Red Light Politics
Welcome to my short form Tumblr blog. My name is Flavia Tamara Dzodan, I am a business developer, writer, public speaker, ideas instigator, content creator, media facilitator and trend watcher living in Amsterdam.
This Tumblr is about the spaces and intersections between politics, culture, race and gender matters with some humor and pop culture thrown in the mix.
My long reads blog is Red Light Politics.
I also blog at Tiger Beatdown.
If you would like to know more about me, visit this page .
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Noted Elsewhere
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“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”— Audre Lorde in Sister Outsider.
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I’d be very upset if I worked at Fage USA and had to drive every (Monday) morning to:
1 Opportunity Drive.I suppose that neighbourhood has...
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“Prison relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and,...”
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When the Lesser Of Two Evils Isn't Enough
by Mia McKenzie
Yesterday, I wrote a post called Michelle Obama...
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Try not to forget why they came to the United States of America, and though the specific circumstances may differ, you’ll find that hundreds of...
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Taken with Instagram
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Haarlem, Netherlands (by Epicantus)
Tag Results
57 posts tagged immigration
“The G4S security guard in charge of restraining an Angolan man who died as he was being deported from Britain was told in court to read out a string of racist jokes he received and forwarded using his mobile phone.”
G4S guard in dead deportee case shared racist jokes | UK news | The Guardian
Remember everything I’ve been documenting about the multimillionaire business of G4S in the administration of detention and deportation of undocumented people in Europe? The above quote comes from a court proceeding in the UK yesterday.
“I have a personal interest in this story because Jason Richwine was awarded a fellowship from my employer, the American Enterprise Institute, in 2008–09, and I reviewed the draft of his dissertation. A rereading of the dissertation last weekend confirmed my recollection that Richwine had meticulously assembled and analyzed the test-score data, which showed exactly what he said they showed: mean IQ-score differences between Latinos and non-Latino whites, found consistently across many datasets and across time after taking factors such as language proficiency and cultural bias into account. I had disagreements then and now about his policy recommendations, but not about the empirical accuracy of his research or the scholarly integrity of the interpretations with which I disagreed.”
In Defense of Jason Richwine | National Review Online
Remember when last week the guy behind the Heritage Foundation report against immigration reform in the US was found to be a proponent of eugenics? For those who might not be familiar, The Heritage Foundation released a report claiming that the currently discussed reform would cost the State trillions (I love hyperbolic figures pulled out of white rich dude’s asses, by the way… QUADRILLIONS! QUINTILLIONS! The tomato pickers that have been barely surviving with exploitative labor and yet pumping money into our economy will cost us QUINTILLIONS if we give them dignity in the form of a residence card! IMAGINE THE SOCIAL UPHEAVAL! etc). Anyway, I digress…
Turns out that the author of the inflammatory report was found to be a proponent of eugenics, claiming that non Whites have lower IQs than the White American population. His proposition was that Latin@s should have their IQs tested before being granted any residency status (of course, “discarding” those who are below a certain IQ). In 2009, in his Harvard dissertation he wrote:
The statistical construct known as IQ can reliably estimate general mental ability, or intelligence. The average IQ of immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations. The consequences are a lack of socioeconomic assimilation among low-IQ immigrant groups, more underclass behavior, less social trust, and an increase in the proportion of unskilled workers in the American labor market. Selecting high-IQ immigrants would ameliorate these problems in the U.S., while at the same time benefiting smart potential immigrants who lack educational access in their home countries.
