By Jonathan Power

At first, I was a bit surprised to find that the English admonition, “Good fences make for good neighbours” exists in many other languages. I shouldn’t have been taken aback. A moment’s reflection should have told me that fences and walls to divide off peoples have been going on for millennia. There’s nothing in particular new about the fence between the US and Mexico, the Cold War wall between East and West Germany or the one between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. Look at the Great Wall of China.

The Mexicans have a joke about the planned wall to replace the fence. “It’s not built to keep Mexicans out of the US; it’s built to keep Donald Trump out of Mexico!”

Today the Mexicans have a problem in that migrant “caravans”, made up of thousands of fleeing Central Americans and also people from Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia, are pouring into the south of Mexico where there is no fence. The Mexicans have reacted much more sensibly and humanely to the caravans, America-bound, than President-elect Donald Trump. They are encouraging the “caravaners” to go no further and find work in Mexico’s underdeveloped southern states. Those applying for asylum have been offered temporary work permits with immediate effect.

The Mexicans know from their history that........

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