The reason UKIP is doing relatively well at elections is that it is a party political representation of the propaganda that people have been exposed to day after day, year on year. UKIP is the embodiment of the fears and prejudices of the xenophobia of national populism, which describes immigrants as ‘the other’. It is little wonder that UKIP is doing so well, as all the ground work has been done for them by the other political parties and the mass media.
Michael Fallon, the Tory defence secretary, has emotively claimed British towns are being “swamped” by immigrants and their residents are “under siege”. He said that in some areas of the UK, large numbers of migrant workers and foreign people claiming benefits should be subject to some form of restraint – or risk dominating the local population. Cameron is said by aides to be now preparing a manifesto pledge to introduce quotas for low-skilled migrants from the EU.
Nation-states by virtue of their very existence, and indeed by definition, constrain individuals and their ability to freely associate with one another. Furthermore, borders produce fictional divisions between geographic land masses in order to disperse socio-political power between groups of elite actors, the ruling classes. Borders produce nationalism and the socialist project is a global community. An ideal world is not a world dissected with the carving knife of capital, divided by the tenets of nationalism. The aim of socialism is an inclusive social structure, a political settlement that benefits all, where freedom to associate remains unrestricted and aren’t inhibited by passport control, razor-wire fences, or the concrete wall.
Nationalism is an ideological commitment and attachment to identifying with one’s nation-state. Whilst it is true that proximity, cultural homogeneity, language and social practices often create a common culture, methods and ways of life, although no nation-states exist with total 100% cultural homogeneity. We can see the growing sense of despair that has caused a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the minority fleeing by boats in the last two weeks, according to residents and a leading expert. The number who have fled since communal violence broke out two years ago has now topped 100,000. The Rohingya have been denied Myanmar citizenship and have been attacked by Buddhist mobs, which has left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps. The majority live in the northern tip of Rakhine state, where an aggressive campaign by authorities in recent months to register family members and officially categorize them as "Bengalis", implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh.
Borders are divisions whereby government elites tell one another and their respective populations where they believe they have jurisdiction that legitimise their use of coercive force. Borders are controlled in order to monitor the movements of goods and peoples. There are certain positives to some aspects of the border controls, such as animal quarantine checks, but they could still exist in the absence of national divisions. The detention and deportation regime is the shameful, unspoken side of border policing. People detained in places like Harmondsworth or Yarls Wood hardly ever get a mention in the media, unless they’re part of some fear-driven statistic about ‘illegal immigrants’ out to ruin Britain. Their names, cases and suffering go unknown to most and their contact with the outside world is restricted to visiting hours only. Thousands of attempted suicides and many deaths have been reported in UK detention centres since the regime began, but not a lot has changed – the detention centres stay open and the deportations continue.
Michael Fallon, the Tory defence secretary, has emotively claimed British towns are being “swamped” by immigrants and their residents are “under siege”. He said that in some areas of the UK, large numbers of migrant workers and foreign people claiming benefits should be subject to some form of restraint – or risk dominating the local population. Cameron is said by aides to be now preparing a manifesto pledge to introduce quotas for low-skilled migrants from the EU.
Nation-states by virtue of their very existence, and indeed by definition, constrain individuals and their ability to freely associate with one another. Furthermore, borders produce fictional divisions between geographic land masses in order to disperse socio-political power between groups of elite actors, the ruling classes. Borders produce nationalism and the socialist project is a global community. An ideal world is not a world dissected with the carving knife of capital, divided by the tenets of nationalism. The aim of socialism is an inclusive social structure, a political settlement that benefits all, where freedom to associate remains unrestricted and aren’t inhibited by passport control, razor-wire fences, or the concrete wall.
Nationalism is an ideological commitment and attachment to identifying with one’s nation-state. Whilst it is true that proximity, cultural homogeneity, language and social practices often create a common culture, methods and ways of life, although no nation-states exist with total 100% cultural homogeneity. We can see the growing sense of despair that has caused a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the minority fleeing by boats in the last two weeks, according to residents and a leading expert. The number who have fled since communal violence broke out two years ago has now topped 100,000. The Rohingya have been denied Myanmar citizenship and have been attacked by Buddhist mobs, which has left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps. The majority live in the northern tip of Rakhine state, where an aggressive campaign by authorities in recent months to register family members and officially categorize them as "Bengalis", implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh.
Borders are divisions whereby government elites tell one another and their respective populations where they believe they have jurisdiction that legitimise their use of coercive force. Borders are controlled in order to monitor the movements of goods and peoples. There are certain positives to some aspects of the border controls, such as animal quarantine checks, but they could still exist in the absence of national divisions. The detention and deportation regime is the shameful, unspoken side of border policing. People detained in places like Harmondsworth or Yarls Wood hardly ever get a mention in the media, unless they’re part of some fear-driven statistic about ‘illegal immigrants’ out to ruin Britain. Their names, cases and suffering go unknown to most and their contact with the outside world is restricted to visiting hours only. Thousands of attempted suicides and many deaths have been reported in UK detention centres since the regime began, but not a lot has changed – the detention centres stay open and the deportations continue.
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