The Australian border regime - Bordering policies and practices which undermine solidarity towards asylum seekers

Abstract

The paper focuses on the ways in which bordering policies and practices, inherent to the Australian border regime, impinge on the creation of relationships of solidarity in the Australian and Indonesian communities, between citizens and asylum seekers. Particular attention is given to the case of asylum seekers traveling irregularly by boat, as this has historically been the main category of migrant people at the center of Australian deterrent policies. The Australian border regime consists of border externalization and border internalization policies which aim at deterring asylum seekers’ arrivals. Indonesia, during the past twenty years, has adopted a range of policies which are the result of Australian diplomatic and financial incentives and which are consistent with the Australian agenda. In both countries, the “othering” of asylum seekers through public discourse, but also their distancing and silencing through detention, and their social, political and economic exclusion even while not being detained, have had deleterious effects on social cohesion. As a result, the majority of Australian and Indonesian citizens support a narrative that defines “irregular” migrants as “illegal” and legitimizes the deployment of exclusionary policies, despite their detrimental impact on migrant people. Due to the functioning and the effects of bordering policies and practices, citizens in these two countries are dissuaded or prevented from forming bonds with asylum seekers and from standing in solidarity with them by questioning and opposing the border regime itself.