July Workshops!

Later this month we will be hosting the following virtual, open-registration workshops, designed to help us navigate and protect each other in this perilous present, without losing sight of the liberatory futures we have been fighting for.

Register for each workshop by clicking on its title. Registration fees will be based on the justice pricing scale following the workshop descriptions. You are invited to contribute according to what feels possible and appropriate to your circumstance, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please reach out to lauren@borderlinks.org with your registration questions.

Decoding the News: Identifying Propaganda in the Mainstream Media

Virtual workshop, Sunday, July 20, 2025, 2-4 pm PT/ 5-7 pm ET

This interactive workshop will equip participants with tools to analyze headlines and articles to identify propagandized language in mainstream news. We will highlight several ways media coverage has a role in justifying and upholding public policy, and develop a shared language for understanding the news media as strategic terrain, as well as the ways in which certain narrative elements can shape public opinion. In order to practice the skills of identifying propaganda in mainstream media, we will: compare NYT coverage of the Russian war on Ukraine with NYT coverage of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians; and analyze language used in news about the on-going US government attack on immigrants. Practicing this muscle of critical analysis is one key element of messaging and narrative work as we build effective movements for collective liberation.

Interrupting ‘Deserving’ Immigrant and Illegality Narratives 

Virtual Workshop, Thursday, July 24th, 3-5 pm PT/ 6-8 pm ET

In a rapidly changing landscape, how migrants are framed in the media as well as social movements has an immense impact on people’s lives, policy, and what people can envision as possible. This workshop explores the significance of moral and legal rhetoric surrounding immigration, examining its historical context and future impacts. Participants will have an opportunity to learn from organizers and those directly impacted about how language shapes advocacy and support, and to build skills for effectively interrupting harmful narratives – specifically those that frame migrants as deserving or undeserving, innocent or criminal, and so on. Using the “Dreamer” narrative as an example, we will examine its origins in the organizing that preceded the passing of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, and evaluate its material impact on immigrant communities. Participants will consider the influence of these narratives on legal and policy outcomes, including current immigration policies, criminalization, and the justification of military force. Finally, we will collectively strategize for shifting the language we use to further movements for migrant justice. 

Envisioning a Better World is Our Responsibility

Virtual Workshop, Sunday, July 27th 2-4 pm PT/ 5-7 pm ET

What is the role of vision within social movements? How is this particular political moment changing what we imagine is possible? With the rise of fascism, authoritarianism, and mass kidnappings of migrants from our communities, we are, on the one hand, understandably on the defensive, reacting in order to stop deportations when possible; on the other hand, the call to ‘abolish ICE’ is at the forefront of our collective demands, after gathering momentum during the 2020 uprisings for defunding the police. This workshop bridges the gap between immediate defensive action and long-term vision, creating a space in which to build the kinds of structures, strategies, and goals we need to make the tangible changes we dream of. Drawing on a framing of abolition as both vision and practice, we ask which visions support the scale of the movements we need, and how to shape campaigns and coalitions in order to win.

Justice Scale for Registration Fee:

• Redistribution* & Solidarity** $75

• Interdependence $50

• Equity $25

• Liberation free

*Redistribution Note: White participants with the means to do so are encouraged to consider paying an additional $25-$50, in recognition of the historic legacy of racist economic policies and the ways in which generational wealth and greater access to economic opportunity have privileged white people as a group for hundreds of years. These extra funds will go towards supporting the program and providing scholarships to those who need it to participate in this program.  

**Solidarity Note: Regardless of your racial identity, if your class privilege and/or professional expense budget allows you to pay more so that others may pay less, please consider adding an additional contribution to your total. These extra funds will go towards supporting the program and providing scholarships to those who need it to participate in this program.

Interdependence Note: Suggested rate for people not directly-impacted by border enforcement or immigration policies, who are able to comfortably meet all of your basic needs, have employment or regular work, and/ or are not actively involved in organizing around migrant justice.

***Without using a justice scale, this would be the price of the workshop, therefore if you're unsure which category to choose, we recommend this one***

Equity Note: Suggested for directly-impacted individuals currently doing community organizing work, people with past lived experience and holding intersectional identities experiencing marginalization regardless of if you are doing organizing work, people who are living paycheck to paycheck or underemployed, and/or your ancestors historically excluded from academic learning spaces.

