read it here for free: doi.org/10.13109/geg...

Rethinking Commodity Frontiers: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Capitalist World Economy | Geschichte und Gesellschaft

doi.org

Geschichte und Gesellschaft@ggjournal.bsky.social · last mo.

Im neuen #GG Heft setzen sich - neben dem Herausgeber Friedrich Lenger - Jürgen Osterhammel, Wolfgang Knöbl, Kaveh Yazdani, Samuël Coghe, Alexander Engel und unser Mitherausgeber Kiran Klaus Patel mit Immanuel Wallerstein und der Weltwirtschaft auseinander. www.vr-elibrary.de/toc/gege/cur...

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · last mo.

"Clearly, #climate change has the potential to severely damage biodiversity, both in isolation and in combination with other anthropogenic threats, emphasizing the need to proactively manage ecosystems to protect them from the multifaceted nature of future global change."

The recent past is not a reliable guide to future climate impacts: Response to Caro et al. (2022)

Click on the article title to read more.

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Science Magazine@science.org · last mo.

As mysterious bird declines crop up in the Amazon and beyond, scientists suspect climate change may be to blame. Learn more: https://scim.ag/44sFvTg

Fading melodies
Intact tropical forests are seeing mysterious bird declines. Is another “silent spring” brewing?

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · last mo.

[T]he UK’s planned return-hub approach in the Balkans combines “domestic pressure, political framing, and external cooperation…to shift migration control outward while increasing risk and reducing accountability” static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb60...

The Border Chronicle @theborderchronicle.bsky.social · last mo.

New podcast episode: Todd & Melissa on how border tactics such as surveillance, chases, warrantless searches, are moving inland. Plus buoy barriers, walls through sacred sites, and Todd's book on the Rio Grande. We run on subscribers, not ads. Subscribe NOW. Our work depends on YOU. Listen Now🔗🦂:

The Everywhere Border: A podcast with Border Chronicle founders, Todd and Melissa

Border Chronicle founders, Todd and Melissa, talk about how law enforcement surveillance, high-speed chases instigated by Border Patrol, unwarranted searches and seizures, and other heavy-handed polic...

theborderchronicle.com

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · last mo.

This will also help because you will be getting much less direct solar radiation and reflected radiation, independent of the air temperature. For the same reasons, if you’re outside, try and stay in the shade and away from hot surfaces.

@maryhoag.bsky.social · last mo.

This is a bit more planning but can cool the interior by 5F. Also don’t forget about drapes! Close them during the hot part of the day, open at night.

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · last mo.

Here’s Why Weather Forecasts Have Seemed So Inaccurate Lately. Meteorologists simply aren't able to gather as much data as they used to, and you're suffering for it. gizmodo.com/heres-why-we...

Here's Why Weather Forecasts Have Seemed So Inaccurate Lately

Meteorologists simply aren't able to gather as much data as they used to, and you're suffering for it.

gizmodo.com

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · last mo.

"While being 250 y.o. as a nation, this region doesn't have the same birth date as the U.S. We look not so much to 1776 as the starting point for modern U.S. identity. We look at the Mexican-American War in 1848." said Ruben Leyva, a Gila Apache border scholar www.usatoday.com/story/news/u...

War redrew the US southern border. The culture never surrendered.

The changes on the southern border reshaped Native, Spanish and Mexican communities, telling a story of resilience and resistance.

usatoday.com

Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · last mo.

When a license plate is captured by an automated license plate reader (ALPR), it’s instantly compared against a list of vehicles that the police are actively looking for, known as a “hotlist.” EFF has learned that one of these hotlists targets immigrants on behalf of ICE. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Are Your Local Police Using Flock Safety ALPRs to Scan for Immigrants?

When a car passes an automated license plate reader (ALPR), its plate is captured and instantly compared against a list of vehicles that police are actively looking for or that police have identified

eff.org

Speranta Dumitru @spe07.bsky.social · last mo.

We have histories of free speech and of property. But where is the long #history of #free #movement? 🥁 coming soon Free movement from Roman antiquity to Brexit -- via Spanish Empire, Holy Roman Empire & Italy w Gagliardi, Salamanca, Simoncini @lscholz.bsky.social @crookedfootball.bsky.social

Cahiers d'histoire. Revue d'histoire critique@cahiers-histoire.bsky.social · last mo.

"Liberté de circulation" un beau titre pour le n°166 qui s'annonce, Direction Speranta Dumitru @spe07.bsky.social et Grégoire Le Quang, deux membres de la rédaction des Cahiers. Pourquoi la liberté de circulation, revendiquée comme droit fondamental, n'a jamais fait l'objet d'une histoire longue ?

Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“[I]t will permanently block certain tribal ceremonies where members cross the border -- with federal permission -- such as an annual walking pilgrimage to Magdalena de Kino.”

UAINE@mahtowin1.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The Tohono O'odham Nation has asked a federal judge to immediately halt pending plans by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to build 62 miles of border wall through their reservation. tucson.com/news/local/b...

UAINE @mahtowin1.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Tohono O'odham Nation sues feds over Arizona border wall

The Tohono O'odham Nation wants a federal judge to immediately halt pending plans by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to build 62 miles of border wall through the reservation.

tucson.com

Jane McAdam @profjmcadam.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This Refugee Week, @profgsgilbert.bsky.social and I have a new article out: 'Après le déluge: Evolving approaches to international protection in the context of climate change and disasters' academic.oup.com/ijrl/advance...

Après le déluge: Evolving approaches to international protection in the context of climate change and disasters

The opening paragraph of Sir John Hope Simpson’s 1939 survey of ‘the refugee problem’ explains that ‘[r]efugee movements arising from natural disasters suc

academic.oup.com

Matt Cameron @mattcameron.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I have been invited to this three times, and they sent me most of this list in the recruiting emails. I assumed it was a scam and that the listed people just showed up for lunch sometimes but apparently this was real and I have missed my chance to prepare humanity for the coming of the machine god

Email from Dialog with a non-transferable invitation to Matt Cameron to the August 2024 session in Frankfort Germany

"government and law" list from Dialog 2027

maia arson crimew 🏴@crimew.gay · 2mo ago

SCOOP: So remember Dialog, Peter Thiel's private society that doesn't have a public website and no public list of members? I (along with a number of other journalists) have just been tipped off that embedded in the code of their closed off website there IS what seems to be a list of some members.

Taylor Shelton @jtsphd.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“Supply solutions do not ask who will occupy new units, on what terms, and with what legal protections. But these questions determine whether increased housing supply actually improves the lives of the people most impacted by the housing crisis.”

The Abundance Agenda’s Anti-Tenancy Blindspot

As policymakers pursue supply-side reforms to address rising housing costs, they must also confront a legal regime that affords tenants second-class status. Without confronting this anti-tenancy bias…

lpeproject.org