What is happening in Poland will set a precedent for violent border enforcement across EUrope. From Poland to Gaza and everywhere where seperation walls rise the echoes of fascism grow under the guise of national security.

People-on-the-move continue to navigate this heavily surveilled and militarized frontier and face violent pushbacks. During several visits activist and civil society actors shared how violence has increased since the technocratic “liberal adminstration” of Tusk came into power in 2023.

But here, nature is not just a witness—it is weaponized. The cold, the rivers, the dense forests do the work of the border, killing, abandoning, and hiding the violence written into this landscape.

The media may have moved on since winter 2021, but the harsh reality continues. The Polish authorities built a 5-meter-high fence with cameras, concerntina, motion sensors that is patrolled by border guards and military allowing to shiftly pushback people.

In response, Poland fortified its borders, erecting fences, roads, and concertina wire cutting through the landscape and villages, while tightening laws to criminalize people-on-the-move and those who supporting them.

This place first entered the global spotlight in August 2021, when Belarus, under Łukaszenko, opened its gates, allowing people-on-the-move to journey toward Poland. While EUrope has been paying states to deal with migration; Poland accused Belarus of “instrumentalizing migration.”

In these woods, the trees stand like silent witnesses, their roots entwined with histories older than borders themselves. Yet, beneath their towering canopies, a darker truth lies hidden—one of Europe’s most fortified and violent borders.

What is happening in Poland will set a precedent for violent border enforcement across EUrope. From Poland to Gaza and everywhere where seperation walls rise and violence has become the modus operandi; the echoes facism grow louder under the guise of national security.

In this forest, where nature breathes undisturbed, violent borders leaves scars that will echo for years to come. But here, nature is not just a witness—it is weaponized. The cold, the rivers, the dense forests do the work of the border, killing, abandoning, and hiding the violence.

The media may have moved on since winter 2021, but the harsh reality continues. The Polish authorities build a 5-meter-high fence with cameras, concerntina, motion sensors that is patrolled by border guards and military allowing to shiftly pushback migrants.

In response, Poland fortified its borders, erecting fences, roads, and concertina wire cutting through the landscape and villages, while tightening laws to criminalize migrants and those who supported them.

This place first entered the global spotlight in August 2021, when Belarus, under Łukaszenko, opened its gates, allowing migrants to journey toward Poland. Although the EU has been paying states to deal with migration, Poland accused Belarus of waging a "hybrid war" against Poland and the EU.

In these woods, the trees stand like silent witnesses, their roots entwined with histories older than borders themselves. Yet, beneath their towering canopies, a darker truth lies hidden—one of Europe’s most fortified and violent borders.