Refugees, Capitalism and the British State; Implications for Social Workers, Volunteers and Activists

Abstract

Vickers provides an important and timely analysis of state policies to control and contain refugees and asylum seekers in Britain today. At a time of economic crisis and wholesale attacks on the working class, its value is in a re-engagement with Marxism as a tool to understand both the global causes of the mass displacement of millions and the methods used by the British state to manage the relatively small number who find their way here. The book reminds us of Britain's role as an oppressor nation fostering a parasitic relationship with the oppressed countries from which refugees come. These ‘super-exploited’ modern migrants prop up British capital both in their countries of origin and once resident here. This ‘Imperialist System’ relies on the international division of the working class and Vickers shows how crisis in advanced capitalism is an inherent, not accidental, part of it. The persistence and nature of racism in Britain are described in the context of this nationalism and imperialism to produce a framework for understanding asylum policy and practice. The prohibition of paid work for those seeking asylum, their enforced dispersal around Britain into fear, insecurity and poverty, wholesale destitution, the use of detention and, for the majority, eventual deportation are vividly illustrated. Of particular interest to social work is Vickers's unpacking of government policy as a deliberate strategy of exclusion and separation from the host working class which uses welfare delivery as a key mechanism. As public spending is seen as constantly under threat in these times of escalating economic crisis, a ‘reconfigured British nation’ may be persuaded to stomach the impoverishment and repression of refugees on an unprecedented scale.