Australia’s border security policy, Operation Sovereign Borders, has attached negative connotations towards asylum seekers, deeming them non-citizens. The government has created a border security policy that immediately portrays asylum seekers as criminals. This criminalisation has allowed violence to be inflicted above asylum seekers, through detention camps. Asylum seekers are not protected under the law and are the ‘exception’ to our liberalist system of law. A grievable life is “a life grieved if lost”, asylum seekers are not considered as ‘grievable lives’ through Operation Sovereign borders (Hodge, 2014 p.129).
In 2013 the Australian government acted quickly to create the border security policy, causing an instant criminalisation of …show more content…
There are a range of abuses inflicted upon asylum seekers, including both psychological and structural violence. This violence is referred to as ‘Systemic violence’ by Zizek. That is, violence “inherent in the social conditions of global conditions, which involve the automatic creation of excluded and dispensable individuals” (Zizek, 2007 p. 14). This is shown through asylum seekers being placed in detention centres that are located far away from metropolitan areas in Australia. Therefore asylum seekers are being excluded from society and separated from the Australian society. Asylum seekers are also subject to subtle violence, which is the threat of violence (Zizek, 2007 p. 6). The guards in detention camps are present at all times to observe and to keep a close eye on asylum seekers. This causes asylum seekers to be managed and produces disciplinary subjects (Foucault 2002). Subtle violence is inherit in the way things work. This causes Australian society to accept that detention centres are simply the way we deal with asylum seekers, thus society does not question the …show more content…
This has caused lots of asylum seekers to go crazy, self harm and try to commit suicide. A detention centre in South Australia, called the Woomera detention centre, experiences a lot of self harm and depressed asylum seekers. Dr Glenda Koutroulis (lateline 2002) previously worked in Woomera and said “ there would probably not be a day go by in Woomera, where someone didn't self-harm or attempt to suicide in some way”. The government is aware of such issues but chooses to ignore them. Asylum seekers are not told anything about the processing of their applications and the average seeker is in a detention centre for one year (Orford 2005). Their rights in detention centres are very limited, with inadequate access to legal representation. The government has used discursive power to control asylum seekers. This is power inflicted on individuals who are seen as a threat and danger to Australian society (Foucault 2002). This has caused detention camps to become the norm of modern society. Asylum seekers are not people the Australian government want in our society, they are criminals and they may harm our peaceful society (Australian government 2014). This has caused the Australian government to treat asylum seekers as non-citizens, who do not have human
In 2013 the Australian government acted quickly to create the border security policy, causing an instant criminalisation of …show more content…
There are a range of abuses inflicted upon asylum seekers, including both psychological and structural violence. This violence is referred to as ‘Systemic violence’ by Zizek. That is, violence “inherent in the social conditions of global conditions, which involve the automatic creation of excluded and dispensable individuals” (Zizek, 2007 p. 14). This is shown through asylum seekers being placed in detention centres that are located far away from metropolitan areas in Australia. Therefore asylum seekers are being excluded from society and separated from the Australian society. Asylum seekers are also subject to subtle violence, which is the threat of violence (Zizek, 2007 p. 6). The guards in detention camps are present at all times to observe and to keep a close eye on asylum seekers. This causes asylum seekers to be managed and produces disciplinary subjects (Foucault 2002). Subtle violence is inherit in the way things work. This causes Australian society to accept that detention centres are simply the way we deal with asylum seekers, thus society does not question the …show more content…
This has caused lots of asylum seekers to go crazy, self harm and try to commit suicide. A detention centre in South Australia, called the Woomera detention centre, experiences a lot of self harm and depressed asylum seekers. Dr Glenda Koutroulis (lateline 2002) previously worked in Woomera and said “ there would probably not be a day go by in Woomera, where someone didn't self-harm or attempt to suicide in some way”. The government is aware of such issues but chooses to ignore them. Asylum seekers are not told anything about the processing of their applications and the average seeker is in a detention centre for one year (Orford 2005). Their rights in detention centres are very limited, with inadequate access to legal representation. The government has used discursive power to control asylum seekers. This is power inflicted on individuals who are seen as a threat and danger to Australian society (Foucault 2002). This has caused detention camps to become the norm of modern society. Asylum seekers are not people the Australian government want in our society, they are criminals and they may harm our peaceful society (Australian government 2014). This has caused the Australian government to treat asylum seekers as non-citizens, who do not have human