Paper details

Paper authors	Soline Ballet
In panel on	Everyday violence and resistance in Europe’s ‘migration management’ during the Covid-19 pandemic
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper explores how grassroots initiatives in Brussels have provided accommodation for migrants in transit to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis is based on ethnographic work conducted between October 2020 and March 2021 in two types of grassroots initiatives: the semi-professionalized Citizen Platform for the Support of Refugees, and a small number of autonomous squats housing migrants in transit. On the one hand, I argue that the Citizen Platform has diversified its material help by developing new collaborations with local authorities and private actors. On the other hand, I show how the contentious political climate in Brussels generated opportunities for squatting movements to occupy buildings to house migrants in transit. Both acts of solidarity emerged partly in response to the repressive approach adopted by the Federal government vis-à-vis migrants in transit during the pandemic. Nevertheless, both initiatives entail a distinct set of power dynamics, including one between solidarity activists and migrants in transit. In sum, this article demonstrates that whilst repressive measures for migrants in transit increase during a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, also existing acts of solidarity transform and new ones emerge.

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