‘Invasion’ looks at the small boats crisis, first addressed by Ross in Still Life. With so much poisonous rhetoric in the political discourse, with the othering of the people fleeing intolerable circumstances caused by war, famine, persecution and political upheaval. The Nationality and Borders Act, has made asylum claims inadmissible from those who travel to the UK on small boats, preventing them from ever claiming asylum in the UK’ and granting new powers to detain refugees without effective judicial oversight.
‘There are no safe and legal routes for people seeking asylum. The immigration rules make no provision for any person to come (or apply to come) to the UK for the purpose of making an asylum claim.’ Amnesty International
Listening to Suella Braverman speaking about “stopping the invasion on our southern coast”, we may think Britain is at war. The ‘invasion’ metaphor is dangerous as it assumes the motives of refugees, are that of an invading army, a plundering force, hell bent on aggression, while negating the often complex and traumatic experiences the asylum seekers have had to endure in order to arrive a place of safety. The unapologetic use of inflammatory language plays into the hands of militant right wing groups and spreads disinformation about asylum seekers through social media. This is illustrated by some MP’s suggesting a concealed darker force at work, behind what was a heartbreaking tragedy, resulting in widespread rioting on our streets.
