Government officials and the capitalist media are waging this campaign in the name of cracking down on smugglers of immigrants.

The 58 workers, plus two who survived, had traveled in a refrigerated lorry (truck) on a ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium. They are believed to have died from suffocation or dehydration.

The truck's doors had been locked from the outside, the refrigeration unit was switched off, and the outside temperature was 91 degrees that day.

The surviving workers were taken to a hospital, where authorities intend to interrogate them once they are conscious. The driver of the truck, a Dutch citizen, was arrested.

Media reports have focused on the traffickers who organize the transportation of immigrants to this country. Home Secretary Jack Straw declared before Parliament June 19, "The incident was a terrible human tragedy that must serve as a warning to others who might be tempted to place their fate in the hands of traffickers." He added, "The government is determined to continue to crack down on the evil trade in such trafficking, whose perpetrators have no regard for human life."

The target of the British cops, courts, and capitalist politicians, however, has been immigrant workers. And the government crackdown is driving many to resort to increasingly dangerous ways of entering the country.  
 
Refugees denied social security
In November 1999 a new Asylum and Immigration Act was adopted. In announcing this legislation, Straw declared, "We need a system which reduces the incentive to economic migration and which recognizes that what the genuine asylum seeker needs is food and shelter, not a giro cheque." Asylum seekers are now barred from receiving social security payments, and can only receive vouchers for use in supermarkets and £10 ( $15) cash a week. At the same time, they are prohibited from working while seeking asylum.

In March this year Straw announced a crackdown on immigrants who are caught begging. People seeking asylum who are arrested and convicted for this activity will be put on a fast track to be deported.

In the lead-up to the London mayoral and city council elections in May, both Conservative and Labour Party leaders sought to outbid each other on the draconian steps they proposed to take against immigrants. Straw suggested that in the future, all visitors from the Indian subcontinent should put up a bond of £10,000 ($15,000) during their stay.

Conservative leader William Hague proposed that all asylum seekers be housed in the misnamed "reception centers"--converted military and hospital sites, such as one already established in Oakington, where new immigrants are to be detained.

Then, on June 16 Straw announced new proposals that would stipulate that people apply for political asylum from the country they were fleeing.

The latest deaths of immigrant workers has highlighted the debate in ruling circles over immigration policy. The various arguments raised all share the British capitalists' framework of using immigrants as a source of superexploited labor and their efforts to pit working people against each other. That is the purpose of the restrictions on immigration and other measures.

The Times of London, for example, stated in an editorial that tighter controls on immigration "should not be the only response." It argued that "all the controls that can be devised cannot block this flow entirely," and commented favorably on U.S. and Canadian measures that, while policing workers, "have highly effective visa programmes to attract skilled manpower."

Likewise, the right-wing Daily Telegraph ran an editorial hailing the fact that "people want to work, even for such derisory sums," referring to the second-class wages and living conditions imposed on immigrant workers.

Meanwhile, thousands were expected to march through London June 24 to protest the asylum laws. The demonstration has been widely publicized. Mobilizing meetings have been held in many cities.

Pete Clifford is a member of the Transport and General Workers' Union.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home