Liberation Note: No one will be turned away for lack of funds. For anyone who falls into other categories that feel the cost would be a barrier to participation. Your presence and participation is the most important thing!!

decolonizing maasai history: a path to indigenous african futures

Thursday, June 26th from 5-7 PM at BorderLinks!

On Thursday, June 26th BorderLinks will host a presentation and community conversation with Meitamei Olol Dapash and Mary Poole about their new, open-access book and the themes of indigenous land-based resistance movements at its heart.  

Decolonizing Maasai History takes a radical approach to writing Maasai history centered on the East African community’s own historical and cultural knowledge. Historical narrative has been a powerful tool of colonization in Maasailand and around the world; in their book, Dapash and Poole not only critique this fact but aim to show how a delcolonized history can be an equally powerful tool of movements for land justice.

There will be light refreshments for purchase, as well as English-Spanish interpretation available!

This is an in-person event, and seating will be limited to 40 people. We ask that you please register in advance using the form below.

But that’s not all! On Friday, 27th at 5PM, our friend and former BorderLinks’ board member Todd Miller will join Dapash and Poole for a panel discussion on border activism from East Africa to the U.S., sponsored by The Border Chronicle. This complementary event will take place at Revolutionary Grounds Books & Coffee, 4675 E. Speedway Blvd., Tucson AZ 85712. (No registration needed for this second event!)

There are so many opportunities, and such great need, to cultivate bonds of solidarity and share strategy between movements for land justice around the world. Come join us in this work!

past events

decolonizing maasai history: a path to indigenous african futures

Thursday, June 26th from 5-7 PM at BorderLinks!

On Thursday, June 26th BorderLinks will host a presentation and community conversation with Meitamei Olol Dapash and Mary Poole about their new, open-access book and the themes of indigenous land-based resistance movements at its heart.  

SOLIDARITY MURAL UNVEILING + PUPUSA SALE!

Saturday, April 26th from 5-7 PM at BorderLinks!

Photo credit: Luke Takaka

Join us at BorderLinks on Saturday, April 26th 2025 from 5-7 PM to learn more about the stunning mural that now adorns the south-facing wall in our parking lot. Designed by local artists and realized through community donations and labor, this mural represents the connectedness of struggles for liberation in Palestine and the borderlands.

Starting around 5:30 we will have a brief mural unveiling program including a statement from the artists who designed it, a community reflection facilitated by BorderLinks Co-Director Ren Manning, and remarks from O’odham scholar and activist Nellie Jo David. Spanish/English interpretation will be available.

Postcard prints of the mural will be available for purchase, with all proceeds going directly to Humans To Be, a Palestinian woman-led project creating joyful spaces for children in Gaza with education, play & essentials. You can also donate directly to their work here. We will also be selling pupusas, made by BorderLinks’ very own, very talented Wendy! More details of the event soon to be announced!

Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence

February 6, 2025 at 3pm AZ/5pm ET/2pm PT. RSVP here.

Join us over Zoom this February 6th at 3pm AZ (5pm ET/2pm PT) for a conversation with Mizue Aizeki, co-Editor of the anthology Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence, with time for audience questions & reflection.

“Smart border” technologies rarely capture widespread public attention or outrage, but they are quietly remaking our world, scaling up colonial efforts of times past to divide desirables from undesirables, rich from poor, expat from migrant, and citizen from undocumented. Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence sheds light on how the high-tech system of borders developed and inspires stories of resistance.

Mizue Aizeki is the founder and Executive Director of the Surveillance Resistance Lab. For nearly twenty years, Mizue has been organizing to end the injustices at the intersections of the criminal and migration control systems—including criminalization, imprisonment, and exile. Prior to starting the Lab, Mizue was Senior Advisor at the Immigrant Defense Project where she led multiple campaigns to end the entanglement of local law enforcement and ICE policing—including the fights to end Secure Communities in New York State, and the New York City detainer campaigns—and also led the statewide ICE Out of Courts Campaign. Mizue has also built community defense programs to combat ICE raids. Mizue is a co-author of Homeland Security: Myths and Monsters (Common Notions, October 2024) and a co-editor of Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence (Haymarket Books, February 2024). Mizue’s photographic work appears in Dying to Live, A Story of U.S. Immigration in an Age of Global Apartheid (City Lights Books, 2008) and Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter (Verso, 2016).

