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Deleted repetitive information about her tweet and resignation from the intro, since already listed under "Controversies" and far from her most notable accomplishments. Also edited the description of her work to remove "frequent guest speaker at college campuses" as an ancillary aspect of her writing and activism, and generally part of the broader umbrella in her role as a public intellectual. Also toned down biased language re Israel-Hamas war. |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Harsha Walia
| image =
| caption = Harsha Walia in 2013
| birth_date =
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| website =
| occupation = Activist, writer
| alma_mater = [[University of British Columbia]]
}}
'''Harsha Walia''' is a Canadian activist and writer based in [[Vancouver|Vancouver.]]
Walia is the author of ''Undoing Border Imperialism'' (2013) and ''Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism'' (2021), co-author of ''Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration'' (2015), and ''Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside'' (2019).<ref name=":12">{{Cite news|last=MacLeod|first=Andrew|url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/01/10/Harsha-Walia-New-BCCLA-Head/|title=Harsha Walia: Looking Ahead with the New BCCLA Head|date=2020-01-10|work=The Tyee|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref>
==Early life==
▲Walia is the author of ''Undoing Border Imperialism'' (2013) and ''Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism'' (2021), co-author of ''Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration'' (2015) and ''Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside'' (2019)<ref name=":12">{{Cite news|last=MacLeod|first=Andrew|url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/01/10/Harsha-Walia-New-BCCLA-Head/|title=Harsha Walia: Looking Ahead with the New BCCLA Head|date=2020-01-10|work=The Tyee|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref> and has contributed to over thirty academic journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspapers.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|p=315}} She is a frequent guest speaker at campuses and conferences across North America.<ref name=":123">{{Cite web|url=http://capalibrarians.org/2017/02/announcing-our-capal17-keynote-speakers/|title=Announcing our #CAPAL17 Keynote Speakers! – Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians|website=capalibrarians.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref>
Walia was born in [[Bahrain]] to parents of [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]] ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.darpanmagazine.com/people/spotlights/celebrating-womanhood-harsha-walia/|title=Celebrating Womanhood: Harsha Walia|website=www.darpanmagazine.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/13/09/2022/we-need-world-without-borders-our-increasingly-warming-planet|title=We Need a World Without Borders on Our Increasingly Warming Planet|website=Global Policy Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/news/hashtag-istandwithharsha-shows-support-for-former-bc-civil-liberties-association-executive|title=Hashtag #IStandWithHarsha shows support for former B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director Harsha Walia|date=18 July 2021|website=The Georgia Straight}}</ref> She later immigrated to [[Vancouver]], [[Canada]] and studied law at the [[University of British Columbia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/01/10/Harsha-Walia-New-BCCLA-Head/|title=Harsha Walia: Looking Ahead with the New BCCLA Head|first=Andrew|last=MacLeod|date=10 January 2020|website=The Tyee}}</ref>
== Activism ==
=== No One Is Illegal ===
In 2001, Walia co-founded [[No One Is Illegal (NOII)]], an anti-colonial, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist migrant justice movement.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|p=98}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.straight.com/life/553901/harsha-walia-probes-how-boundaries-oppress-us-undoing-border-imperialism|title=Harsha Walia probes how boundaries oppress us in Undoing Border Imperialism|date=2013-12-23|work=Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly|access-date=2018-03-27|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://noii-van.resist.ca/important-noii-annoucement-about-future-communications/|title=No One Is Illegal – Vancouver » Blog Archive » Important NOII Announcement About Future Communications|website=noii-van.resist.ca|access-date=2018-03-27}}</ref> In addition to providing direct support for refugees and migrants facing detention and deportation, NOII campaigns for full legal status and access to social services for all people and works in solidarity with Indigenous self-determination,
As a member of NOII, Walia has been involved in several sanctuary campaigns alongside communities and organizers from immigrant and racialized backgrounds.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|pp=98-99, 146}} She participated in the campaign to stop the deportation of Laibar Singh, a paralyzed Punjabi refugee;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Walia|first=Harsha|date=Spring 2012|title=Young, Brown and Proud|url=https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2012/04/osos107_YoungBrownProud.pdf|journal=Our Schools/Our Selves|volume=21|issue=3|pages=31–40}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/paralyzed-man-avoids-deportation-again/article18441868/|title=Paralyzed man avoids deportation again|access-date=2018-04-09}}</ref> the Let them Free, Let them Stay campaign for incarcerated [[Tamils|Tamil]] refugee claimants aboard the ''MV Ocean Lady'' and ''[[MV Sun Sea incident|MV Sun Sea]]'';{{sfnp|Walia|2013|pp=153-154}} and the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials, calling for the abolition of [[security certificate]]s.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|pp=117-124}} Together with NOII-Vancouver, Walia organizes the Annual Community March Against Racism, which was initiated in 2008.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|pp=151-152}} She also collectively organized a No One Is Illegal, Canada Is Illegal contingent as part the 2010 No Olympics On Stolen Native Land convergence in Vancouver.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|pp=153-154}}
