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A “Passport to Freedom”? COVID-19 and the Re-bordering of the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2021

Martina TAZZIOLI Open the ORCID record for Martina TAZZIOLI [Opens in a new window]
Martina TAZZIOLI*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics & International Relations, Goldsmiths, University of London, 8 Lewisham Way, SE14 6NW, London, UK; email: Martina.Tazzioli@gold.ac.uk.
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Abstract

This paper argues that COVID-19 has triggered a multiplication of heterogeneous bordering mechanisms that, far from stopping movement as such, have enhanced hierarchies of mobility. In particular, it shows that a confinement continuum has been put in place in the name of the “contain to protect” principle: migrants have been subjected to protracted lockdown measures in the name of their own protection. The piece concludes by interrogating how to rearticulate critique in COVID times in light of the enforcement of discriminatory “passports to freedom” (COVID-19 travel certificates).

Type
Symposium on COVID-19 Certificates
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 12 , Special Issue 2: Symposium on COVID-19 Certificates and Special Issue on the Global Governance of Alcohol , June 2021 , pp. 355 - 361
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 A Bashford, “‘The age of universal contagion’: history, disease and globalization” in A Bashford (ed.), Medicine at the Border (London, Palgrave Macmillan 2006) pp 1–17.

2 L Weir and E Mykhalovskiy, “The geopolitics of global public health surveillance in the twenty-first century” in A Bashford (ed.), Medicine at the Border (London, Palgrave Macmillan 2006) p 259.

3 K Olivarius, “The dangerous history of immunoprivilege” (New York Times, 2020) <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/opinion/coronavirus-immunity-passports.html> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

4 E Guild, “Covid-19 using border controls to fight a pandemic? Reflections from the European Union” (2020) 2 Frontiers in Human Dynamics 1–6.

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6 <https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-declaration-form-for-international-travel#permitted-reasons-for-international-travel> (last accessed 19 June 2021).

7 S Sekalala and B Rawson, “Navigating the paradoxes of selective COVID-19 border closures” (Bordercriminologies, 2020) <https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2020/07/navigating> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

8 <https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/majority-people-want-borders-closed-fear-about-covid-19-escalates> (last accessed 19 June 2021).

9 L Bialasiewicz and A Alemanno, “The dangerous illusion of a EU vaccine passport” (Opendemocracy, 2021). <https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/the-dangerous-illusions-of-an-eu-vaccine-passport/?utm_source=tw> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

10 S Mezzadra and B Neilson, Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor (Durham, NC, Duke University Press 2013) p xi.

11 M Tazzioli, “‘Stay safe, stay away, and put face masks on’ – the hygienic–sanitary borders of Covid-19” (PERC, 2020) <https://www.perc.org.uk/project_posts/stay-safe-stay-away-and-put-face-masks-on-the-hygienic-sanitary-borders-of-covid-19/> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

12 <https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/nhs-app-will-allow-people-to-access-covid-19-passports-through-facial-recognition-978649> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

13 See, for instance, <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/31/singled-out-oldham-muslim-community-coronavirus-lockdown-controls-eid> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

14 <https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/shameful-resurgence-violent-scapegoating-time-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR0y2wjiSBAd-lSqmrMfHujnJxc0jRzq07LoOlDe6T6cYLzoSWY2TBqtCDM> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

15 On the multiplication and heterogeneity of invisible borders during the pandemic, see E Isin and E Ruppert, “The birth of sensory power: how a pandemic made it visible?” (2020) 7(2) Big Data & Society 2053951720969208.

16 M Tazzioli and M Stierl, “Europe’s unsafe environment: migrant confinement under Covid-19” (2021) Critical Studies on Security 1–5; M Tazzioli, “Confine to protect: Greek hotspots and the hygienic–sanitary borders of Covid-19” <https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2020/09/confine-protect> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

17 <https://www.asgi.it/notizie/udine-migranti-nei-bus-lettera-inumano-degradante/> (last accessed 19 June 2021).

18 <https://www.msf.org/covid-19-excuse-keep-people-greek-islands-locked ;https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/26138/lockdown-in-refugee-camps-on-greek-islands-discriminatory-msf-says> (last accessed 19 June 2021).

19 In 2020, the drop in migrant arrivals across the Mediterranean has been determined by the huge decrease in arrivals along the Eastern route – which was mainly the result of geopolitical tensions between Turkey, Greece and the EU. Instead, migrant arrivals along the Central Mediterranean route (via Libya) have actually increased in comparison to 2019.

20 Asylum applications in 2020 dropped by 31% in comparison to 2019. See <https://www.easo.europa.eu/news-events/eu-asylum-decisions-exceed-applications-first-time-2017-due-covid-19> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

21 For instance, Greece suspended asylum applications in April 2020, and in summer of the same year the government accelerated the digitalisation of the asylum procedure. The digitalisation of asylum constitutes a further obstacle for migrants who want to apply for asylum.

22 <https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/napier-barracks-breach-human-rights/> (last accessed 19 June 2021).

23 W Walters and B Lüthi, “The politics of cramped space: dilemmas of action, containment and mobility” (2016) 29(4) International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 359–66.

24 A Burridge, “Hotels are no ‘luxury’ place to detain people seeking asylum in Australia” (The Conversation, 13 April 2020) <https://theconversation.com/hotels-are-no-luxury-place-to-detain-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia-134544> (last accessed 28 May 2021).

25 N Sharma, Home Rule: National Sovereignty and the Separation of Natives and Migrants (Durham, NC, Duke University Press 2020) p 3.

26 M Sheller, Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes (New York, Verso Books 2018).

27 R Gilmore, “Ruth Gilmore on Covid-19, decarceration and abolition” (Haymarket Books, 2020) <https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/128-ruth-wilson-gilmore-on-covid-19-decarceration-and-abolition> (last accessed 28 May 2021).