Ep 12: Deportation, racism, departheid. With Barak Kalir (English).

De Verbranders

This is our second episode with Barak Kalir. In this episode, we talk about Barak's research into deportation in Spain. We talk about the organizational culture of the Spanish police and their focus on deporting what they refer to as "foreign criminals." We talk about the so-called tragedy of Tarajal, and why we should really refer to this event as a racist attack. And we talk about the role of NGOs in implementing "voluntary" returns, and what voluntary really means in this context. And finally, we talk about Barak’s concept "departheid." How it helps us think about the colonial roots of borders, how it points to how access to mobility is structurally racialized, and how it draws attention to the forms of racism people encounter as they move through borders in their daily lives.