Solidarity and the 'Refugee Crisis' in Europe

Agustín, Óscar García; Jørgensen, Martin Bak

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91848-8

Cited by 123 publications

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“…In contrast to the authorities who seemed bewildered, civil society quickly reacted and organized for assisting the refugees by enacting a varied repertoire of activities ranging from humanitarian actions, such as collecting and donating items and money, political protests, such as petitions and demonstrations, to acts of civil disobedience, such as transporting refugees across the border to Sweden or Norway (Table III and Table AV in the appendix provide an overview of the repertoire, see also Gundelach and Toubøl forthcoming). This phenomenon was not restricted to Denmark, and similar civic action was observed all over Europe (Agustin and Jørgensen ; Della Porta ; Fleischmann and Steinhilper ; Hamann and Karakayali ; Karakayali ; Zechner and Hansen ).…”

Section: Case: the September Mobilization Of The Refugee Solidary Movsupporting

confidence: 62%

From democratic participation to civic resistance: the loss of institutional trust as an outcome of activism in the refugee solidarity movement

Toubøl

2018

British Journal of Sociology

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Adding to the literature on non-institutional political action and trust, this article argues that the loss of institutional trust is not only a cause but also an outcome of political activism. Studying the Danish refugee solidarity movement in a mixedmethods research design including survey and qualitative interview data, the article shows that three kinds of activism -political activism, humanitarian activity, and civil disobedience -relate differently to the loss of trust in the institutions of the Parliament, the legal system, and the police. Political activism primarily affects a loss of trust in the Parliament due to low external efficacy and a closed political opportunity structure. Civil disobedience affects a loss of trust in the legal system and the police due to a perceived lack of procedural justice. Humanitarian activity does not affect a loss of institutional trust because it does not imply interaction with the institutions to the same extent as the other kinds of activism. The consequence of losing trust in the political institutions is not an abandonment of democratic values, nor political apathy, but rather a change in civic engagement from a mode of democratically legitimizing participation in the institutions to a mode of contending and questioning the legitimacy of the political institutions. This finding indicates that in turn loss of institutional trust may cause an increase in extra-institutional political action which is consistent with the commonly assumed causality in the literature. This leads to a final integrating argument for conceptualizing activism and loss of institutional trust as reinforcing factors in a process where, in line with the main finding of this study, activism may cause a loss of institutional trust which, in turn, may cause additional activism, as argued in the existing literature.

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Section: Case: the September Mobilization Of The Refugee Solidary Movsupporting

confidence: 62%

From democratic participation to civic resistance: the loss of institutional trust as an outcome of activism in the refugee solidarity movement

Toubøl

2018

British Journal of Sociology

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“…Therefore, the principle of rejecting institutions, here refers to established institutions, since there is indeed a need for alternative institutions or 'social institutions'. The autonomous solidarity responds to what Graeber (2004) calls a 'theory of exodus', perceived as the most effective way of opposing capitalism and the liberal state (see further, Agustín and Jørgensen, 2019). It implicates that instead of taking on or challenging power, new forms of communities are created as a strategy to 'slip away from' power.…”

Section: Autonomous Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…City Plaza used the notion of 'co-habitants' emphasising even more than 'inhabitant' the collective solidarity creating its principled position. Solidarity is thus generative of the shared identity 'co-habitant' (Agustín and Jørgensen, 2019). Stressing the commonalities constituting City Plaza is also what made it so strong.…”

Section: Autonomous Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It creates broad alliances that include both experienced activist and people new to solidarity work. It makes visible the problems of the asylum process and integration into Danish society, insisting on a humanitarian approach, different from the exclusivist approach taken by the state (Agustín and Jørgensen, 2019). Overall, the movement advocates for inclusive democracy, shaped through and by actors in civil society.…”

Section: Civic Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

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On Transversal Solidarity: An Approach to Migration and Multi-Scalar Solidarities

Agustín

Jørgensen

2020

Critical Sociology

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This article develops a conceptualisation of transversal solidarity in relation to migration and migrants. It reflects different ways of practicing, organising and articulating solidarity. We proceed through a conceptualisation of solidarity in terms of ‘transversal solidarity’ relating to three dimensions involved in solidarity practices from below and discuss how to bridge their respective dichotomies: identity and the related in-group and out-group dichotomy; space, in terms of the separation of the local from the national and international; organisation, related to the incompatibility of the social and the institutional. We link this conceptualisation to a typology of solidarity working on three different scales (autonomous solidarity, civic solidarity and institutional solidarity), which reflects these dynamics of solidarity as well as the degree of institutionalisation. We use different examples to illustrate various types of transversal solidarity.

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“…Although the criminalization of solidarity in the sense of policing or sanctioning non‐state actors for certain acts of aid is not something entirely new in Europe, having played an important role in previous attempts to externalize its borders (del Valle, ), this strategy can be said to have acquired a new dimension when used in response to the so‐called European refugee crisis, for two reasons (Agustín and Jorgensen, ). First, non‐state actors are now coerced to partake in the creation of hostile environments for asylum seekers and refugees in order to persuade the latter to return and discourage or prevent others like them from setting foot in EU territory.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ethical Consequences of Criminalizing Solidarity in the EU

Duarte

2019

Theoria

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The aftermath of the European refugee crisis can be said to have sparked a crisis of solidarity. Despite abundant demonstrations of solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers, what many saw as an exercise of their duty to help was made illegal. The critical term that emerged to refer to this conjuncture was “criminalization of solidarity”. In order to include this term in the academic debate, this article starts by disclosing the embedded claims present in its rhetorical usage. The article then scrutinizes the design of the politics of criminalizing solidarity and its consequences. It argues that at least three aspects of the politics of criminalizing solidarity plausibly indicate the possibility that regulating the aid in question will produce and reinforce consequences for the EU that are not only unintended, but also damaging. This is because, first, what I refer to as the blending aspect might spread the perception of illegality among several types of immigrants; second, the moral aspect can discharge people from their duty to help foreigners by conditioning this duty to group membership and belonging; and third, the polarizing aspect might exacerbate the existing divide between citizens and immigrants currently causing conflicts and social fragmentation.

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Solidarity and the 'Refugee Crisis' in Europe

Cited by 123 publications

References 0 publications

From democratic participation to civic resistance: the loss of institutional trust as an outcome of activism in the refugee solidarity movement

From democratic participation to civic resistance: the loss of institutional trust as an outcome of activism in the refugee solidarity movement

On Transversal Solidarity: An Approach to Migration and Multi-Scalar Solidarities

The Ethical Consequences of Criminalizing Solidarity in the EU

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