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The use of these unsuitable camps is part of Priti Patel’s performance of nationalism. They should be closed now
Almost a year into the pandemic, it can be easy to forget just how much power we have handed over to our governments. While the public health reasons for doing so are obvious, the danger remains that measures to limit the spread of coronavirus will shade into ways of containing populations that states find unwelcome or inconvenient.
If you want to know what that looks like, then pay close attention to the UK’s asylum system. On Friday afternoon, a serious fire broke out at the Napier barracks in Kent, one of several former military sites that were repurposed last year by the Home Office as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers. Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with the fire, which Kent police say they believe was started deliberately. Continue reading...