I won’t waste a second of my time trying to rebuke eugenics ideologies that personally implicate me (after all, I am one of those Latin@s with supposedly low IQs that is about to bring down the demise of the purity of Western White civilization… and you know what? I hope my “stupid” is contagious and I indeed ruin their purity with my presence but again, I digress). So, rather than trying to unpack his statements which do not deserve an ounce of consideration, I wanted to point out the beginning of the “polite right wing” circling of the wagons. This is not some Tea Party uncouth histrionics, this is the rich right wing claiming that eugenics deserve to be taken into account and that attacks on these ideas are based on misguided political correctness. The National Review, of course, enlists the apologists who begin the above mentioned circling of wagons:
I have a personal interest in this story because Jason Richwine was awarded a fellowship from my employer, the American Enterprise Institute, in 2008–09, and I reviewed the draft of his dissertation. A rereading of the dissertation last weekend confirmed my recollection that Richwine had meticulously assembled and analyzed the test-score data, which showed exactly what he said they showed: mean IQ-score differences between Latinos and non-Latino whites, found consistently across many datasets and across time after taking factors such as language proficiency and cultural bias into account. I had disagreements then and now about his policy recommendations, but not about the empirical accuracy of his research or the scholarly integrity of the interpretations with which I disagreed.
The data sets are correct! These people are indeed stupid! Incidentally, The National Review seems more equal opportunity White Supremacist and brings up the claim that Blacks have even lower IQs so, why miss the opportunity to single out one minority when you can also highlight everyone else’s supposed racial deficiencies in the process?
To my fellow Latin@s living in the US, I can only offer my sympathy. Here in The Netherlands, the notion that we are deficient and have lower IQs has gained mainstream momentum (Ha! we are ahead of the curve in White Supremacist eugenics! talk about being trendsetters). Pretty much like The National Review, in The Netherlands, the claims of lower IQ were also “backed with scientific data”. We don’t need to look too far away into history to know the kind of people who took a similar approach and made analogous “scientific” claims to create policy.
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In a security message, the embassy said the State Department’s travel section had been “updated to inform U.S. citizens of a rise in unprovoked harassment and violent attacks against persons who, because of their complexion, are perceived to be foreign migrants. U.S. citizens most at risk are those of African, Asian, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern descent in Athens and other major cities.”
The travel advice on Greece also said the embassy “has confirmed reports of U.S. African-American citizens detained by police authorities conducting sweeps for illegal immigrants in Athens.”
”European values
Cue in outrage from Europeans that simply “cannot believe this is happening!”, etc. (even though shit like this happens every day across all of the EU). Insert reference about Greece being “the cradle of civilization” and the “birthplace of philosophy”, etc… via Police silent in Greece on migrant’s jail ordeal - The Irish Times
As reported in the The Irish Times on Tuesday, earlier this month, Walid Taleb (29) was abducted and tortured by the baker, for whom he worked, in an 18-hour ordeal in a stable on the Greek island of Salamina. Mr Taleb, chained during the attack, said the baker, his son and two accomplices threatened to kill him and bury him in the outhouse.
Mr Taleb, who is an undocumented migrant from Egypt, managed to escape when his tormentors left to open the bakery the following morning.
He was then taken to hospital for treatment but medics said there was no need to keep him in. Police then subsequently kept him in a cell with criminal suspects at Salamina police station for three nights, before taking him to Athens central aliens bureau, where preparations were made to deport him to Egypt.
First tortured and beaten by racists, then jailed and now deported. This is the kind of “justice” undocumented persons can expect in the European Union.
My latest about reports of undocumented migration into the EU. From the piece:
For added emotional effect and in case anyone was under the impression that these are human beings moving across borders, the Wall Street Journal quotes Austrian Home Affairs Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner who described the Greek-Turkish border “as open as a barn door”. You know, a barn where untamed animals might escape from and the not so subtle implication that anyone leaving outside EU borders is some kind of beast; I suppose any association to Orwell’s Animal Farm was unintended for Minister Mikl-Leitner.
“Nearly 700,000 illegal migrants were apprehended in Turkey within the period 1995-2007 while the number of apprehended human smugglers in the same period was 1,242.”
