Criminalisation of asylum seekers fine tunes system to oppress others

THE decision of 33 Afghans to embark on a hunger strike in Dublin rather than face deportation highlights the grim plight of asylum seekers in contemporary Ireland — and throughout fortress Europe.

It comes during a week when the right-wing Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, revealed that 100 young people, including teenagers, have gone on the run in Ireland rather than face deportation under the racist 1995 Refugee Act and still more racist 1999 Immigration Act.

In Ireland, as in Britain, the criminalisation of asylum seekers isn’t just immoral, it affords a cutting edge in the perfection of repressive state machinery that can then be used against trade unionists, democratic rights and other layers of dissent.