Migration & Borders / An Inquiry into the Present.

The crisis of 2008 didn’t trigger the xenophobia and racism we see across Europe but has certainly exacerbated it. As the borders of Fortress Europe tighten those migrants that do arrive become a pool of easily exploitable labour. Alongside the border regime we want to discuss the rise of far-right groups and the increasing mainstreaming of xenophobic opinion. We will also discuss how migrants and their allies are resisting this xenophobia and racism, looking, for example, at the Calais Migrant struggles, the Anti-Raids network, and the campaign to close Yarl’s Wood.

This inquiry we will attempt to use our diverse collective knowledge, experiences, stories and ideas to construct a genealogy to map our a history. Each inquiry is orientated around a “lens”. A lens, like what we would imagine a lens to be, is a perspective we can look through that enables us to see the world with a particular emphasis, from a different angle so to expose the parts of the world we may miss and passby.

We want to better understand the present, why are things the way they are, what events and moments have occurred that have had significant effects on the course of struggle – an intersectional class struggle – that illustrate deeper understandings of the shifts and needs of a capital accumulation, how these events relate or not to each other, if they define a break with the past, suggesting that what is now is different to what was before – how does this then effect what we do?

We envisage this to be autodidactic, self-educational sessions to produce collaborative and collective narratives and understandings of the political terrain we are operating upon.

Some things that might be touched upon: What can we see happening now that is an image of the future? Ours and “theirs”? What are the limits exist to forming a movement that attempts to face the totality of capitalism? What does it mean for the way we have currently struggled, to struggle more effectively? What demands can be raised to articulate these new struggles?

Each inquiry will have a facilitator and invited contributors to help lead off the discussions. We want your ideas and participation to do the rest.

Some suggested reading:

An introduction to Calais

A interview with Aderonke Apata

Birth Tourism (Imogen Tyler)

How Britain disappears its citizens