The Common European Asylum System reform and the German strategy: a lesson about competition and cooperation in politics against refugees – notes from a former German refugee worker

The European Union has passed a new Common European Asylum System reform, which entails a colossal project of violence against refugees. However, its founders declared it a ‘historical success’. Tragically, their evaluation is correct. After being faced with the human consequences of its own capitalist economy, Germany regained sovereignty over migration by installing a brutal law and using its European partners to do the unwanted ‘dirty work’. Radical social workers working with refugees must conclude that this is not a violation of the raison d’état ; rather, it is perfectly aligned with the purpose of capitalist states, which we also serve as social workers. Therefore, ways of maintaining solidarity in social work must be established to resist the current anti-refugee politics.