How to Close a Camp—With John Washington
John Washington joins Fighting Fascism to discuss the fight against immigrant detention, the activists working to close camps, and their role in authoritarianism.
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How to Close a Camp w/ John Washington / Fighting Fascism
“The first and crucial step to closing a camp is being against the camp. Not a camp, not that camp, not a newly proposed camp or this particularly atrocious camp. But against camp as concept, against camp as practice—against all camps. Against locking people up because of where they were born or where they are.”
This is the thesis of How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention by John Washington. Washington is a longtime reporter on the border and immigration detention, and he joined us to discuss what we can learn from the organizers and activists who’ve been leading the fight against America’s expanding network of immigration camps—and why these mechanisms for indefinite detention without the benefit of due process or trial by jury are obviously the infrastructure of authoritarianism.
Check out John’s book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2880-how-to-close-a-camp
And here’s Aaron’s review of the book for The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/article/213448/closing-detention-center-rarely-single-strike-it-siege
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Anti-ICE protesters rally outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on June 3, 2026.
(Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty Images)“The first and crucial step to closing a camp is being against the camp. Not a camp, not that camp, not a newly proposed camp or this particularly atrocious camp. But against camp as concept, against camp as practice—against all camps. Against locking people up because of where they were born or where they are.”
This is the thesis of How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention, by John Washington. Washington is a longtime reporter on the border and immigration detention, and he joined us to discuss what we can learn from the organizers and activists who’ve been leading the fight against America’s expanding network of immigration camps—and why these mechanisms for indefinite detention without the benefit of due process or trial by jury are obviously the infrastructure of authoritarianism.
And here’s Aaron’s review of the book for The New Republic.
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The Nation Podcasts
Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
How David Morales Won (Part 2) w/ Jenn Steinfeld / Fighting Fascism
Last week, we spoke with campaign manager Ben Shanahan about David Morales’s winning strategy in his successful campaign for Providence mayor. Today, we have a very different conversation with Jenn Steinfeld, David’s field director, about how they built the grassroots operation that knocked proportionately more doors than Zohran’s, without burning anyone out. It turns out campaigns really can run field the right way and win. Let’s do it more often!
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