Fortress Europe: Dispatches from a Gated Continent

by Matthew Carr

On the militarized Turkish-Greek border, Afghan migrants brave minefields to cross into Europe—only to be summarily ejected by Greek border guards. At Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish enclaves in North Africa, migrants are turned back with razor wire and live ammunition. Deportees from the U.K. and France have died of "positional asphyxia" on deportation flights, strapped to chairs, their mouths sealed with tape. In a brilliant and shocking account, Fortress Europe tells the story of how the world’s most affluent region—and history’s greatest experiment with globalization—has become an immigration war zone, where tens of thousands have died in a human rights crisis that has gone largely unnoticed by the U.S. media.

Journalist Matthew Carr brings to life these remarkable human dramas, based on extensive interviews and firsthand reporting from the hot zones of Europe’s immigration battles. Speaking with key European policy makers, police, soldiers on the front lines, immigrant rights activists, and an astonishing range of migrants themselves, Carr offers a lucid account both of the broad issues at stake in the crisis and its exorbitant human costs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Immigration, Politics, History, European History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2012

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A transformation in Europe’s response to undocumented migration and migration in general requires a wider political transformation from below, which challenges the current enforcement model and the fear, racism, and paranoia that drives it, which replaces exclusion with solidarity and inclusiveness and sets out to create a genuine European ‘area of freedom, security and justice’ that is not dependent on denying all three conditions to others.” (253)

[Owain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a valuable selection of case studies and facts, for which it is worthwhile reading. I however have a big problem with the way the immigration/refugee situation is portrayed by the author.

Standing on what is essentially a liberal podium the author, rightly, denounces the situation of the current crisis. Of course it's wrong that Europe so forcefully denies access and rights to the majority of those fleeing war, economic hardships, brutal regimes and the effects of climate change. What's not going to change that is believing that the EU will reform itself to deal adequately with the situation. The EU is only reformable with the unanimous agreement of every member state. How that is going to come about when countries like France and Britain are part and parcel of western imperialist meddling in the imperialist wars, destabilisation and Balkanisation of the Middle East and North Africa. It's no coincidence that right after the Arab Spring when French and British forces helped remove the stable Gaddaffi a huge amount of people were forced by the turmoil to flee the country and seek refuge elsewhere i.e. Europe. No surprise then that these states don't want to deal with the unwanted human byproduct of their imperialism. The author needs to state how exactly he thinks change is going to come about in the European parliament when the development and ideological position of each EU state is vastly different. In fact, the EU itself is a barrier to any one state wanting to help solve the crisis. For example, imagine if a member state for example became a progressive state (I don't consider any of the EU's members particularly progressive) and try to change EU law forcing member states to accept large amounts of refugees, who else is going to agree? Hungary? I fucking doubt it. Considering that the northern states are already in the process of bunkrupting and extorting wealth from the southern and eastern states is it going to be fair to ask countries like Greece and Poland to pay the price for the greater powers' imperialism? The best solution is to work for change within each country. For future progressive states to withdraw from the Union and to begin firstly by combating imperialism and the reason for the crisis in the first place whilst simultaneously seeking to help as many of the victims as possible. If in future a significant number of progressive states exists then they can seek to build a suitable democratic union of states rather than one which is constitutionally tied to imperialism and capitalism.

Throughout, the author displays a needless anti-communist bias. Weird considering that capitalism and imperialism is responsible for the crisis, which probably wouldn't be happening if the USSR was still here to combat western meddling around the globe. Considering the role Cuba and the USSR played in combating imperialism in Africa and actually helping various African states to achieve societal and economic advances. Although I'd like to examine one quote in particular [blockquote] 125 people were killed [by whom, or what BTW?] trying to cross the Berlin Wall throughout its entire history. Between 1988 and 2011, 15,551 migrants died crossing Europe's borders [/blockquote] note the subtle bias between 'were killed' and 'died' - anyone who died as a result of trying to get into Europe because they were fleeing a situation Europe created was killed. That's a pretty brutal fact and if we're engaging in 'body count politics', as the defenders of Capitalism so often do, that's a pretty damning fact. Capitalism is, on paper according to this one fact, over 10 times worse than Communism. But please remain safe in your cosy western bubble and continue thinking that Communism is inherently bad and Capitalism is undoubtedly good despite the fact that right now the Spanish military in conjunction with EU border enforcers could be gunning down African migrants as they attempt to climb the walls of Fortress Europe into one of Spain's little enclaves on the coast of North Africa.

All in all it's a useful read in terms of facts and statistics. You'll have to come up with your own analysis.

[Sonya Diehn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In lucid, well-researched prose, Matthew Carr paints a penetratingly thorough picture of the contradictions in the European Union's immigration policy. I appreciated Carr's clear opinion in some sections, expressing sympathy and disgust especially around stories of individual people whose lives are seriously hurt by faceless policies. In Carr's speaking truth to power, he also does his best to highlight a few sparks of hope in a system that apparently says one thing but does another.

[Audrey Ashdown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched and well-written. Reading it in 2024, it’s obvious that some of the material is out of date but gives great insight into immigration realities 10 years ago. The book is filled with heartbreaking stories and brings a lot of humanity to this complex topic.

[madi! · Rating 3 out of 5]

last day of lecture core

[Rebecca Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes a fair way towards explaining the anti-immigrant sentiment that fuelled a lot of the Leave campaign in Britain's EU referendum. It doesn't mention the referendum once (the new edition was published in 2015), but reading it with the knowledge of what happened with Brexit makes me think it was inevitable. Well worth a read.

[Carolanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read to understand the underlying issues and most importantly the human cost of Europe's immigration laws

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed this together with Jeremy Hardings's 'Border Vigils' and the piece is on the Migrants' Rights Network website at http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/blog...

[Kim Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone interested in immigration policy and the challenges the world will increasinlgy face as a result of war, climate change and collapsed economies.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars as the writing is fine, if not a bit repetitious. Writing this comment as a reminder to myself that I've read this one, rather than an actual review.