The Politics of Helping Refugees Emerging Meanings of Political Action around the German ‘Summer of Welcome'

Fleischmann, Larissa

doi:10.3280/mm2017-003003

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…By first ideal-typically distinguishing civil society and social movement types of practices, as well as humanitarianism and solidarity – carving out differences in their respective repertoires of action, the main actors involved and the role of the state therein – we aim to then point at the interactions between the different forms in practice. Drawing from a growing literature on the political dimensions of humanitarian practice (Fleischmann, 2017; Sandri, 2017; Sinatti, 2019; Vandevoordt, 2019) and bridging it to debates on more overtly politicised migrant support (della Porta, 2018), we suggest that moments of crisis reconfigure the broader field of civil society engagement for migrants, resulting in arenas shifting shapes and actors morphing both ideationally and strategically. These hybrid and complex practices of civic engagement in support of migrants, as reaction to specific crises, are at the core of this symposium.…”

Section: (Beyond) Ideal Types Of Civic Engagement For Migrantsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Introduction: Solidarities in Motion: Hybridity and Change in Migrant Support Practices

Porta

Steinhilper

2020

Critical Sociology

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The so-called ‘Eurozone’ and ‘migration’ crises mark critical moments in Europe’s recent political history and share similarities to the extent that they both have increased political conflict, mobilised large parts of civil society, and put renewed attention upon the notion of ‘solidarity’. Focusing on the specific case of solidarity with migrants, this articles argues that times of crises have increasingly blurred the lines between contentious and non-contentious forms of civil society engagement. Scrutinising these dynamics of hybridisation, we bridge diverse, yet largely disconnected literatures, including social movement, civil society and humanitarian studies. In particular, we suggest that the disciplinary and analytical distinction between volunteering and non-profit activities on the one hand and social movements and political activism on the other is too rigid and does obscure parts of a complex phenomenon, which is characterised by activities that often intersect between humanitarian practices and contentious politics.

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Section: (Beyond) Ideal Types Of Civic Engagement For Migrantsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Introduction: Solidarities in Motion: Hybridity and Change in Migrant Support Practices

Porta

Steinhilper

2020

Critical Sociology

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“…(4) Support groups that spontaneously coalesce, especially around refugees settled in particular localities (Ellermann, 2006;Fontanari, 2017), for instance by providing help for people in transit at the railway station of Milan (Sinatti 2019), or in the border zone of Ventimiglia-Val Roja (Giliberti 2017). The German experience of the "summer of welcome" also showed a strong mobilization by private citizens, often without any associative label, or political or religious affiliation (Fleischmann 2017). Karakayali (2017) highlighted the role of "emotions" in mobilizing a relevant proportion of German citizens in favour of refugees: according to his estimates, based on several surveys, between 10 to 20 percent of the German adult population (ibid: 8).…”

Section: On the Other Side Of The "Battleground": Civil Society And Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The Urban Governance of Asylum as a “Battleground”: Policies of Exclusion and Efforts of Inclusion in Italian Towns

Ambrosini¹

2020

Geographical Review

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The urban governance of asylum as a "battleground": policies of exclusion and efforts of inclusion in Italian towns Maurizio Ambrosini, university of Milan The governance of immigration has been increasingly discussed, especially in Europe, as a multilevel and multi-actor process in which diverse institutional and non-institutional subjects play a role (Scholten et al., 2018). In particular the efforts by national governments to achieve more control over migration flows involve local governments more directly than in the past (Guiraudon and Lahav 2000; Oomen and Lenders 2020). This trend encompasses a contradiction in which local policies in Europe have often been considered, at least in the last two decades, more open than national policies, more oriented towards a pragmatic reception of immigrants and to the admission to local services also of immigrants with legally dubious or irregular status. In the US, "sanctuary cities", such as New York or San Francisco, have resisted federal policies against unauthorized immigration. They have avoided raids and granted some social services also to immigrants without legal status (Oomen, Davis and Grigolo, 2016). In the UK, the "City of Sanctuary" movement was established in Sheffield in 2005, and in 2016 it had groups operating in more than 80 towns, cities and villages (Bauder, 2017). While sanctuary movements are also crucial sites for defending immigrants against the U.S. Federal government's policies and practices, studies in the U.S. (and in Canada as well) have identified local powers committed to combatting irregular immigration with greater determination than federal powers (Chand and Schreckhise, 2014; Varsanyi 2008; Gilbert 2009). In the EU, local policies of exclusion have not received much attention in the academic debate, whereas positive aspects of local policies have been more often studied (CLIP Network, 2010; Hillmann 2019; Penninx et al., 2004). An exception is the literature on border towns, camps and detention centres in which local authorities are often involved

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“…Such a perspective blurs the ideal-typical lines between political- and social justice-oriented solidarity and allegedly neutral humanitarianism as it allows for a ‘shift from a humanitarianism that transforms forced migrants into recipients of aid, to a form of solidarity that allows more room for their socio-political subjectivities’ (Vandevoordt, 2019). Many scholars agree that such a shift requires a re-politicization of migration and a transformation of social roles and imaginaries of migration (Ataç et al, 2016; Sinatti, 2019; Vandevoordt, 2019), yet also underline that this can unfold despite or at times even precisely because of a depoliticized appearance (Fleischmann, 2017; Sinatti, 2019; Vandevoordt, 2019).…”

Section: Migrant Support Between Humanitarianism and Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Countering the Asylum Paradox Through Strategic Humanitarianism: Evidence from Safe Passage Activism in Germany

Schwiertz

Steinhilper

2020

Critical Sociology

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This paper inquires the moral and political ambivalences of migrant support located between contentious politics and humanitarian aid. Comparing Save Me and Seebrücke, two cases of pro-migrant activism in Germany claiming the safe passage of migrants to Europe, we develop the notion of ‘strategic humanitarianism’, a hybrid form of migrant support, in which actors combine the strategic employment of predominantly depoliticizing, narrow and humanitarian framing with a contentious repertoire of action. It entails deliberately sacrificing a ‘deep’ politicization of fundamental critique against contemporary migration regimes in order to achieve a ‘wide’ politicization and broad consensus for progressive social change. Furthermore, we carve out how distinct political contexts, in this case the issue salience and polarization of migration, influence the dynamics of mobilization and the configuration of humanitarianism and contentious politics. Despite a similar focus, thus, the ‘strategic humanitarianism’ of Save Me has developed a less contentious and disobedient character than Seebrücke.

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The Politics of Helping Refugees Emerging Meanings of Political Action around the German ‘Summer of Welcome'

Cited by 20 publications

References 30 publications

Introduction: Solidarities in Motion: Hybridity and Change in Migrant Support Practices

Introduction: Solidarities in Motion: Hybridity and Change in Migrant Support Practices

The Urban Governance of Asylum as a “Battleground”: Policies of Exclusion and Efforts of Inclusion in Italian Towns

Countering the Asylum Paradox Through Strategic Humanitarianism: Evidence from Safe Passage Activism in Germany

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