Settler colonialism and border regime: the overlapping narratives of slavery and Palestine

Despite imperial states tightening their borders and their rapid securitization and militarization to stop the 'flood' of migrants and asylum seekers, the reality is that borders have never been fixed. Yet borders appear as naturally given to 'home' populations. But if we move away from a mere focus on the movement of people over borders for safety and security and reframe the issue by bringing into focus the movement of borders over people, a different vision of borders emerges, where borders create, regulate and sustain violence, dependency and inequality. The history of settler colonialism is effectively the history of the movement of imperial borders over indigenous populations. Moreover, settler colonialism has long been entangled with capitalist expansion and slavery. This article examines the issue of borders moving over people in the light of this entanglement and the ongoing genocide in Palestine. It explores key aspects of the historic link between slavery, settler colonialism and imperialism. We argue that such a comparison is not novel; recent scholarship has focused on links between settler colonialism and slavery (Coates [2024]. The message. New York: One World; Mishra [2025]. The world after Gaza: A history. London: Penguin.), while others explore the similarities between current immigration enforcement with Fugitive Slave Acts in the U.S.A. (McKanders [Citation2012]. Immigration enforcement and the fugitive slave acts: Exploring their similarities. Catholic University Law Review, 61 (4), 921-954.), and others raise the question of 'social death' in relation to slavery (Patterson [1982]. Slavery and social death: a comparative study. Harvard University Press). This article assesses the centrality of borders in dividing the world and the oppressed in the interest of imperial powers and capital. It focuses on a neglected element in debating borders and examines some of the shared elements and interlocked histories of borders, racism, social death and genocide.