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Mainstream, Vol 63 No 4, January 25, 2025
Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Jan 25, 2025
Sunday 26 January 2025
#socialtagsLetter to the Readers, Mainstream
As we mark 80 years of the liberation of German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz [1], the openly reactionary, xenophobic, populist far-right quick fix is popular around the world [2]. Right-wing parties and their ideas have big appeal — we have seen this for some time in the UK, Israel, India, Italy, Brazil, Poland, Hungary, and Argentina the numbers are growing in France, Germany [3], [4], [5], [6]. The fear of being engulfed is the key propaganda tool used by the far right. India’s ruling party the BJP has long propagated the propaganda over the influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators, and a fear of a deluge of illegal migration. As Delhi assembly elections approach, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the right-wing BJP are in a competitive match to show which of them is more anti-immigrant [7]. Donald Trump, the newly elected American president with much popular support swears by many key themes dear to the far right [8], [9]; Xenophobic, anti-immigrant rhetoric targeting illegal or irregular migrants sits on top of these prescriptions to fix law and order. The question of border regulation to stave off illegal migration has already been big in the US and Europe. Millions have been deported from the US over the past decade, the highest figures date to the Obama years [10]. Britain has a deal with Rwanda for deportation and resettlement of unwanted migrants… [11] Soon after his swearing-in, Trump ordered that military be sent to secure the border and a rounding up of illegal migrants should begin in the USA leading to their eventual deportation. The several thousand Afghans who served the American forces in Afghanistan & were waiting immigration clearance & flights to the US have been told off [12]. According to a 2024 PEW report [13] there are some 725,000 undocumented Indian migrants in America, but we find no reportage in India over the causes of this illegal migration from India. The media in India essentially focuses on the issues and demands of legal migration of skilled professionals & students from India who queue up to head to North America, Europe, Australia and the oil-rich countries of the Gulf and ducks, the continuing parallel flow of illegal migration from India. Media in India has failed to document the propaganda, false demographic statistics, fear mongering & fake news by the ruling BJP associated outfits about the ‘foreigner’ ‘outsider’ —Bangladeshi [14], [15], [16] and Rohingya migration to India [17]. Readers would do well to remember how the Government of India treated the millions of undocumented internal migrant workers who had to leave our big cities upon losing jobs during the COVID-19 shutdowns [18]. It is time for Left parties & trade unions to run teaching-ins, weekend schools and educate the public on the street against xenophobia and to show compassion and equal treatment towards people all regional, ethnic & national origins. State governments run by secular opposition parties must fund & support educational efforts & criminalise negative portrayals of migrants and all sectarian agendas to divide society.
January 25, 2025 —HK
[1] https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/01/25/work-under-way-to-mark-80-years-since-liberation-of-auschwitz-nazi-death-camp
[5] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/02/26/despite-legal-charges-jair-bolsonaro-is-as-popular-as-ever-with-his-brazilian-base_6559512_4.html
[6] https://theconversation.com/make-europe-great-again-far-right-hungary-takes-over-presidency-of-the-council-of-the-european-union-233566
[7] https://www.livemint.com/elections/delhi-election-dates-schedule-2025-live-updates-election-commission-of-india-poll-result-date-aap-bjp-cong-11736223941798.html
[11] https://theconversation.com/how-the-uks-plan-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-is-21st-century-imperialism-writ-large-181501
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/world/asia/trump-executive-order-immigration-afghanistan.html
[13] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/
[14] https://www.tbsnews.net/world/south-asia/maharashtra-delhi-crackdown-illegal-bangladeshis-india-1024301
[16] https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-govt-to-schools-scan-for-kids-of-illegal-migrants-from-bangladesh-9741281/