Monday, 3 February 2014

Why I oppose immigration detention camps


I am left-wing and I'm not ashamed of it. I get an awful lot of criticism from right-wing people, which is understandable given that I openly support ideas that they despise (such as nationalisation of natural monopolies, social justice, careful regulation of markets to minimise anti-competitive practices and the decentralisation of political power). However some of the very worst criticisms actually come from the political left. One example is a guy that has been waging a one man campaign of lies against me, endlessly repeating allegations that I "hate immigrants" (despite the fact that I've told him several times already that members of my immediate family are immigrants and that I've lived as an immigrant abroad on several occasions too) and making slanderous claims that I "support race camps" (by which he means immigration detention centres).

 Here's a quote:
"Opposing immigration, in effect supporting the construction of race camps, watch towers and barriers and the empowerment of the police against the workers in general, is not "Left Libertarian".
Amazingly, several people have jumped to this guy's defence as if he has the right to make slanderous allegations against me which rely on nothing more than an intellectually lazy chain of thought, rather than anything remotely resembling actual evidence. It is as if his defenders believe that the onus is on me to defend myself against these unfounded allegations, rather than the onus being on him to properly defend his accusations with evidence. In essence, his defenders seem to believe that he is entitled to say what he likes without presenting any evidence, and that I am guilty until proven innocent.

 Here's an example of this viewpoint:
"It sounds like someone got the better of you on an argument about immigration and you didn't really digest the criticism. Of course, I have no evidence supporting this since you didn't provide it. How about refuting the critics with arguments."

I thought the "argument" that I "support race concentration camps" was so incredibly poor that it was beneath logical analysis, but perhaps this guilty until proven innocent proposition is right, and I should refute these slanderous accusations with evidence and analysis.

Firstly, I do not "oppose immigration" as accused. That is a ludicrous misrepresentation of my views.
His justification for the accusation that I support fascistic immigration detention camps seems to based on the fact that I oppose the current immigration system, which consists of an absurdly draconian and repressive immigration regime for Commonwealth and other non-EU citizens (unless of course the immigrant is stinking rich enough to pay a bribe to get in - as the rules allow) whilst simultaneously operating an "open door" immigration system for those from within the EU. He uses the fact that I oppose the way the immigration system works to claim that I support the infrastructure (G4S detention centres etc) of the regime that I oppose.

 In my view this is transparently ludicrous stuff that anyone with a few brain cells should be able to see through with ease. Anyone that is familiar with my work knows that I oppose the neoliberal economic imperialism that creates the huge economic incentives for people to migrate to the pillager nations like the UK and US; that I strongly oppose state authoritarianism; and that I certainly oppose parasitic outsourcing companies like G4S and Serco - especially when they're making their taxpayer funded profits operating barbaric immigration detention camps, abusive child prisons and by blatantly defrauding the public too.
 
The argument that the onus is on me to defend myself (rather than for the other guy to support his allegations with evidence) seems to rest on the premise that because I haven't yet found the time to develop a detailed manifesto on what should be done with the immigration system (because I don't have all the answers and because it takes a lot of time and effort to come up with well considered solutions), it is somehow OK to for people to make slanderous comments about my support for the system that I have regularly criticised as socially and economically destructive, draconian, unjust and barbaric.

There is no logic behind the accusations this guy throws at me, and no evidence either. I find it disappointing that people would side with his unfounded, illogical and slanderous comments, when the onus surely should be on him to present some actual evidence to support his assertions that I support fascist internment camps, rather than nothing more than an intellectually lazy chain of thought.

I hope this adequately addresses any concerns you may or may not have had about my views on immigration. If it doesn't, then I suggest you unfollow my page and avoid reading my blog because you really shouldn't be following people if you seriously believe that they support fascist internment camps (despite having no real evidence to support such a belief).

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Posted by Thomas G. Clark at 14:27
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