Slowness Sets In, Migration Goes On
Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash
In August, the energy in European cities shifts. Walking down the streets in which locals usually walk or run, be it to work, to pick up children, to classes, the sensation is one of slowness, a lull, rush replaced by meandering. The idea of August as a month of rest is deeply embedded in the European conscience: it is a month to recharge, spend time with loved ones, travel. According to some statistics, more than half of Europeans will go on holiday this month. At the same time, for those in the tourism industry, the pace picks up, as European cities and shores are flooded with tourists that find this continent an attractive destination.
This approach to rest, travel, and relationships is - in my opinion - one of the beauties of life in this continent. But it is also a reminder of the disparities that come with being a European passport holder.
While headlines are focused on the war in Ukraine, the impending (current?) gas crisis on this side of the Atlantic, and the cost of living crisis, other forms of movement, in the form of migration, continue. Violence is still embedded in European migration policy, reflected in the idea of “Fortress Europe”, a “term has been used for decades to criticise the EU’s protectionism in migration and other policy areas like trade, and it has now become even more controversial as it metaphorically (and sometimes literally) connects with the discourse of authoritarian-populist parties”
It has now been a month since at least 23 people died at the border between Spain and Morocco, when Sub-saharan migrants attempted to cross the fenced border in order to seek asylum from a European nation. The images were particularly horrifying; fellow humans crushed between fences, border guards using tear gas and batons on display. Beyond Europe, it is also a month since the bodies of almost 50 migrants were found in San Antonio, Texas. And only a few days ago Haitian migrants were found dead off the Bahaman coast. These massacres are not new.
While white Ukrainian refugees were embraced with open arms—showing that a welcoming and compassionate approach is possible when the political and civic will is there— Human Rights Watch continues to report multiple instances of violence and pushbacks predominantly towards non-white migrants and asylum seekers at the Polish and Belarusian border. Migrants and asylum seekers pushed back to Belarus often face further violence and serious human rights abuses.
These are political choices. But it would not be fair to infer widespread agreement with these actions.
In fact, European courts are challenging these approaches. A Polish court has ruled pushback of asylum seekers as unlawful. In a unanimous decision, the European Court of Human rights condemned Greece over its practice of pushing boats of asylum seekers back to Turkey for breaching the right to life and the prohibition of torture.
Migration and migration-related events continue, yet from a public opinion perspective, in Europe migration no longer plays the central role in public debate it used to just six or seven years ago. As we call it in social science, it is not “salient”.
For those of us that look at polarization, communications, and campaigning, salience is relevant and an ongoing source of questioning. While the instinct is that it is good for an issue that we work on to be central, to have a protagonist role, the truth is that when a topic gets more attention, in our fractured world, it is also more likely to become polarized.
We look both at the “salience” and also at how much “warm” and “cold” feelings it musters (or positive and negative attitudes) and amongst whom. The topic of Ukrainian refugees is in general a salient topic and evokes positive attitudes. Migrants of color from other places, however, have in general generated different responses. As an issue, its salience has ebbed and flowed, and there have been contrasting groups of the public with positive and negative attitudes, but also large swathes of people with ambiguous or more nuanced views.
To create a more positive landscape, narratives matter. Averting dominant narratives being captured by extremists, matters even more.
Narratives contribute to how citizens view out-groups and the circumstances they face. As Marco Ricorda of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development explains, narratives are “powerful shapers of (mis)perceptions. Narratives can be defined as selective representations of reality across at least two points in time that include a causal claim.” Narratives can help us empathize and promote belonging or they can contribute to othering. If we are committed to truly averting future tragedy, we must re-examine our collective narratives about who is deserving of help and who isn’t.
Narratives matter to influence both salience and the positive or negative direction of attitudes. When othering narratives prevail, they can lead to dehumanization, which in turn can result in the normalization of atrocities or migrants becoming diplomatic bargaining chips without public outcry. Over the years and across the world, migration has been salient and polarized, and often exploited to promote fear-based narratives and score political goals.
While migration and refugee issues are not at the forefront in most of Europe, there is however a policy that is currently getting a lot of attention. As the conservative leadership contest continues, both candidates have vowed to continue and even expand the controversial Rwanda asylum plan (listen to this podcast from ODI for more details). This plan - that has generated uproar and has stalled in court - entails sending asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda to wait for their claims to be reviewed there. The narrative promoted by conservative leadership contradicts itself. According to them, the impetus behind sending asylum-seekers back to Rwanda is one of deterrence. At the same time, Rwanda is (debatably) promoted as a safe place that offers fair and effective recourse to justice to the British public.
With the looming hunger crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, we can expect to see an increase in migration from places far beyond European borders, not to mention a potential surge of climate refugees due to the impacts of worsening climate change. We need to make sure that we shape narratives that never sacrifice the humanity of migrating people and are prepared, not reactive to the instrumentalization of this topic by extremist authoritarian populists. The Ukrainian response could perhaps be an example of what happens when a collective gets together, mobilizes to react to a crisis, and enlarges the circle of human concern.
In other news:
In a turn of events, “Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key centrist Democrat, announced on Wednesday that he had agreed to include hundreds of billions of dollars for climate and energy programs and tax increases in a package to subsidize health care and lower the cost of prescription drugs, less than two weeks after abruptly upending hopes for such an agreement this summer.”
The International Court of Justice has admitted the genocide case against Myanmar, rejecting the Junta’s preliminary objections to the court examining the accusations of atrocities committed against the Rohingya. The court will now hear this case - filed by the Gambia - and determine if Myanmar violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
If you need a beautifully written novel, I’d recommend the Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, a “A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal”.
Connecting the Dots: Musings on Bridging and Belonging is a bi-monthly column by Míriam Juan-Torres. In it, Míriam reflects on current events, connecting the trends and considering the specificities across countries, applying a bridging and belonging lens and translating concepts from academia for a wider audience. In Connecting the Dots, Míriam carefully curates readings and resources to further expand our understanding and shed light on the complexities of our time. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on the latest of the Democracy & Belonging Forum's curated analysis from Miriam and more.
Editor's note: The ideas expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the Othering & Belonging Institute or UC Berkeley, but belong to the authors.