Rising Hate For Migrants Worldwide Starts With Criminalizing Them

[AlphaCentauri]

This Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of International Migrants Day and the 20th anniversary of the passage of the U.N. Convention to Protect Migrant Workers. This is an important moment to reflect on the fact that today nearly one billion people are on the move across the world, and they are increasingly the target of hatred and violence. That’s why I am celebrating International Migrants Day by signing the pledge to respect immigrants everywhere by dropping the i-word and demanding that the media do the same.

Politicians and media alike use the word “illegal” to describe human beings without immigration status, sometimes shortening “illegal immigrant” to “illegals.” While this may seem trivial to some, the language of criminality plays an enormous part in moving people along the continuum from language to violent behavior. Calling people “illegal,” describing them in ways that make them less them human, recasts them as members of an undeserving sub-class that are owed less respect than what would otherwise be acceptable for “regular” human beings.

We know that, leading up to and during World War II, language was a powerful factor in moving an ideological and genocidal agenda. The language of elimination of an entire race—described as the “final solution”—was used frequently and without apology. In the decades following the Holocaust, this kind of language was widely condemned and deemed unacceptable. And yet, as recently as this year, we have seen genocidal language directed at migrants worldwide.

Consider the recent statement of the deputy mayor of the Italian city of Treviso in relation to the issue of the undocumented Roma migrants: “I want a revolution against gypsies … I want to eliminate all the gypsy children who steal.”

Or consider the United States, where anti-immigrant extremists have painted a picture of all-out warfare that threatens the very idea of nationhood. Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan claimed on MSNBC that the influx of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. is “an invasion, the greatest invasion in history … the last scene is the deconstruction of the nations.”

The leap from fear mongering to violence—vigilantism or state-sponsored—is surprisingly short. The imagery of war and warfare helps to up the ante. After all, if this is really war, we must protect “our own.”

http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/12/rising_hate_for_migrants_worldwide_starts_with_criminalizing_them.html

[PDJane]

1. Taking away citizenship and visas is the next step.

Making people stateless means it's much easier to deprive them of life, too.

[AlphaCentauri]

2. stateless and unlawful n/t