The amount of post-Brexit backpedalling by politicians has
been so astronomic I’m beginning to think they could give Bradley Wiggins and
co a run for their money in the (backwards) team pursuit. The latest incident of
flip flopping concerns the introduction of a point based immigration system –
unfortunately nothing to do with the recent
world Scrabble championships (surely Britain’s greatest sporting victory of
the summer).
Instead it refers to an “Australian style” system, whereby immigration
would be policed by people’s skills, education and perceived usefulness to
society. One would hope that this system would also work in reverse, and that
hack journalists cum inept politicians Gove and Johnson would be summarily
shipped out to somewhere they’d be able to do a little less damage. The fact
that we are even considering taking our cues on immigration policy from a
country which has one of the most oppressed native populations in the world is
beyond parody.
Meanwhile, French
lorry drivers are instigating a protest against the desperate situation of a group of people
who will ultimately keep the very economy on which these same drivers rely on ticking
over. The greatest trick neo-liberalism has ever pulled off is convincing the
majority of the populous that immigration is the problem, whilst simultaneously
relying on it’s cheap labour to keep the greasy wheels of the capitalist economy
turning. As with the burkini ban in France last week, this is reactionary politics,
responding to the symptoms of global issues, not the root causes. The Jungle
exists because of worldwide social and financial insecurity. Where will people
go if this camp is cleared out? Back to where they came from? Warzones, police
states and economic instability – and that’ll just be Western Europe if we
continue pursuing a campaign of the politics of fear and division.
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