In the not so distant future, Europe will have more anti-immigration walls than it did during the Cold War era. The Cold War was a period of incredible tension, between the Western, capitalist bloc (led by the United States and its allies) and the Eastern communist bloc (Led by the Soviet Union and its satellite states), immigration was rife during the cold war period with nationals wanting to return home and nationals also wanting to flee, perhaps to be reunited with loved ones or to seek a better life. Therefore, understandably a large number of walls were constructed throughout Europe to prevent immigration and the most famous was constructed in Berlin, where two different worlds were a matter of metres apart.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 60 border fortifications have been constructed worldwide, 30 of which have been built since 9/11 in 2001 and 15 of those 30 in the last year alone! The refugee crisis and the Ukrainian conflict with Russia have initiated the surge in Europe, with countries building physical walls, primarily in Hungary where the border with Serbia was the primary gateway for refugees to enter the European Union, a decision that was justified because within a matter of hours 60 refugees were arrested for attempting to scale the fence. Sweden and Denmark, although a long history of conflict, the two countries have for a long period now been friendly neighbors, nevertheless, this has not presented Sweden fencing off part of Copenhagen’s Kastrup rail station in a bid to control the number migrants entering the city of Malmo from across Oresund bridge.
The latest emergence in Europe is Britain’s announcement that they would be building a wall around the port of Calais, the main entrance point for refugees into Britain. The 13 foot high wall is a $23 million project agreed between Britain and France and is likely to accelerate, considering Britain’s decision to leave the EU.
I wonder where the next wall is going to be constructed?