Migrant Workers Organise Remember and Resist: Borders, Solidarity and the Essex 39

Episode two of Remember and Resist: Borders, Solidarity and the Essex 39 is a conversation with Amina du Jean (Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement, SWARM), Maritza Castillo (Independent Workers of Great Britain, IWGB) and Marigold Belquen (Voice of Domestic Workers). The discussion explores how migrant workers organise against exploitative working conditions, and the intersections of racism, sexism, and state violence. We will never know the full stories of the 39 people at the back of the lorry; but we do know, based on migration histories such as those shared by our previous panel, that they were likely coming to the UK to work and improve their conditions. Had they survived, they would have likely become undocumented workers. They would have faced the compounded effects of an exploitative economic system and a border regime that strips them of social and economic rights solely on the basis of their nationality and lack of citizenship. Migrants in such precarious conditions are constantly agitating and mobilising to improve their condition. In this panel, we want to explore the actual issues migrant workers are facing and strategies for resistance, situating those in the context of hostile law/law enforcement and immigration policy.