Radio Calais

We have to talk about detention in the asylum system this month. The UK Home Office, under the Suella Braverman/Rishi Sunak regime, keeps on trying to extend the UK’s detention estate: the buildings to house asylum seekers and the number of asylum seekers detained.

There is the Bibby Stockholm barge, registered in Barbados and built by a Dutch company Bibby Marine that made their money in the slave trade. It is a potential death trap according to fire services, who are mounting a legal challenge, and full of infected stagnant water despite a costly refit. Then there are former military barracks, such as former RAF base Wethersfield in Essex or empty prisons, like Northeye outside Bexhill, are disused and oppressive structures. They are being renamed as processing centres or short-term holding facilities. All official names for detention centres, prisons.

“The use of detention in immigration procedures is widespread among European states’, summarises a Catholic refugee support service. And they say “Policymakers often present the use of detention as a necessary evil to enforce returns and deter irregular migration. There is no evidence supporting this argument.”

This month we reflect on the injustices of detention in Europe as well as the UK. And we conclude with a commentary on the Refugee Ban Bill. Radio Calais regulars will know that tracking new legislation, getting at the meaning of the detail, has been one of our missions. But if you take an overview of Sunak and Braverman’s position, what they are trying to do is simply this: lock up all refugees. Please keep on listening to the end, Nik’s review indicates that the UK government want to shut down the asylum system itself. Lots to say and more to do.

TRACKLIST

• Pa Salieu - Frontline (Yussef Dayes Remix)

• Don Kipper - Welcome

• Ras Shorty I - Indrani

• Fuse ODG – Bra Fie (Come Home) ft. Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley

• LEE EYE x SIMONA - FANTASMAS

• Isaac Birituro & The Rail Abandon - Senye (feat. Wiyaala)

• Glory - Perreo 101

• BŪJIN & Jumping Back Slash - Order Of Change

• KERWIN DUBOIS - NO TOMORROW (WHO TOLD YOU RIDDIM DJ SEMO REFIX)

• Junior Marvin - Police and Theif

• Shackleton & Zimpel with Siddhartha Belmannu - The Ocean Lies Between Us (Edit)