Friday 13 January 2017

What does a good, 21st-century immigration policy look like?

The answer is probably not contained in either of the books reviewed by Rowan Williams (former archbishop of Canterbury) in New Statesman but maybe a combination? Plus some new elements?

" … This throws into relief one other thing that both books sadly share. The voices of real-life migrants are strangely absent. For both writers, the migrant is someone who is being talked about, interpreted, “understood”. But if the more useful and positive elements in both books are to be taken forward practically, we will need to listen to what migrants of all kinds say they want and who they say they are. Despite their many strengths, neither of these books shows much sign of that listening."

Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move by Reece Jones is published by Verso (224pp, £16.99)

Strangers in Our Midst: the Political Philosophy of Immigration by David Miller is published by Harvard University Press (240pp, £27.95)

Full review


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