#ContainerWall update Monday, December 12. No work crews today because of snow and rain with much more snow predicted tonight. Protest base camp is enduring the storm and holding the line. The snow has already started.
I drove up and down the wall road to get some photos and up on the ridge to get cell coverage. After tonight's predicted rain and snow, there are road sections that will become impossible because whole drainages ravines are completely blocked.
The #borderlands looking westward from Coronado National Memorial in Cochise county Arizona. The 3 1/2 mile long shipping #ContainerWall divides the US on the right and Mexico on the left.
I can't see any difference, can you?
The land will ultimately endure this insult we've inflicted on it. But in the meantime, for the sake of the people and animals of the borderlands, this emblem of rotten politics has to go.
Tuesday Dec. 13th. The #JunkWall protest camp endured a night of the snow and temps in the 20s.
Woke up to several inches of snow so, of course we made a snow protester!
The border road is now a quagmire of thick slimy mud, effectively shutting down the possibility of further work for many days. Even the Border Patrol won't try to drive it. Mother Nature has joined the protest!
Aerial view of the #JunkWall #ContainerWall along the US-Mexico border after last night's snowstorm.
Ocelot Camp, the name given to the protest encampment is visible as a collection of tents and vehicles on the left, between the wall and the staging area full of shipping containers.
You can see the heavy equipment in the middle of the container lot, where the contractors left them, watched by security guards in trucks.
Temperatures are supposed to be even colder tonight, but no more snow.
Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the support!
A reminder that cell coverage is very sporadic. It often takes 10 minutes of trying to get one post uploaded, so I won't be doing much else for the time being but one-way broadcasting protest updates.
When I get back to regular internet access, I'll follow up, do more boosting, following, etc.
Early morning campfire foot warming at Ocelot Camp. Temperatures are expected to drop even lower tonight. I went up to Montezuma Pass to get cell coverage to do a few posts and already it is in the 20s just after sunset.
There has been a steady stream of people coming and going from Tucson and other parts of Arizona, bringing supplies and occupying the camp. There are never fewer than four or five people.
We are not leaving till the #JunkWall is officially stopped.
#protest #BorderLands
Dawn this morning at Ocelot Camp on the US-Mexico border where the #JunkWall #ContainerWall has been stopped by protesters for over a week now.
The snow has turned the construction road along the wall into an impassible quagmire, making any further work all but impossible for at least the next several days.
#Protest #BorderLands
News update! Just north of Huachuca city, on Hwy 90, there is a massive shipping container storage yard. There is a frantic effort being made right now to remove all the containers. Road crews have even blocked off one entire lane of traffic to allow trucks to come and go unimpeded.
The containers are being taken to the Arizona State Prison Complex at Tucson, according to someone who followed one of the trucks.
Media: contact for image licensing.
A great editorial that, appropriately, credits protesters with stopping the wall while the legal process goes through. As some of us feared, the state and feds may try to compromise by removing the container wall and replacing it with an official wall.
Neither is acceptable and protesters at the camp have vowed to resist any attempts to further bisect the borderlands with unnecessary, ineffective and destructive barriers.
Took a town day and got a bunch of photos up on my website, with short captions. This was all done hurriedly, so I'll be adding more soon, with more descriptions and detailed explanations.
December 16 Ocelot Camp #ContainerWall protest update! We still have a great turn out and support is building. At this point, it looks like we have permanently stopped this phase of construction just by being here ready to blockade.
The next phase will be making sure that this travesty wall is not replaced by another "official" one.
As the #NoWall #protest movement here builds, we are planning ahead for the next phase. The Forest Service has informally told us that they consider this environmental mess an emergency situation and are committed to remediating it as soon as they have the legal go ahead.
Unfortunately, there has already been talk of replacing it with a Trump-era mega wall or other barrier. This is completely unacceptable, ineffective, wasteful, destructive, and completely unnecessary for #border security.
Protest the container wall this Sunday!
If you're interested in learning more, seeing this container wall, monstrosity for yourself, or being part of a protest against it, come here this Sunday! We're having a protest rally to demand it's immediate removal.
No Border Wall protest today at Ocelot Camp. There's a slow stream of people showing up, a new banner, and some cool, free T-shirts with the No Border Wall logo.
So far this morning we've had a drive-by visit from the border patrol, a small private plane, and a green military helicopter. None of them seemed particularly hostile, though.
About 4-dozen people showed up today to celebrate this victory against AZ Governor Ducey's political stunt container wall.
Currently, construction is at a complete standstill because of protester blockades and is unlikely to continue because the governor will be replaced by Democratic governor-elect Katie Hobbs and the feds have filed a legal complaint. Some info on the complaint can be found in this article.
Unless something changes, I'll end this thread for now. We decided on Sunday to disband Camp Ocelot, the #ContainerWall protest camp, since we can be almost completely certain that this monstrosity has been defeated.
