{"id":5546,"date":"2020-09-16T15:14:08","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T15:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cov19chronicles.com\/?p=5546"},"modified":"2023-04-26T16:04:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T15:04:49","slug":"quarantine-continuums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19chronicles.com\/quarantine-continuums\/","title":{"rendered":"Quarantine Continuums"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
COVID 19 quarantine practices are nothing new. Enforced, discriminatory treatment of refugee populations on the grounds of the protection of public health have a long history.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the outbreak of COVID 19 there has been increased criticism of variou<\/a>s discriminatory quarantine policies and practices<\/a> which have been enforced upon refugee populations living in camps in inhumane, appalling and degrading conditions. These COVID 19-related quarantine practices at borders are often presented as something new, responding to a particular crisis. However, discriminatory treatment of refugee populations on the grounds of the protection of public health is not at all new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historically, quarantines have been an integral part of the control and surveillance of borders, used to manage, screen, sort and exclude people who are deemed unwanted. They are inextricably part of the violence of border practices, the forceful limitation of human mobility by states. A famous example is Ellis Island<\/a> in the USA. Between 1890 and 1954, the island operated as an immigration and health inspection site. Migrants with contagious diseases were systematically banned as a threat to public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are historical ironies here from a Greek perspective. The Greek state today forces very similar discriminatory health inspections and quarantine on refugees. But between 1892 and 1924, when more than half a million Greek people went through Ellis Island<\/a> inspection processes, many of these migrants seeking a better life were banned from the USA on health grounds. No less ironic is the fact that today many Greeks treat migrants with racist hostility, while a century ago, Greek migrants frequently faced racism from Americans with slurs such as \u201cgreaseballs\u201d and \u201cdirty Greeks\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Iconic Statue of Asia Minor Mother<\/span><\/a> in the Port of Mytilene, Lesvos. She is draped with lifejackets and represents a potent symbol of refugee mothers and children, past and present, who have arrived on the island\u2019s shore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Photograph courtesy of <\/em>Knut Bry<\/a><\/em><\/span> <\/span>and <\/em>Communities of<\/a><\/em> <\/a>Solidarity<\/em><\/a><\/span>)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n