"Over the past couple of weeks, Shabana Mahmood has launched not only her new asylum crackdown policy, but also her story. The two are inseparable: her story justifies the crackdown. It moralises the crackdown. And it silences criticism of the crackdown. Sold as an origin story from within an immigrant and racialised experience, the purpose is to imbue her politics with sacred authenticity the credibility of the first person. It is clever and effective. It is cynical and disgraceful."
"She goes on to tell us that immigration is tearing this country apart, and proposes policies that mean UK-born children, who have known no life anywhere else, will be deported. As she launches policies that will leave refugees homeless and without support, tear families apart, punish those legally in the country for claiming any benefits and make settlement and security a long and arduous process, Mahmood declares: this is a moral mission for me."
Shabana Mahmood pairs a new asylum crackdown with a personal immigrant-origin narrative to justify and moralise punitive measures. The narrative is presented as authentic testimony that confers credibility and shields policy from criticism. The proposed measures would deport UK-born children, leave refugees homeless and unsupported, break up families, penalise legally resident benefit claimants, and complicate settlement and security. Racism and xenophobia are framed as predictable responses to generous immigrant rights, suggesting reducing rights will ease social tensions. The personal persecution claim is used to preempt accusations of divisive rhetoric and to present the crackdown as a moral mission.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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