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After [[Donald Trump]]'s election and signing of [[Executive Order 13769]] on January 27, 2017, to establish "extreme vetting" procedures for refugees and immigrants attempting to enter the United States, Walia reported a greater volume of incoming calls to NOII from undocumented migrants in the US seeking to claim asylum in Canada.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://www.straight.com/news/1004451/trumps-refugees-fleeing-xenophobic-america|title=Trump's refugees: Fleeing a xenophobic America|date=2017-12-06|work=Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly|access-date=2018-03-27|language=en}}</ref> She has stated that, despite many government-sponsored messages that Canada is welcoming to refugees, the [[Safe Third Country Agreement]] (STCA) prevents those who reach the Canadian border via the US from claiming refugee status.<ref name=":4" /> Consequently, she has added, many people cross irregularly into [[British Columbia|B.C.]], where they are often intercepted by the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2017/04/07/rights-flyer-border-crossing-refugees-17-languages.html|title='Border rights for refugees' to Canada flyer issued in 17 languages {{!}} Metro Vancouver|work=metronews.ca|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en}}</ref> NOII has urged the [[29th Canadian Ministry|Trudeau government]] to repeal the STCA, although the agreement currently remains in effect.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/we-had-to-run-refugees-walking-across-b-c-border-in-fear-of-u-s-crackdown|title='We had to run': Refugees walking across B.C. border in fear of U.S. crackdown|date=2017-02-12|work=Vancouver Sun|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In April 2017, NOII-Vancouver released and distributed ''Border Rights for Refugees'', a pamphlet available in 17 languages with information for those seeking asylum in Canada.<ref name=":2" />
Walia and NOII-Vancouver also worked with the [[Burnaby School District]] to change registration procedures in 2017,
=== Women's Memorial March ===
For over a decade, Walia has worked with the February 14th [[Women's Memorial March]] Committee,<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|url=https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/undoing-border-imperialism-with-harsha-walia|title=Undoing Border Imperialism with Harsha Walia – Canadian Dimension|website=canadiandimension.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref> founded in 1992 following the murder of a woman on Powell Street in Vancouver.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/about/|title=About|date=2009-12-17|work=Feb 14th Annual Womens Memorial March|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en-US}}</ref> Led largely by Indigenous women, the committee organizes the annual February 14 Women's Memorial March for women who have died in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://thefeministwire.com/2014/03/interview-harsha-walia/|title=An Interview with Harsha Walia - The Feminist Wire|date=2014-03-13|work=The Feminist Wire|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en-US}}</ref> A 20-year history of the Women's Memorial March is documented in a 2011 short film co-directed by Walia and Alejandro Zuluaga, titled ''Survival, Strength, Sisterhood: Power of Women in the Downtown Eastside''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/19877895|title=Survival, Strength, Sisterhood: Power of Women in the Downtown Eastside|via=Vimeo|language=en|access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref> The film presents footage of recent and previous marches and centres the voices of women in the DTES, including members of the Downtown Eastside Power of Women Group, who developed the concept for the film.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/2637481038?active_tab=bib_info|title=Survival, strength, sisterhood: Power Of Women in the Downtown Eastside|date=2011|publisher=Downtown Eastside Power Of Women Group|editor-last=Zuluaga|editor-first=Alejandro|location=Vancouver|editor-last2=Walia|editor-first2=Harsha|editor-last3=Downtown Eastside Power Of Women Group}}</ref> With their film, Walia and Zuluaga seek to "debunk the [[sensationalism]] surrounding a neighbourhood deeply misunderstood, and celebrate the complex and diverse realities of women organizing for justice."<ref name=":3" />
=== Downtown Eastside Women's Centre ===
From 2006 to 2019, Walia worked as a project coordinator at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC),
Walia and the Power of Women group have pressured the [[Vancouver Police Department]] to investigate and act on cases of missing and murdered women.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":20">{{Cite web|url=http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/4775|title=Three women arrested for occupying police station to demand investigation into DTES resident and Indigenous woman Ashley's death are released with charges {{!}} Vancouver Media Co-op|website=vancouver.mediacoop.ca|access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref> They are also involved in numerous housing justice campaigns and coalitions, including the Downtown Eastside Is Not for Developers Coalition.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|p=315}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://dtesnotfordevelopers.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/housing-march-block-party-report/|title=Report from DTES Women's Housing March, Gentrifuckation Tour, and Block Party to Block Condos|date=2011-09-18|work=The DTES is not for Condo Developers|access-date=2018-03-30|language=en-US}}</ref> The year 2006 marked the beginning of POW's Annual Women's Housing March for safe and affordable housing for low-income residents of the DTES.<ref name=":6" />
