The Contentious Politics of Refugee and Migrant Protest and Solidarity Movements


Book Description

Over the past two years, large-scale migratory movements to Europe have gained worldwide attention, and have prompted ever-greater desires to govern and control them. At the same time, we have seen the emergence of political struggles for rights to movement and demands for greater social justice, in both the global ‘north’ and ‘south’. Throughout the world, political mobilizations by refugees, irregularized migrants and solidarity activists have emerged, demanding and enacting the right to move and to stay, struggling for citizenship and human rights, and protesting the violence and deadliness of contemporary border regimes. This collection brings together articles that explore political mobilizations in several countries and (border) regions, including Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Austria, Germany, Greece, Turkey and ‘the Mediterranean’. Many of these political mobilizations can be understood as transnational responses to processes of regionalization and the intensification of restrictive border regimes across the globe, and as illustrative of what might be referred to as a ‘new era of protest’.




Contentious Migrant Solidarity


Book Description

In the context of both the financial crisis and the crisis of European migration politics, the notion of solidarity has gained renewed prominence and - as this book argues - its practice has become increasingly contentious. Intersecting crises have sharpened social and political polarization and have contracted simultaneously the space for migrant and minority rights as well as the rights around political dissent. Building upon social movement and migration studies, this book maps the two sides of ‘contentious solidarity’: a shrinking civic space and its contestation by civil society. The book thereby unfolds the variety of repressive means (physical, legal, administrative and discursive) employed by governmental and non-governmental bodies against migrant solidarity, but also looks at how civil society organizations react to these restrictions through at times moderation and at times increasing contention. The diagnosis of ‘contentious solidarity’ is located within two broader trends affecting the relationship between the state and civil society in a neoliberal context in general and since the financial crisis in particular. Bridging studies on social movement studies and civil society organizations, this volume contributes to recent reflections on repression of social movements as well as of a hybridization of civil society organizations. Given its broad scope and the utmost timeliness of the issues it addresses, the volume will be of interest to a broad academic and non-academic audience.




Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis’


Book Description

This edited collection introduces conceptual innovations that critically engage with understanding refugee movements as part of the broader category of ‘poor people’s movements’. The empirical focus of the work lies on the protest events related to the so-called ‘long summer of migration’ of 2015. It traces the route followed by the migrants from the places of first arrival to the places of passage and on to the places of destination. Through qualitative and quantitative data, the authors map, within a cross-national comparative perspective, the wide set of actions and initiatives that are being created in solidarity with refugees who have made their journey seeking asylum to the European Union, either travelling across the Mediterranean Sea or through South Eastern Europe. It explores these cases from the perspective of social movement studies alongside critical studies on migration and citizenship.




Solidarity in the Media and Public Contention over Refugees in Europe


Book Description

This book examines the ‘European refugee crisis’, offering an in-depth comparative analysis of how public attitudes towards refugees and humanitarian dispositions are shaped by political news coverage. An international team of authors address the role of the media in contesting solidarity towards refugees from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on the public sphere, the book follows the assumption that solidarity is a social value, political concept and legal principle that is discursively constructed in public contentions. The analysis refers systematically and comparatively to eight European countries, namely, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Treatment of data is also original in the way it deals with variations of public spheres by combining a news media claims-making analysis with a social media reception analysis. In particular, the book highlights the prominent role of the mass media in shaping national and transnational solidarity, while exploring the readiness of the mass media to extend thick conceptions of solidarity to non-members. It proposes a research design for the comparative analysis of online news reception and considers the innovative potential of this method in relation to established public opinion research. The book is of particular interest for scholars who are interested in the fields of European solidarity, migration and refugees, contentious politics, while providing an approach that talks to scholars of journalism and political communication studies, as well as digital journalism and online news reception.




