What do meat, drugs and refugees have in common?
All three
are subject to being smuggled into Britain (and elsewhere no doubt). The Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) recently reported the quantity of
illicit meat discovered on its way through Dover had risen from 13 tonnes
between January and April 2023 to 70 tonnes for the same period in 2025.
The twin
concern is that foot and mouth disease could easily be imported this way, and
lack of quality control threatens public health via human consumption.
Both drugs
and (especially at the moment) refugees being smuggled is a frequent media item.
The real
common denominator is, of course, profit. Smuggling is an entrepreneurial
activity, economically motivated. Illegality is merely an obstacle to be
circumvented. It is a capitalist enterprise centred on financial return on
dealing in commodities.
People are
readily reduced to being commodities by dint of becoming refugees seeking
non-legal routes to asylum.
National
borders serve to provide a context for exploitation.
By sea or by air
Lines drawn on maps prove nothing
Crossed by bottom lines
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