Co-hosted with Scholarships AZ. En inglés con interpretacíon en español.

Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA

December 12th at 3pm AZ (2pm PT/5pm ET). RSVP here.

Join us over zoom this December 12th at 3pm AZ (2pm PT/5pm ET) for a conversation with Professor Nadia Y. Kim about their book Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA, with time for audience questions & reflection.

The book explores how Latin@, Asian, and Pacific Islander immigrant women in Los Angeles mobilize bodies, emotions, and caregiving to challenge environmental pollution and state racism that is killing them and their communities.

Profe Nadia Y. Kim is the George Sumey Jr Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University in Sociology. She centers empire, transnationality, neoliberalism, and the relationality of race, gender, class, and citizenship. Profe Kim is the author of two award winning books: Refusing Death, which examines Asian and Latina immigrant women's movements for clean air, and Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA, which explores how immigrants navigate U.S. imperial racism. Her co-edited book, Disciplinary Futures, considers how the social sciences benefit from engaging with critical ethnic studies.

Co-hosted with Scholarships AZ. En inglés con interpretacíon en español.

Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border

October 17th at 3pm AZ (6pm ET). RSVP here.

At BorderLinks we highlight people's power to affect change and shape our collective future, one with freedom of movement and dignity for all. Join us over zoom this October 17th at 3pm PT (6pm ET) for a conversation with Professor Ieva Jusionyte about their book Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border, with time for audience questions & reflection.

Exit Wounds offers a deep dive into how and why guns from the U.S. that continually flow into Mexico are fueling cycles of violence, migration, and border repression.

Profe Ieva Jusionyte is a legal anthropologist and associate professor at Brown University. She is the author of several books including Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border (2018) and Exit Wounds: How America’s Guns Fuel Violence Across the Border (2024). Jusionyte is a member of the Advisory Committee of Global Action on Gun Violence and an EMT-paramedic who volunteered as emergency responder in Massachusetts, Florida, and Arizona.

Co-hosted with Scholarships AZ. En inglés con interpretacíon en español.

Unbuild Walls & The Case for Open Borders

June 13th, doors open at 6 pm, book talk starts at 6:30 pm, reception and signing at 8 pm. RSVP.

We're thrilled to host a conversation between Silky Shah & John Washington about their new books, as well as have community organizers connect themes to their local efforts in the borderlands, and time for audience questions & reflection.  English/Spanish Interpretation available.

Silky Shah, Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition. Read more and order here

John Washington, The Case for Open Borders. Read more and order here

Community Panel: Sebastian Quinac, Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras; Dora Rodriguez, Salvavision; Yvette Borja, No New Jail Coalition and Radio Cachimbona; and Cecilio Ortiz, Paisanos Unidos and Southside Workers Center.

The Case for Open Borders- A beautifully-written, broadly accessible, and forthright argument for a solution to the migration crisis: open the gates.

Because of restrictive borders, human beings suffer and die. Closed borders force migrants seeking safety and dignity to journey across seas, trudge through deserts, and clamber over barbed wire. In the last five years alone, at least 60,000 people have died or gone missing while attempting to cross a border. As we deny, cast out, and crack down, we have stripped borders of their creative potential — as lines of contact, catalyst, and blend — turning our thresholds into barricades.

Brilliant and provocative, The Case for Open Borders deflates the mythology of national security through border lockdowns by revisiting their historical origins; it counters the conspiracies of immigration’s economic consequences; it urgently considers the challenges of climate change beyond the boundaries of narrow national identities. 
Read more here.

Silky Shah is the executive director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition building power to abolish immigration detention in the United States. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition (Haymarket, 2024). Originally from Texas, she began fighting the expansion of immigrant jails on the US-Mexico border in the aftermath of 9/11 and has worked as an organizer on issues related to racial and migrant justice for over twenty years.Her writing on immigration policy and organizing has been published in Truthout, Teen Vogue, Inquest, and The Forge and in the edited volumes, The Jail is Everywhere (Verso, 2024), Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence (Haymarket Books, 2024), and Transformative Planning (Black Rose Books, 2020). She has also appeared in numerous national and local media outlets including The Washington Post, NPR, and MSNBC.