Migrant Deaths Highlights Problem with Illegal Immigration in Turkey, Greece
700,000 people tried to cross through Turkey in the course of 12 years. I think it is time we stop enabling the current framework in the European Union that addresses all cases of undocumented migration as “asylum seekers” or “refugees”. This is not merely the result of political and or war related struggles. This is also inherently connected to poverty, the rule of corporations, centuries of colonial interventions and the depletion of resources, the imposition of institutions like the World Bank and the IMF and the economic measures that only bring poverty and decimate communities.
The EU presents the issue in an hegemonic manner (i.e. everyone trying to reach the continent is a “refugee” or an “asylum seeker”), avoiding to address this situation for what it is: a humanitarian catastrophe borne out of centuries of exploitation by the very same structures of power that now criminalize these people.
Every undocumented migrant is a political immigrant. Just because the EU refuses to acknowledge it doesn’t make it less so.
An estimated 140 people died in the Mediterranean Sea this past weekend attempting to reach the European Union. I wrote about this and the estimated 1,800 that died in 2011 alone.
“Following a fact-finding mission (29.02.- 02.03.2012) the Greek Council for Refugees reported: “Complaints often concerned incidents where migrants were forced into the sea, with their clothes on and in freezing weather conditions, to stay in cold water up to their necks and then once out of the water were made to stand still for hours in their wet clothes, until they freeze (…). In addition, there were reports of migrants who were forced to stay on their hands and knees, while port authority officers would sit on them. In other cases, the victims were forced to take off their clothes, stand still with their legs extended, and beaten every time they moved. Furthermore, as we have been told, the authorities often destroy or confiscate migrants’ personal belongings – even food or their shoes. The port officers unleash their dogs, sometimes leading to serious injuries from dog bites or falls when migrants try to escape them.”
From a report released by Pro-Asyl Foundation about the ill treatment of migrants and refugees in Greece.
A couple of things come to mind here:
Europeans and their outrage over Guantanamo Bay and the torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib would do well to read about the ways that the European Union itself treats undocumented migrants and asylum seekers.
When European media reports right wing violence in Greece, the issue is presented as the result of disillusioned fringe groups that should be brought to justice. That is obviously not the case and the involvement of both Greek government officials and Frontex employees proves otherwise. Just to give one more example, from the same report:
A public discourse exemplified by Minister Loverdos of the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, routinely refers to migrants in Greece as a “hygienic bomb”, a “threat to public health” and a “financial burden” on the health system.
There is nothing isolated in these incidents. They are part of a continent wide policy of exclusion and dehumanization. These supposed “fringe groups” taking matters on their own hands now are nothing more than the normalization of this violence.
“Rarely could charity have had such negative connotations as on Wednesday in Syntagma Square, central Athens, where neofascist Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) handed out free food to passers-by, as long as they could prove they were Greek.”
ekathimerini.com | Charity begins at home
From the report:
The discrimination exercised in how food was handed out or the fact that Golden Dawn defied a ban by the City of Athens to use the capital’s main square for its event is the least of Greek society’s worries. There was something much darker, more malignant going in Syntagma Square. Anyone wanting to avail themselves of the far-right party’s “generosity” was asked to produce an ID card proving they were Greek. This document was then taken by party members, who recorded all the details.
Some very worrying developments have been taking place in Greece in the past couple of days. The “food for Greeks” mentioned here took place on Thursday. And on Sunday, thousands of migrants were rounded up by police and detained. This is no coincidence, this is systematic.
“ATHENS — Greek police vowed Sunday not to relent in their efforts to evict undocumented immigrants after a sweep they said had netted 1,130 in central Athens over the weekend.
Police said a total of 4,900 people were rounded up in the capital on Saturday, of which 1,130 were detained. “The police operation to evict undocumented immigrants will continue,” a statement said.”
AFP: Greek police detains 1,130 immigrants
From the news:
Operation Xenios Zeus, named after the name of the king of the ancient Greek gods in his role as protector of guests, mobilised 2,000 police in Athens and another 2,500 on Greece’s eastern border with Turkey.
Police spokesman Christos Manouras said Saturday the operation was a necessity for debt-laden Greece’s national survival.
