Feeling the scope of solidarity: the role of emotions for volunteers supporting refugees in Germany

In recent political debates in Germany, volunteers and citizens who support the cause of refugees are often accused of being "too emotional". Based mainly on empirical evidence from 10 group discussions and 35 individual interviews with volunteers, conducted in 2016, this article undertakes a sociological analysis of the role of emotions for volunteers

Voluntarios y solicitantes de asilo

La gente de las comunidades donde han llegado solicitantes de asilo y refugiados les ofrece diversas formas de apoyo ya que los Estados no les han provisto ni siquiera de lo esencial

Vielfalt als Herausforderung organisationaler Einheit?

Die Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di) gründete sich 2001 in einem Fusionsprozess von fünf Einzelgewerkschaften (DPG; DAG; ÖTV; IG Medien; Handel, Banken, Versicherungen). Diese Fusion mündete in eine komplexe Organisationsstruktur mit einer räumlichen Gliederung in 13 Fachbereiche, welche innerorganisational kontinuierlich auf dem Prüfstand steht: In der Organisation soll künftig Komplexität reduziert werden. Maßnahmen wie die zusätzliche Einführung von Migrationsquoten werden aus dieser Perspektive als unnötig und problematisch angesehen. Gleichzeitig besteht eine drängender werdende innerorganisationale Notwendigkeit, demografischen Entwicklungen z.B. im Hinblick auf migrationsbezogene Diversität und der Vertretung von Interessen von Migrant*innen gerecht zu werden. Drängender wird dies zudem aufgrund von Forderungen interner Akteur*innen wie der Personengruppe der Migrant*innen und der Migrationsausschüsse nach einer Migrationsquote. Zudem ist eine differenzaffine, anti-rassistischen und teilhabeorientierte Positionierung ein wichtiger Aspekt der ver.di-Organisationsidentität. Insofern – so unsere These – werden die Forderung nach Komplexitätsreduktion und Einheit und die Forderung nach mehr Vielfalt innerorganisational als gegensätzlich dargestellt und produzieren ein Spannungsverhältnis, das derzeit auch blockierende Effekte auf die weitere Öffnung gegenüber migrationsbezogener Diversität erzeugt

Real fake? Appropriating mobility via Schengen visa in the context of biometric border controls

Although the majority of illegalised migrants in the European Union are so-called ‘visa overstayers’ who enter with a Schengen visa only to become ‘illegal’ once it has expired, this mode of illegalised migration has only received scarce attention in border and migration studies so far. This article takes the introduction of biometric technologies in the Schengen visa regime as an opportunity to compensate for this neglect by asking: How do migrants appropriate Schengen visa in the context of biometric border controls? Drawing on the autonomy of migration approach (AoM), it investigates the visa regime from the perspective of mobility in order to elaborate on one set of practices of appropriation that involves the provision of falsified or manipulated supporting documents upon which the decision to issue a biometric visa is based. The article draws on this example to develop a conception of the notion of appropriation that addresses the two central criticisms that have been raised against the AoM. Besides contributing to the development of the AoM, the article thus introduces a concept in debates on migrant agency that highlights, better than existing concepts, the intricate intertwinement of migrants’ practices with the actors, means and methods of mobility control

Volunteers and asylum seekers

People in communities where asylum seekers and refugees have appeared offered various forms of support to the new arrivals as states failed to provide even the essentials

The Limits of Multiculturalism

Since the antiracist debates of the 1990s, it has been proper parlance in leftist circles to speak of multiculturalism as a particular kind of racism.But what does the subject of racism have to do with multiculturalism? Even if one were to disregard the unreasonable conception that the subject is racist in the sense of a “full subordination of the individual under a paranoid system of meanings and perceptions of the world” (Demirovic, 1991), a link is all too quickly forged between the violent racism of Neo-Nazis and a concept of multiculturalism that was originally located in the context of antiracist practice. Succinctly put, “In the antiracist scene, it has lately become a common position to criticize multiculturalism in civil society as racism” (Bojadzijev/Tsianos 2000).The use of the concept “racism” thus plays a dual, ambivalent role. In the 1990s, it took hold on the left as a political concept to describe local relations; throughout the 1980s, the term had been used more broadly in relation to South Africa’s apartheid regime or to describe “racial unrest” in the USA. In contrast, racist practices and ideologies in the Federal Republic of Germany have been identified in part with the concept of xenophobia. While xenophobia appeared to have more to do with a subject’s diffuse and irrational disposition, “racism” engaged in a systematic dispute with discriminatory, racializing practices in state and societal relations. At the same time, in the post-War era in Europe, the term racism was linked with the folkish-racist politics of National Socialism to the extent that the political weight of western liberal democracies’ condemnatory declarations resonated with the racism concept as well. Against this backdrop, allegations of racism were a political weapon not to be underestimated

Volunteers and asylum seekers

People in communities where asylum seekers and refugees have appeared offered various forms of support to the new arrivals as states failed to provide even the essentials