=== Indigenous Land Defence ===
With NOII-Vancouver, Walia has assisted the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Centre since 2003 and the Sutikalh Protection Camp since 2004 in their fights against resort and hotel construction on [[Secwepemc]] and [[St'at'imc]] lands.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|pp=132-133, 148}} She has convened Immigrants in Support of [[Idle No More]]<ref name=":17" /> and is a supporter of the Defenders of the Land Network, the Indigenous Assembly Against Mining and Pipelines,<ref name=":11" /> and the [[Unistʼotʼen Camp|Unist’ot’en Action Camp]] in [[Wet'suwet'en|Wet’suwet’en]] territory, which she has visited on multiple occasions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://aptnnews.ca/2016/11/10/identities-of-two-mikmaq-warriors-on-rcmp-threat-list-revealed/|title=Identities of two Mi'kmaq Warriors on RCMP 'threat' list revealed - APTN News|date=2016-11-10|work=APTN News|access-date=2018-03-29|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Jo-Anne|date=2015-06-01|title=Harsha Walia in Conversation with MM&D Editor Jo-Anne Lee|url=https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/mmd/article/view/13643|journal=Migration, Mobility, & Displacement|language=en|volume=1|issue=1|pages=62|doi=10.18357/mmd11201513643|issn=2369-288X|doi-access=free}}</ref>
=== Olympic Resistance Network ===
[[File:Olympic_Tent_City_-_Day_1_banner.jpg|thumb|Walia (left) at a Pigeon Park rally for the Olympic Tent Village, Vancouver 2010]]
Walia was active in the Olympic Resistance Network (ORN), which instigated several anti-Olympic actions and demonstrations during the [[2010 Winter Olympics|2010 Winter Olympic Games]] in Vancouver.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kh49c6pySIoC&q=women's+memorial+march+committee+walia&pg=PA62|title=Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down|last=Zirin|first=Dave|date=2013-01-29|publisher=The New Press|isbn=9781595588425|pages=62|language=en}}</ref> The actions were in response to growing homelessness rates of low-income residents in the DTES and cuts to social programs due to [[Gentrification|urban gentrification]] in the build-up to the games.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/2/in_the_shadow_of_the_olympic|title=In the Shadow of the Olympic Flame: A Report from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, the Poorest Neighborhood in Canada|work=Democracy Now!|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en}}</ref> The Women's Memorial March Committee and Power of Women group also resisted the Games by refusing to cancel or reroute the annual February 14 Women's Memorial March<ref name=":8" /> and obstructing the Olympic Torch Relay as it passed through the DTES.<ref name=":6" />
In alliance with numerous other groups, the ORN organized a No Olympics on Stolen Land convergence and several rallies, such as No More Empty Talk, No More Empty Lots.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|p=143}}<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/2908|title=Chronicles of the Olympic Tent Village {{!}} Vancouver Media Co-op|website=vancouver.mediacoop.ca|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref> During the latter event, held on February 15, 2010, a [[tent city]] known as the Olympic Tent Village was assembled on a lot owned by real estate developer Concord Pacific, which functioned as a parking lot during the Olympics.<ref name=":10" /> With the support of DTES elders, residents, activists, and organizations, including the Power of Women group, the site served as a community shelter and gathering place from which [[BC Housing Management Commission|BC Housing]] was pressured to provide safe and affordable homes for those in the village.<ref name=":10" /> Over 40 homeless residents were housed as a result of the two-week-long Olympic Tent Village.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/olympics/olympic-tent-village-ends-homelessness-continues/5291|title=Olympic Tent Village Ends, Homelessness Continues {{!}} Vancouver Media Co-op|website=vancouver.mediacoop.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref>
Following an anti-Olympic demonstration on February 13, 2010, during which [[black bloc]] tactics were employed and windows of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (an Olympic sponsor) in Downtown Vancouver were smashed, Walia defended the protestors, stating that several of them are
=== Other activism ===
An active member within Vancouver's South Asian community, with whom she aims to "lift up the reality of what’s going on in South Asia in terms of the global landscape of geopolitical warfare,"
=== Arrests ===
Along with
== Controversies ==
{{See also|2021 Canadian church burnings}}
On June 30, 2021, controversy arose after Walia retweeted a Twitter news article from [[Vice (magazine)|''Vice'']] World News on the [[2021 Canadian church burnings|burning of two Catholic churches]],
In 2023 Walia received criticism for comments made at a rally supporting Palestine where she said: "how beautiful is the spirit to get free that Palestinians literally learned how to fly on hang gliders."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glavin |first1=Terry |title=What we can learn from the obscene celebrations of Hamas brutality |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-what-we-can-learn-from-the-obscene-celebrations-of-hamas-brutality#:~:text=How%20beautiful%20is%20the%20spirit%20to%20get%20free%20that%20Palestinians%20literally%20learned%20how%20to%20fly%20on%20hang%20gliders |access-date=24 January 2024 |agency=National Post |publisher=Post Media |date=25 October 2023}}</ref> This was in reference to paragliders purported to be used in the [[2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel|Hamas attack on Israel]] on October 7th, 2023.
