Well, I personally feel that "prison camp" is much too mild in this case. These are camps for children - infant, child, and teenage migrants, in some cases run by the US military so as to avoid any kind of public scrutiny, where the "inmates" are denied necessities such as adequate food, bedding (sleeping on the floor), soap, toothpaste and clean clothing. In some camps there are apparently outbreaks of flu and lice. They're exposed to extreme cold (presumably at night time) and the light is on 24h a day. There is minimal adult supervision, and that is despite some of the "inmates" being infants. In a normal, civilian prison the inmates have certain rights, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
The term actually even predates the Boer wars. And yes, I know that "concentration camp" is commonly thought to be a uniquely Nazi phenomenon, but that is historically incorrect, and such a narrow usage of the term takes away our ability to learn from history and prevent it from happening again.
Edit: We should also distinguish between "concentration camp" and "extermination camp" a.k.a. "death camp" - the Nazis had both.
Well, I personally feel that "prison camp" is much too mild in this case. These are camps for children - infant, child, and teenage migrants, in some cases run by the US military so as to avoid any kind of public scrutiny, where the "inmates" are denied necessities such as adequate food, bedding (sleeping on the floor), soap, toothpaste and clean clothing. In some camps there are apparently outbreaks of flu and lice. They're exposed to extreme cold (presumably at night time) and the light is on 24h a day. There is minimal adult supervision, and that is despite some of the "inmates" being infants. In a normal, civilian prison the inmates have certain rights, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
The term actually even predates the Boer wars. And yes, I know that "concentration camp" is commonly thought to be a uniquely Nazi phenomenon, but that is historically incorrect, and such a narrow usage of the term takes away our ability to learn from history and prevent it from happening again.
Prison camps are prisons consisting of tents or other nonpermanent, inadequate "shelter", without heating/cooling, proper toilet and other facilities, clean water or sufficient food, etc., and generally brutal conditions.
The two images that come to mind are prisoner of war camps and prison camps in the South of the U.S., of the chain gang variety. Both are pretty f***ing grim images, for adults, not to imagine children.
I find the argument that the use of "concentration camp" is not intended to invoke the Holocaust a disingenuous one; that's precisely what the use of the term is intended to do. (See the image of Anne Frank above.)
After all, the terms "concentration camp" and "prison camp" differ by one word, and here you are, arguing that "concentration" somehow paints a bleaker picture than "prison." How can that be? Perhaps because of images of piles of corpses?
Edit: We should also distinguish between "concentration camp" and "extermination camp" a.k.a. "death camp" - the Nazis had both.
I find it fascinating that this sentence is appearing almost word for word in every online discussion of the current situation. A bunch of people must be reading the same material.
Yes, the death camps, intended for the large scale murder of Jews and other groups, weren't opened until after circa 1940.
However, Dachau, that well known concentration (not death, never death!) camp was opened in 1933. Strangely enough, even though it was a
concentration camp, tens of thousands of people died there. (As they did at every
concentration camp.) Medical "experiments" were performed there. (For example, close to a thousand Catholic priests imprisoned there died after being intentionally infected with malaria.) Dachau even had its own gas chamber, despite being a
concentration camp.