Protest Movements in Asylum and Deportation


Book Description

This open access book deals with contestations “from below” of legal policies and implementation practices in asylum and deportation. Consequently, it covers three types of mobilization: solidarity protests against the deportation of refused asylum seekers, refugee activism campaigning for residence rights and inclusion, and restrictive protests against the reception of asylum seekers. By applying both a longitudinal analysis of protest events and a series of in-depth case studies in three immigration countries, this edited volume provides comparative insights into these three types of movement in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland over a time span of twenty-five years. Embedded in concepts of political change, limited state sovereignty, and migration control, the findings shed light on actors, repertoires, and the effects of protest activities. The contributions illustrate how local contexts, national political settings, issue specifics, and social ties lead to distinctly different forms of protest emergence, dynamics, and strategies. Additionally, they give a profound understanding of the mechanisms and constellations that contribute to protest success, both in terms of preventing deportations of individuals as well as changing policies. In sum, this book constitutes a major contribution to empirically informed theoretical reflections on collective contestation in the fields of refugee studies and social protest movements.




Rallying for Immigrant Rights


Book Description

From Alaska to Florida, millions of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets across the United States to rally for immigrant rights in the spring of 2006. The scope and size of their protests, rallies, and boycotts made these the most significant events of political activism in the United States since the 1960s. This accessibly written volume offers the first comprehensive analysis of this historic moment. Perfect for students and general readers, its essays, written by a multidisciplinary group of scholars and grassroots organizers, trace the evolution and legacy of the 2006 protest movement in engaging, theoretically informed discussions. The contributors cover topics including unions, churches, the media, immigrant organizations, and immigrant politics. Today, one in eight U.S. residents was born outside the country, but for many, lack of citizenship makes political voice through the ballot box impossible. This book helps us better understand how immigrants are making their voices heard in other ways.




Protest Movements in Asylum and Deportation


Book Description

This open access book deals with contestations "from below" of legal policies and implementation practices in asylum and deportation. Consequently, it covers three types of mobilization: solidarity protests against the deportation of refused asylum seekers, refugee activism campaigning for residence rights and inclusion, and restrictive protests against the reception of asylum seekers. By applying both a longitudinal analysis of protest events and a series of in-depth case studies in three immigration countries, this edited volume provides comparative insights into these three types of movement in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland over a time span of twenty-five years. Embedded in concepts of political change, limited state sovereignty, and migration control, the findings shed light on actors, repertoires, and the effects of protest activities. The contributions illustrate how local contexts, national political settings, issue specifics, and social ties lead to distinctly different forms of protest emergence, dynamics, and strategies. Additionally, they give a profound understanding of the mechanisms and constellations that contribute to protest success, both in terms of preventing deportations of individuals as well as changing policies. In sum, this book constitutes a major contribution to empirically informed theoretical reflections on collective contestation in the fields of refugee studies and social protest movements. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.




Citizens' Activism and Solidarity Movements


Book Description

This book explores the activism and solidarity movements formed by contemporary European citizens in opposition to populism, which has risen significantly in reaction to globalization, European integration and migration. It makes the counterforces to neo-nationalisms visible and re-envisions key concepts such as democracy/public sphere, power/empowerment, intersectionality and conflict/cooperation in civil society. The book makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to citizenship studies, covering several forms such as contestatory, solidary, everyday and creative citizenship. The chapters examine the diverse movements against national populism, othering and exclusion in various parts of the European Union, such as Denmark, Finland, the UK, Austria, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Italy. The national case studies focus on counterforces to ethnic and religious divisions, as well as genders and sexualities, various expressions of anti-migration, Romanophobia, Islamophobia and homophobia. The book’s overall focus on local, national and transnational forms of resistance is premised on values of respect and tolerance of diversity in an increasingly multi-cultural Europe.




Violent Protest, Contentious Politics, and the Neoliberal State


Book Description

This volume of cutting-edge research comparatively analyzes violent protest and rioting, furthering our understanding of this increasingly prevalent form of claim making. Hank Johnston and Seraphim Seferiades bring together internationally recognized experts in the field of protest studies and contentious politics to analyze the causes and trajectories of violence as a protest tactic. Crossnational comparisons from North America, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Thailand, and elsewhere contribute to the volume's theoretical elaboration, while several case studies add depth to the discussion. This title will be of key importance to scholars across the social sciences, including sociology, political science, geography and criminology. Johnston and Seferiades's exciting book is a significant contribution to the study of rioting and violent protest in the contemporary neoliberal state.




Cosmopolitanism without Foundations?


Book Description

Nu s-au introdus date