The ‘Channel Crossings’ and the borders of Britain

Abstract

Since November 2018, a small but increased number of migrants have risked their lives attempting to cross the waters of the English Channel from northern France to reach Britain. Throughout and alongside the final protracted phase of the Brexit process, governing politicians, backed by an uncritical media, have framed these crossings as a threat to British border sovereignty that can only be repelled by ramping up border security. This article argues that the construction of the Channel Crossings as a ‘Border Spectacle’ is an ideological operation that deflects attention away from the UK-French border-zone, which constitutes an extended transnational hostile environment that is, in large part, responsible for producing the conditions of the ‘new migrant crisis’ at Britain’s southeastern land-sea border.