== Publications ==
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''Undoing Border Imperialism'' is Walia's first book, published in 2013 as part of [[AK Press]]'s Anarchist Intervention Series.{{sfnp|Walia|2013|p=323}} The book features a foreword by [[Andrea Smith (academic)|Andrea Smith]] and contributions by over 30 activists and cultural producers, including [[Carmen Aguirre]], [[Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha]], and [[Melanie Cervantes]].<ref name=":15">{{Cite news|url=http://www.thefeministwire.com/2014/03/review-undoing-border-imperialism/|title=A Review of 'Undoing Border Imperialism' - The Feminist Wire|last=Durban-Albrecht|first=Erin|date=2014-03-13|work=The Feminist Wire|access-date=2018-03-30|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":16">{{Cite web|url=https://www.akpress.org/undoing-border-imperialism.html|title=Undoing Border Imperialism {{!}} AK Press|website=www.akpress.org|language=en|access-date=2018-03-30}}</ref>
In the book's later chapters, Walia chronicles the efforts of numerous movements, such as No One Is Illegal, that seek to undo border imperialism.<ref name=":15" /> She examines the "bordered logic within our own movements"<ref name=":11" /> and discusses ways movements can [[decolonize]] and grow through self-reflection, leadership from those directly affected by systemic injustice, and long-term solidarity with Indigenous communities and other justice-seeking movements.<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite
=== ''Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration'' ===
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===''Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside''===
Co-authored by Walia and Carol Muree Martin with contributions by 128 members of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, ''Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside'' is a 216-page report on gendered colonial violence in Canada.<ref name=":242">{{Cite news|last=Ball|first=David|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/04/03/were-rising-and-taking-our-place-now-say-indigenous-women-behind-ambitious-bc-testimony-project.html|title='We're rising and taking our place now,' say Indigenous women behind ambitious B.C. testimony project|date=2019-04-03|work=The Star|access-date=2020-03-07}}</ref> The report
=== ''Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism'' ===
In ''Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism'', published in February 2021 by [[Haymarket Books]], Walia further develops her internationalist analysis of migration. In it, Walia is critical both of Republican U.S. presidents such as Donald Trump, for his xenophobic immigration policies and efforts to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. She contextualizes her arguments around immigration by noting neoliberal leaders' predisposition for free trade over free migration. "Centrists like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have proven they too are 'tough on immigration' by securing the border against people, while commodities and capital move freely."<ref name="border and rule"|pp.80></ref> The book features an afterword by [[Nick Estes]] and a foreword by [[Robin D. G. Kelley]].<ref name="border and rule">{{Cite book|last=Walia|first=Harsha|url=https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1553-border-and-rule|title=Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism|publisher=[[Haymarket Books]]|year=2021|isbn=9781642592696|location=Chicago}}</ref> It was reviewed in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' by American environmentalist [[Bill McKibben]], who posits that Walia argues that "immigration should be better understood as reparations."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=McKibben|first=Bill|date=October 6, 2022|title=Where Will We All Live?|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/10/06/where-will-we-live-climate-change-mckibben/|access-date=January 8, 2023|website=[[The New York Review of Books]]|language=en}}</ref>
== References ==
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* {{Cite book|last=Walia|first=Harsha|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/829056735|title=Undoing border imperialism|date=2013|others=Institute for Anarchist Studies|isbn=978-1-84935-134-8|location=Oakland, CA|oclc=829056735}}
==External links==
*{{IMDB name|12290048}}
{{authority control}}
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[[Category:University of British Columbia alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:
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