Session 2 : Borders of solidarity: migration regimes, violence, and mobilization

This situation calls for a reexamination of questions concerning borders and migration management in Europe. It invites a comparison between
different sites of what is sometimes qualified as a “migration crisis” or a “reception crisis” (Wihtol de Wenden, 2017, 2018), with the aim of
grasping both their specificity and their underlying commonalities. It requires an inquiry into the articulation between the recent events in of
Central Europe and the broader dynamics of “bordering” that have been observed in multiple other places (Yuval-Davis et al., 2019). Indeed,
the situation on the Belarusian border in particular takes place in a specific geopolitical and national context – that of a conflict between the
Belarusian regime and its neighbors, and of increasing attacks on the rule of law by the current Polish government. However, it also echoes
events that have taken place more generally at the borders of the EU since 2015. The intensification of migration into Europe in recent years
has been accompanied by the exacerbation of a border regime characterized by an externalization of borders, a rise in the levels of violence on the part of law enforcement, and a growing “encampment” (Agier, 2014) of migrants, as well as the criminalization of assistance. This can also be seen as part of a trend of multiplication of barriers and border walls observed at least since 2001 (Vallet, 2014). We are thus witnessing the generalization of a logic where borders, while they might not kill directly, expose to death (Khosravi, 2010). The deaths in the wild forest on the Polish border can thus be compared with those in the waters of the Mediterranean or the Channel, while the assistance provided by Polish citizens despite state measures of exception invites one to revisit questions related to rescue at sea and its criminalization. At the same time, this context of “crisis” also gives rise to new mobilizations and new forms of solidarity. State responses to these bottom-up initiatives sometimes reveal tensions in legal principles, resulting in a “judicial policy of criminalizing rescuers” (Miron and Taxil, 2019). These policies can also challenge the values proclaimed by the EU, especially when principles of human rights collide with the imperative of border protection.
Meanwhile, migratory issues are fueling a rise in sovereignist and populist movements, in the face of which the EU struggles to adopt a united position. At the same time, the difference in response to the two recent crises invites a reflection on the racial undertones of those processes as well as on the varying foundations of solidarity.