“We must send the message that Greece cannot afford work and hospitality” to would-be immigrants, he said.[…]
But as the country struggles with a crippling economic crisis and sweeping austerity cuts, social tensions are on the rise and the increase in undocumented immigrants has fuelled xenophobia and racist attacks.
For the first time in Greek political history, the country in June voted into parliament a neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, which has promised to purge the country of illegal migrants.
Crypto Breivik ideologies in Dutch mainstream media
Yesterday, the NRC, one of the main newspapers in The Netherlands, in its printed edition, published a short but damning column against immigration in Europe and more specifically, in The Netherlands. The title of this piece is “The biggest historical mistake”. Unsurprisingly, the writer’s conclusion is that immigration is bad for the country because it diminishes trust among the population. His premise is that a diverse people do not trust each other due to racial and ethnic differences and that such lack of trust is detrimental to the country’s well being. “In communities with more ethnic homogeneity, the trust among people is higher”. This is what passes for “information” in one of the best read newspapers.
However, as if the above wasn’t alarming enough, the column draws supporting data (and I use the term data very loosely here), from a book called “The immigration taboo. Ten scientists about facts”. This pamphlet pushes the idea that the reason foreigners do not “integrate” into Dutch society because of lower IQ levels and it supposedly legitimizes such outrageously racist statement through “scientific” facts.
Since the writer mentions not only the book itself but also the publishing house behind it, Uitgeverij van Praag, I checked out what other material they produce and to the surprise of none, I found out that they publish gems such as this one “On, on to the battle to liberate Jerusalem!”, a book described as “not the usually politically correct nonsense to demonize the crusades”. It doesn’t escape me that Breivik himself was obsessed with this topic and saw the crusades as a fundamental founding moment of European identity and sought to vindicate the war against Muslims, Islam and the Arab world as not only necessary but key to the “survival of Europe”.
That people like the writer of this column, the writer of the book vindicating the Crusades and those behind the publishing house exist doesn’t surprise me. What does shock me is that Dutch mainstream media legitimizes this racism and places it on the public opinion as “fact”. These are the “facts” later on used by politicians and other media to justify more draconian measures and downplay the deadly results of these policies and rhetoric. Then, when immigrants are murdered (as was a Turkish man less than a month ago because of his ethnicity), writers and media pretend that such murders are a deviation, not the norm. Well, NRC just proves how the machinery for the normalization of violence against the Other operates. And they are among those firmly leading the path.
July 26th European Union Undocumented Death Calendar
(Check here for background information about this commemoration of people who died as a result of Fortress Europe’s policies against undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers).
Fortress Europe recorded deaths for July 26th:
- 26/07/95 1 N.N. (36, man) from Bosnia, committed suicide, jumped from a window of his accommodation on the 6th floor in Berlin (Germany)
- 26/07/97 1 Mihai Sandu (25) from Romania, committed suicide, found drowned near Oldenburg (Germany) shortly after threat of deportation
- 26/07/98 5 N.N. bodies, Unknown nationalities, drowned near Cadiz (Spain) while trying to reach Spain in small boat
- 26/07/04 1 N.N. (man) from Sub-Saharan-Africa (nationality unknown) dead body found floating near the coast of Melilla (Spain)
- 26/07/06 1 Sadedim (child of unknown age) from Macedonia, died without medical care in asylum centre Sweikhuizen, Geeuwenburg (The Netherlands)
- 26/07/06 17 N.N. bodies, from Sub-Saharan Africa (nationalities unknown) reportedly drowned, all bodies missing, boat from Libya to Italy sank off Mahdia (Tunez)
Total 26 deaths on July 26th since 1995. Source.
July 24th European Union Undocumented Death Calendar
(Check here for background information about this commemoration of people who died as a result of Fortress Europe’s policies against undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers).