Many of the #protesters live locally, so will be patrolling daily to be sure there are no changes in activity.
Now we're waiting for the legal challenges to play out so the Forest Service can remove the wall and remediate the damage.
Photos on my site: https://www.mikaljakubal.com/container-wall-protest/
Woo hoo! The protest victory is now formal.
A stipulated agreement in the DOJ's lawsuit against the State of Arizona and outgoing Governor Ducey to remove the container wall.
Discussions about removal on the Coronado National Forest section, where the protests were, are to start in a week. Yuma area containers will be removed by January 4th. They aren't messing around.
What remains to be seen is if they try to begin construction of a new wall once the containers are removed.
#ContainerWall update. The USFS has issued a closure order for the area around the border for the duration of the container removal process. I've asked for official permission to photograph the process, but was punted to DoJ, who hasn't returned my inquiry. I've written again to the Coronado National Forest and am awaiting a reply.
Any #press or #reporters here have any tips on not getting stonewalled? I suspect they'll deny me since I don't any official credentials.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1080771.pdf
The ridiculous thing here is that I'm 100% supportive of the efforts to remove the containers and remediate the site, so it's not like they have anything to worry about.
The closure order is about 1,000' feet away from the work area, so well within drone range, but I want to match up before/after photos with the ones I've already got on the ground.
Any tips on organizations who might be able to help with press access welcome!
Okay, wait! If you thought the $95 million Arizona #ContainerWall that will be taken down starting Jan. 4th was a sick joke, wait till you hear the punch line!
The company contracted to build it, AshBritt, is getting another $57 million — no bid contract! — to dismantle it, despite continuing work after being told they were in open violation of federal law (it is a state contract).
You can download the contract here.
https://app.az.gov/page.aspx/en/ctr/contract_manage_public/60412
The last days of the #ContainerWall along the US - Mexico #border in southern #Arizona. Looking west into the sunset just now.
I spent the afternoon driving up and down, adding to my stock photo collection of this weird outdoor sculpture. And then, just before sunset did a long drone flight over it.
I considered camping out, but I think I'm going to head back to the interstate and go west to home or east to El Paso to photograph the container wall there tomorrow.
Happy new year, I guess.
I feel a little dorky about this shot. The sun had set and thought the best of the sunset was over, but wanted to go for a short walk and had never been all the way up this road. "Meh, I won't bother bringing my tripod and real camera. Phone is good enough."
Now I need to get back up there and get this same view with better gear, but between weather, the 3.5 hour drive to get there and the pending federal closure I'll have to violate, it'll be more work than it had to be.
Well, the demolition of the #ContainerWall has begun. The Forest Service has consistently refused to respond to any reasonable request for a press pass.
There is a legitimate, compelling public interest in this project being documented. I have no intention of not doing so. The bureaucrats are being blindingly stupid about it. They're blocking protesters, photographers, environmentalists and local residents from observing the work. These are all allies that they are about to make into enemies.
Update: I just heard that they are working on a special press pass for a limited time slot one day per week. This is absolutely not acceptable under any circumstances.
If anyone has suggestions for attorneys that deal with press freedom in situations like this, please connect us.
Consider this about the #ContainerWall: this is an event of considerable historical significance. It's of news significance now, but will be more interesting over time.
Depriving photojournalists the ability to extensively document the entire process — not just the staged shots the Forest Service wants — not only deprives the present public of adequate information, but it deprives the future as well.
I've been around long enough to recognize an important event the I see it.
Border Wall Resistance (the group that coalesced around stopping the container wall) has issued a press release calling for the Coronado National Forest to allow concerned citizens and photojournalists to freely observe the removal of the #ContainerWall.
If you're on Facebook or Twitter, the Coronado National Forest has accounts on both. Maybe politely say hi if you believe this should be documented.
Contacts:
[email protected]
https://borderwallresistance.com
(Full text in alt.)
A couple days ago I was able to arrange access to the #ContainerWall through a ranch in Mexico. This involved driving to Cananea, 1.5 hours of dirt road to the ranch, getting up at 4:30 am, driving another 1-14 hours on dirt roads to the border and then hiking cross country to where the work was happening.
The Coronado National Forest still will not give me or any other photographers access, though they've now given it to environmentalists as "volunteer observers."
Anyway, it looks like in order to continue to document the dismantling of the #ContainerWall, I'll have to keep making trips to Mexico when I can. It's a long, ridiculous, roundabout trip and will require increasingly long cross country hikes as the containers are removed eastward, but I'll do what I have to do. And the USFS cannot do anything about it.
I doubt it'll ever make me a dime, but I will undoubtedly have the most complete documentation of the ridiculous episode.
My camera shoots fascists
Brett Clubbe