Terror

• The victims were illegally smuggled Chinese immigrants, brought via Liverpool by criminal gangmasters, and forced to work in highly dangerous conditions, scavenging for shellfish.
• If the cocklers had been given even basic information about the treacherous tides or been supervised, they could have survived.

An alert to modern slavery

• As a Lancashire lass, I remember the dramatic effect this tragedy had on local feelings toward the plight of immigrants.
• Morecambe was a favoured local seaside spot for family adventures and bracing walks that was now the site of mass manslaughter and terror.
• The lead detective found at the time that around £1 million a day was being funnelled from the UK to China from exploited labour.

How the law has evolved

• The law set standards of health and safety, pay, accommodation and training for workers.
• It also established the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), to safeguard worker welfare and provide a legal framework for prosecuting criminal gangmasters.
• The Modern Slavery Act was the world’s first law on modern slavery and the first requiring businesses to report how they prevent it in their supply chains.

Lessons still to be learned

• A UK flower distributor told us that many of their UK growers pose more risk in terms of modern slavery than their Colombian flower farms do.
• And this is not just a business risk, this can be a risk to life for vulnerable, untrained, ill-equipped forced labourers.
• After the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act, there are, formally, more protections for those experiencing slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour.
• We now have the Illegal Migration Act, which experts have said puts even more people at risk of modern slavery.

Jill Timms received funding from the Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility (VSCF), a rapid COVID-19 response fund set up by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the Building Resilience in Flower Supply Chains Project.

• This is not the first time a visiting cricketer has had visa problems in India.
• Headley, in his visa application, had concealed his Pakistani roots and managed to visit India multiple times to reconnoitre the targets.
• As a result, the Indian Home Ministry (MHA), which is in charge of internal security, decided to tighten the visa requirements.
• The US and UK governments lodged diplomatic protests against India’s decision to tighten its visa rules, but the Indian government resisted the pressure.
• Mindful of international pressure to exercise restraint in the aftermath of the attacks, the then Manmohan Singh government instituted several defensive counter-terrorism measures, including the new visa rules.

Modi’s neighbourhood policy

• This aimed to encourage cross-border cooperation and business enterprise across South Asia and focused on building deeper people-to-people ties.
• But as terrorist attacks from Pakistan continued, India changed its tack to more forceful measures targeting terrorist bases within Pakistan.
• As a result, a new mantra became popular in Indian government circles: “terror and talks cannot go together”.

Focus on counter-terrorism

• Meanwhile a focus on regional counter-terrorism has become something of a mantra for Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
• Seen within this paradigm, India’s approach towards Pakistan is unlikely to change as the country expects its general elections in April.
• A hostile military in control of domestic politics combined with strong anti-India public opinion invalidate any prospects for reestablishing ties with India.

Dheeraj Paramesha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The rocket-fueled surge of illegal aliens from Venezuela is not due to significantly worsening conditions in that country.
• Rather, Biden administration policies that virtually assure that all Venezuelan illegal aliens arriving in the U.S. will be released and allowed stay have driven the growth of illegal immigration from that nation, the report concludes.
• The breathtaking increase in illegal immigration from Venezuela also poses serious national security concerns for the United States.
• Executive Branch policies - especially parole, Temporary Protected Status and the mass release of migrants into the U.S.- have driven the dramatic increase in Venezuelan illegal immigration.

• Much of this support was organised online, using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie (I am Charlie).
• In my PhD research, I am exploring the role of social media in commemoration, specifically when it comes to terror attacks.
• The immense popularity of #JeSuisCharlie is a prime example of how the technology available to us can shape our understanding of shared experiences.
• When the attack took place in early 2015, Twitter use was hitting its peak, with hashtags well established as key drivers of content.

Lasting power

• It has had an enduring legacy which is unusual for social media.
• After a knifeman wounded two at the former site of Charlie HQ in 2020, the hashtag reemerged in various forms.

What would #JeSuisCharlie look like today?

• Twitter is now X, and Elon Musk’s takeover has driven users toward other platforms like Mastodon and Instagram’s Threads.
• Younger users in particular are choosing sites such as TikTok and Instagram over X and Facebook.

• Because of this, it’s often difficult to trace a single point of emergence for a particular phrase or idea.
• And platforms such as TikTok make it easier to respond, adapt or remix content instead of just sharing it.
• The use of algorithms to influence user behaviour on social media means shared memories are now often circulated in echo chambers.

Emma Connolly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.