Fortress Europe recorded deaths for July 24th:
- 24/07/99 9 N.N. bodies, from Morocco, drowned, small boat hit rocks while trying to reach the Canary Islands (Spain)
- 24/07/99 1 N.N. (28 years old, woman) from Vietnam, burned (with her two children) in fire in refugee centre in Bad Kreuznach (Germany)
- 24/07/99 2 N.N. children (3 and 6 years old) from Vietnam, burned in fire in refugee centre in Bad Kreuznach (Germany)
- 24/07/00 2 N.N. bodies (men) from North Africa (unknown nationalities) found near Ceuta (Spain), reportedly drowned trying to reach Spain
- 24/07/00 2 N.N. bodies (men) from Kurdistan, drowned, after falling into the Adriatic Sea (Italy) in a collision with a police boat
- 24/07/00 2 N.N. bodies (1 woman, 1 man) Africa (nationalities unknown) found dead near Tarifa (Spain), reportedly drowned trying to reach Spain
- 24/07/06 3 N.N. bodies (2 men; one 24 year old woman) unknown nationalities, reportedly drowned; bodies found by coast guards on a beach in Gela (I)
- 24/07/06 2 N.N. bodies, from Sub-Saharan Africa (nationalities unknown), found dead of hypothermia in boat with 48 survivors arrived Islands Gran Canaria (Spain)
Total 23 deaths on July 24th since 1999. Source.
July 23rd European Union Undocumented Death Calendar
(Check here for background information about this commemoration of people who died as a result of Fortress Europe’s policies against undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers).
Fortress Europe recorded deaths for July 23rd:
- 23/07/93 1 Nazmieh Chahrour (23, woman) from Palestine, committed suicide in prison in Berlin (Germany) after being told she would be deported
- 23/07/00 1 N.N. (young man) from Morocco, drowned near Algeciras (Spain) after shipwreck of a boat carrying other 36 migrants
- 23/07/00 1 N.N. (±22 years old, woman) from Morocco, found dead near Ceuta (Spain), drowned trying to reach Spain
- 23/07/04 1 Tung Tran Quang (23, man) from Vietnam, committed suicide, found hanged at Dungavel detention center (Scotland, Great Britain),he was denied interpreter
- 23/07/06 4 N.N. bodies, Sub-Saharan Africa (unknown nationalities) committed suicide: abandoned boat during their way to arrive in Gran Canaria (Spain)
- 23/07/06 4 N.N. bodies Sub-Saharan Africa (unknown nationalities) died of starvation, thrown overboard boat with 48 survivors arrived Gran Canaria (Spain)
- 23/07/07 29 N.N. bodies, from Comoros Islands, 2 died, 27 missing, boat sank off Mayotte Island (French colony) in Indian Ocean from Comoros Islands
- 23/07/07 3 N.N. bodies, unknown nationalities, drowned, 2 found, 1 missing near the coasts of Malta
- 23/07/08 24 N.N. bodies, unknown nationalities, reportedly drowned, 6 dead, 18 missing, boat sank between Mayotte (French colony) and Comoros Islands.
Total 68 deaths on July 23rd since 1993. Source.
July 22nd European Union Undocumented Death Calendar
(Check here for background information about this commemoration of people who died as a result of Fortress Europe’s policies against undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers).
Fortress Europe recorded deaths for July 22nd:
- 22/07/00 2 N.N. body, unknown nationality, found dead near Tarifa (Spain), reportedly drowned trying to reach Spain
- 22/07/01 1 N.N. body (woman) Africa (unknown nationality) asylum seeker, died as result of conditions of detention in Turkey
- 22/07/06 2 N.N. bodies, unknown nationalities, found on board of a rescued boat on way to Canay Island (Spain)
- 22/07/06 2 N.N. bodies (men) Sub-Saharan Africa (unknown nationalities) died of starvation in Hospital after had been rescued in ship arrived at Tenerife (Spain)
- 22/07/07 2 N.N. bodies, unknown nationalities, drowned, 80 km from Libyan coast after their boat collided with a fisher boat
Total 9 deaths on July 22nd since 2000. Source.
