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    Social death: the (white) racial framing of the Calais 'Jungle' and 'illegal' migrants in the British tabloids and right-wing press

    Bhatia, Monish (2018) Social death: the (white) racial framing of the Calais 'Jungle' and 'illegal' migrants in the British tabloids and right-wing press. In: Bhatia, Monish and Poynting, S. and Tufail, W. (eds.) Media, Crime and Racism. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783319717753.

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    Abstract

    In the week commencing 24th October 2016, demolition of the Calais ‘jungle’ camp was officially initiated. The workers surrounded by the armed riot police , tore down the wooden shacks using ‘sledgehammers and chainsaws’; bulldozers moved in later during the week, to fully clear out the ‘ramshackle shantytown’ (Mirror). The tabloid press in Britain pursued the subject intensely and obsessively. They reported ‘furious refugees’ protested against demolition (The Sun), set camp on fire (Telegraph) and ‘fought’ a ‘pitched battle’ with police - terming it ‘The battle of Calais’ (Daily Mail). The ‘jungle’ camp was ‘finally destroyed’ (Daily Mail), which was portrayed as a victory over ‘invaders’, ‘illegals’, transgressors and security ‘threats’, who wanted to bring misery and instability to ‘soft touch’ Britain (The Sun; Daily Mail). Immediately after the demolition, the French prefect of Pas-de-Calais Fabienne Buccio released a statement outlining that it is a ‘mission accomplished’ and ‘there are no migrants in the camp’– news largely welcomed by the right-wing and tabloid press. However, this was neither the beginning nor the end.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Book Section
    Additional Information: This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available at the link above.
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
    Depositing User: Monish Bhatia
    Date Deposited: 26 Jan 2018 13:53
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:38
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/21030

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