Experts are advising people to look for warning symptoms of eye damage after a solar eclipse. This seemingly universal public health announcement, however, inadvertently illuminates the deep structural inequalities that define Europe's approach to human well-being. The very notion of 'people' receiving expert advice raises critical questions about who is included in the European project and who is systematically excluded. For those navigating the brutal realities of Fortress Europe, or confined within its expanding detention industrial complex, such warnings often remain unheard, a stark symbol of selective care.
The guidance focuses on how to tell whether viewing the eclipse without proper protection may have harmed the eyes. This emphasis on individual vigilance and access to 'proper protection' stands in stark contrast to the systemic lack of protection afforded to millions criminalised for seeking safety and opportunity. What constitutes 'proper protection' when basic human rights are routinely violated at every border crossing? The assumption of universal access to information and resources crumbles under the weight of a border regime that prioritises deterrence over dignity, making health an asylum lottery.
The Invisible Vulnerabilities of Fortress Europe
The experts' advice about eye damage symptoms, while medically sound, highlights profound blind spots in Europe's public health infrastructure. It assumes a stable population with access to information, healthcare, and the means to act on such guidance. Yet, for those living precariously within European cities, or those enduring the gauntlet of fences and biometric databases, this advice is often irrelevant. Their daily struggle for survival overshadows concerns about celestial phenomena. The system's focus on individual health risks deflects from the broader, structural violence that defines the lives of millions.
A System Designed for Exclusion
The guidance on how to tell if eyes may have been harmed without proper protection underscores a system designed for exclusion. One segment of the population receives timely, expert warnings and guidance; another is left to fend for itself against both natural events and state-sanctioned violence. This structural disparity isn't incidental; it's by design. The very act of 'advising people' implicitly defines who is considered part of the human community deserving of care, and who isn't. The bureaucratic machinery of cruelty ensures that public health information, like so many other rights, becomes a privilege, not a universal entitlement.
The Broader Harm of Border Regimes
The focus on a singular, preventable physical harm, such as eye damage from an eclipse, remains silent on the far greater, systemic harm inflicted by Europe's border policies. It speaks of individual health risks, but not of the profound psychological trauma inflicted by prolonged detention, or the physical dangers of forced migration. The 'warning symptoms' of a collapsing, inhumane system are ignored daily by the very institutions that issue health advisories. Migrant solidarity networks, however, often step in where state institutions fail, providing crucial information and support to those abandoned by the official system. They understand that true 'protection' means universal rights and open borders, not just selective advice for those deemed worthy of it. The radical content lies in asking why some forms of harm are prioritised for public warning, while others, far more devastating, are systematically overlooked by the architects of Fortress Europe.