Abstract
In the week commencing 24 October 2016, demolition of the Calais ‘jungle’ camp was officially initiated. The workers surrounded by the armed riot police tore down the wooden shacks using ‘sledgehammers and chainsaws’; bulldozers moved in later during the week, to fully clear out the ‘ramshackle shantytown’ (Mirror). The tabloid press in Britain pursued the subject intensely and obsessively. They reported ‘furious refugees’ protested against demolition (The Sun), set camp on fire (Telegraph) and ‘fought’ a ‘pitched battle’ with police—terming it ‘The Battle of Calais’ (Daily Mail). The ‘jungle’ camp was ‘finally destroyed’ (Daily Mail), which was portrayed as a victory over ‘invaders’, ‘illegals’, transgressors and security ‘threats’, who wanted to bring misery and instability to ‘soft touch’ Britain (The Sun; Daily Mail). Immediately after the demolition, the French prefect of Pas-de-Calais Fabienne Buccio released a statement outlining that it is a ‘mission accomplished’ and ‘there are no migrants in the camp’— news largely welcomed by the right-wing and tabloid press. However, this was neither the beginning nor the end.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Even when the word ‘illegal’ is not used in the articles, the illegal frame is still operative and illegality of migrants is implied.
- 3.
- 4.
On 24 June 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union (termed as Brexit). This could potentially result in renegotiating the current freedom of movement agreement set in place.
- 5.
- 6.
This happened regardless of the fact that Le Touquet was not a European Treaty, but rather a bilateral agreement between two countries and had no direct relevance to Britain’s exit from the European Union.
- 7.
- 8.
As per the deal, Britain agreed to grant work permits to 1000 Iraqi Kurds from the Sangatte centre and take a proportion of Afghan families.
- 9.
Note: it is important to also recognise that post EU enlargement in 2004, the Eastern European migrants have come to represent ‘degenerate’ whiteness (just as Jews and Irish before them), and media coverage has often referred to ‘cultural differences’ in law breaking and associated them with illegal activities (Anderson 2013). Up until this stage, they have escaped the term ‘illegal’ migrants, due to being part of the EU. Nevertheless, this could change post-BREXIT, depending on the manner in which media and politicians racialise and represent their status and existence in the country.
- 10.
A few months later, Donald Trump publicly declared her as a ‘respected columnist’ and praised her ‘powerful writing’.
- 11.
The online version contains videos as well as images.
- 12.
In another article, a 14-year-old unaccompanied child from Afghanistan died in similar circumstances. The driver swerved left and right to knock him off the vehicle. Ironically, in this case, the tabloids acknowledged the desperation of children and dangers they face. However, such acknowledgement largely occurred after their deaths (another example would be that of a four-year-old child refugee Aylan Kurdi). Nevertheless, during the dismantling of the camp, Britain took handful of unaccompanied minors, and tabloids ended up waging a negative campaign, calling them fraudulent and adults posing to be children. As Berry et al. (2016) have highlighted, when compared to other European countries the portrayal of refugees in British press has been the most negative.
- 13.
- 14.
Important note: Even if the crime has occurred (as defined by the criminal law)—it needs to be contextualised against the dire circumstances in the ‘jungle’ wastelands, life in limbo, poverty and desperation (also see Bhatia 2015).
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Bhatia, M. (2018). Social Death: The (White) Racial Framing of the Calais ‘Jungle’ and ‘Illegal’ Migrants in the British Tabloids and Right-Wing Press. In: Bhatia, M., Poynting, S., Tufail, W. (eds) Media, Crime and Racism. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71776-0_10
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