Border Imperialism and Environmental Racism

Harsha Walia is an author and activist who is formally trained in the law. She immigrated from India and currently resides in Vancouver, on the lands of the Indigenous Coast Salish people. Harsha has been named one of the most influential South Asians in British Columbia by the Vancouver Sun and one of the ten most popular left-wing journalists by the Georgia Straight in 2010. Naomi Klein has called Harsha “one of Canada’s most brilliant and effective political organizers.” Harsha’s book, Undoing Border Imperialism, was published in 2013 by AK Press. Her writings have appeared in numerous magazines, including Briarpatch, Canadian Dimension, Dominion, Feministing, Fuze, Left Turn, Mondoweiss, People of Color Organize, Rabble, Racilicious, Sanhati, Z Magazine, and others. She has contributed essays to academic journals as well as chapters in the anthologies Power of Youth: Youth and community-led activism in Canada; Racism and Borders: Representation, Repression, Resistance; Beyond Walls and Cages; Stay Solid; Broken Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution; Organize! Building from the Local for Global Justice, and the Winter We Danced. Harsha is a cofounder of the migrant justice group No One Is Illegal and the progressive South Asian network Radical Desis. She is an organizer in numerous social justice organizations, and has made a number of presentations to the United Nations on social and economic justice issues.