Letting Die: The Spectacle of Deporting Afghans from Germany

Abstract

Around 30,000 Afghans have been denied protection in Germany and are categorised as ausreisepflichtig (required to leave the country). Of these, just over 1,000 people have been removed over the four years that removals were implemented, and that at extraordinary costs. For all who are categorised as ‘deportable’, this was a constant source of fear and insecurity – never knowing who would be next on the list. This article outlines the German politics behind the deportation of Afghans, with a focus on the years 2016–2021. It argues that deportations have become a significant element of the ‘border spectacle’ (De Genova 2013), staging a drama of exclusion that affirms the national order of being. I frame the deportation spectacle as a part of German biopolitics. According to Foucault, biopolitics is about ‘to make live and to let die’. Whilst biopolitical perspectives mostly focus on ‘make live’, I argue that deportations are part of the inevitable dark side of biopolitics pointed out by Foucault: that of letting die.