Al Jazeera Magazine: Borders

We examine the physical, economic and psychological barriers that divide us.

The Al Jazeera English magazine is available for free download on iPad, iPhoneAndroid phones and tablet devices.

There are hundreds of national borders across the world today and some estimates suggest there are, in fact, more than at any point since the Middle Ages.

But how do these man-made barriers to human mobility shape the lives of all of us – from the most impoverished and vulnerable to the most wealthy and privileged? And how and when do these physical barriers become social, economic and psychological ones? 

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From Myanmar to Mexico, Israel to India and Scotland to Syria, the Al Jazeera Magazine examines borders and asks who they are designed to keep in and who to keep out.

Featured in the first part of this issue are:

1,200 miles: An exploration of life and death along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Shadows of Tripoli: Lebanon’s northern city has become a smaller scale reproduction of the conflict raging over the border in Syria.

The war tourist: An Israeli photojournalist and tour guide examines how the country’s tourism industry has been able not to only co-exist with conflict, but to profit from it.

A migrants’ odyssey: For years, photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis has been documenting the plight of migrants seeking to reach Europe. But what, he asks, is the real cost of their journey?

Borderlands: For centuries, the regions closest to the border between Scotland and England were the scene of conflict. Now, the Scottish Independence Referendum has posed a new challenge to residents of these communities – forcing them to reconsider their identities and allegiances.

The second part of the Borders issue of the magazine will be avaible for download from October 20.

The magazine was honoured at the 2013 Webby Awards where it received the People’s Voice Award in the Best News Tablet category.

Source: Al Jazeera