Since Monday, new tenants have had to "prove" to their prospective landlords that they have what the government calls the "right to rent". This involves producing either a valid British/EU passport, or a subset of the 26 official documents provided by the Home Office to non-EU citizens as proof that they have been granted leave to stay in Britain.
This, we are told, is aimed at fighting "illegal" immigration. But why should it be "illegal" for migrant workers to come to Britain, because they hope to escape from the wars and chronic poverty of their home countries, by producing wealth and making a decent living here? Isn't the fact of treating them as criminals, when their labour can only boost the economy here, an expression of bigoted - and racist - stupidity?
But never mind. This government has now enlisted Britain's 18,000 landlords as auxiliaries of the Border Police in its crusade against "illegal" migrants. And this is only the beginning. If Cameron gets his way - which he probably will - his second Immigration Act, currently going through the Lords, will also enlist employers, bank clerks, doctors, social service workers, etc., to join his crusade.
Politicking against workers here....
Of course, it is politicking that drives Cameron's crusade: he hopes that it will help to keep the right wing of his own party under control, while pulling the rug from under Ukip's feet.
Except that these nasty politicians' games can only have nasty consequences. And this will be true for migrant workers themselves, first and foremost. Because these attacks will only make them more vulnerable to exploitation by rogue landlords and bosses, who will be quick to abuse the fact that they now have no option but to live and work below the radar of the law.
But many more "legal" workers - including many British nationals - are likely to be affected. Among British citizens, as many as 17%, mostly among the poorest, do not have a British passport. This will give landlords a golden pretext to refuse to rent out to low-income households, whatever their nationality. And even more so, if the prospective tenants happen to have the "wrong" skin colour! This could signal the return of the kind of "colour bar" which has always more or less existed illegally, but would, this time, be protected by the law!
In short, this attack against so-called "illegal" migrants is effectively an attack against all of us workers. And as such, it should be opposed.
... and in the EU
The same is true of the politicking which has been driving Cameron's campaign across Europe over the past few weeks. Of course, if sounding ridiculous could kill, Cameron would have been dead long ago. His pretence that he can single-handedly impose his EU "reform" on a continent with a population 7 times larger than Britain's and an economy 5 times the size, was doomed to failure from the start. And it did fail, whatever he may brag about today, in front of his eurosceptic backbenchers, to whom his pantomime was addressed.
But, as in the case of "illegal" migrants, Cameron's EU politicking has nasty consequences. The main - and only serious aim - of his demands is not to reduce the number of EU workers coming here, but to create a multi-tier workforce. We already have 2 tiers or even 3 tiers, with the first split between casual workers on the one hand, and permanent workers on the other. Cameron and the bosses would like EU workers to become a 4th tier, who would not benefit from the same social protection as the rest of us - and would therefore be even easier to exploit.
For us workers, further splits in our ranks are unacceptable and should be opposed.
Only one burden - capital's parasitism
Cameron's on-going singling out of EU and other migrants as being a "burden" on society here was always based on lies. If public services are overloaded, if there is a shortage of housing, it is not due to EU or foreign workers, who contribute to the common wealth with their labour. It is due to very British capitalists - who do not contribute anything, but whose parasitism has been aided and abetted by Cameron and his government, by cutting social expenditure on everything, be it housing, schools, or hospitals, to the bare bone, in order to line the pockets of big business.
If this society suffers from any burden, it is that of the capitalists' parasitism and their unending economic crises, with their catastrophic consequences. Contrary to what the Camerons of this world would want us to believe, our enemies are not foreign workers - but the capitalist exploiters. It is their rule that we must fight.