Koronakriza in migracije: Pansindemija in njen vpliv na migrante

he coronavirus crisis exposed and exacerbated inequalities that already existed. Simultaneously, it has transformed inequalities, changing old ones, generating new ones, intertwining the old and the new. A test of these processes, in particular, of the differentiated impact of the health crisis, may be observed in migration. After examining the ecological-social origins of the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 related racial health inequalities, the article analyzes the consequences of the pandemic on the health and working conditions of immigrant workers, asylum seekers, emigrants in travel. It highlights the syndemic situation affecting them.Koronakriza je že obstoječe neenakosti še poudarila in povečala. Hkrati jih je tudi preoblikovala, spremenila stare, povzročila nove ter prepletla stare in nove. Te procese, zlasti diferenciran vpliv na zdravstveno krizo, je mogoče opazovati pri migracijah. Članek uvodoma analizira ekološko družbeni izvor novega koronavirusa in z njim povezanih rasnih zdravstvenih neenakosti, nadaljuje pa z obravnavo posledic pandemije na zdravje in delovne razmere migrantskih delavcev, prosilcev za azil in migrantov na poti. Osvetljuje sindemično situacijo, v kateri so se znašli

Anti-migrant Islamophobia in Europe. Social roots, mechanisms and actors

Abstract During the last two decades of rising anti-migrant racism in Europe, Islamophobia has proven to be the highest, most acute, and widely spread form of racism. The article shows how anti-migrant Islamophobia is a structural phenomenon in European societies and how its internal structure has specific social roots and mechanisms of functioning. Such an articulate and interdependent set of key themes, policies, practices, discourses, and social actors it is intended to inferiorise and marginalise Muslim immigrants while legitimising and reproducing social inequalities affecting the majority of them. The article examines the social origins of anti-migrant Islamophobia and the modes and mechanisms through which it naturalises inequalities; it focuses on the main social actors involved in its production, specifically on the role of some collective subjects as anti-Muslim organizations and movements, far-right parties, best-selling authors, and the mass-media

Voluntary work as a new frontier in the precarisation of migrant workers: the case of asylum seekers in Italy

Within the deep work transformations that have taken place in recent decades, the European labour market has been affected by a process of structural precarisation which has created unprecedented forms of precarious work. Among such, unpaid work is an expression of extreme precarity due to the complete separation between work and wage. For several causes, migrant workers are one of the categories most affected by work casualisation and live a condition of double precarity (work and legal), mainly produced by migration policies. At the same time, immigration is involuntary a test bench for new forms of flexible work.This article examines the link between work casualisation and migration through the analysis of a specific form of unpaid work, i.e. the voluntary work by asylum seekers in Italy - institutionalised as a public policy in 2014. Considered as a mechanism of “public atonement” for the guilt of migration through activities of public interest, the article highlights how it constitutes an extreme form of precarisation of a vulnerable category. In merging elements questioning the unconditionality of the right of asylum and acquaintance with permanent precarity, it creates an unprecedented “grey area” of labour exploitation and cultural inferiorisationEn el marco de las transformaciones del trabajo, el mercado del trabajo europeo ha asistido a un proceso de precarización estructural que ha conllevado formas de trabajo precario inéditas. Entre ellas, el trabajo no remunerado es una expresión de precariedad extrema por su separación total entre prestación y salario. Por distintas causas, los trabajadores migrantes son una de las categorías más afectadas por la precarización y viven una condición de doble precariedad (laboral y legal), causada principalmente por las políticas migratorias. Al mismo tiempo, la inmigración es involuntariamente el laboratorio donde se experimentan nuevas formas de trabajo flexible. Este artículo examina la conexión entre precarización laboral y migración a través del análisis del trabajo voluntario de los solicitantes de asilo en Italia - institucionalizado como política pública en 2014. Interpretado como mecanismo de “expiación pública” de la culpa de la migración a través del trabajo voluntario de utilidad pública, el artículo hace hincapié en el hecho que ese constituye una forma extrema de precarización de una categoría vulnerable. Mezclando elementos que ponen en entredicho la incondicionalidad del derecho al asilo y la socialización hacia la precariedad permanente, pone de manifiesto una “zona gris” de explotación laboral y inferiorización cultural

For Dignity, Against Racism: The Struggles of Asylum Seekers in Italy

In Italy, over the last years in the world of social struggles asylum seekers have been in the spotlight several times, having led several episodes of mobilisations and protests. They emerged as political subjects, with their own claims and situations; parallel to the issue of reception, they expressed themselves in the public space as asylum seekers, with campaigns, pickets, and marches, with which the respect for their rights and dignity is advocated. This study analyses the causes, forms and repercussions of the struggles of asylum seekers in the last decade. After the analysis of the experience of immigrants’ struggles over the last three decades, the article examines the social roots and the features of the struggles of asylum seekers between 2011 to 2019, and considers their meaning in the political context

INTRODUCTION: MIGRANTS AND MIGRATION IN THE ECO-PAN-SYNDEMIC ERA

In 2021, Dve Domovini / Two Homelands published a special issue entitled The Coro- navirus Crisis and Migration (vol. 54), which contained numerous articles on various contexts and specific aspects. Considering the importance of the topic, one year later, Dve Domovini / Two Homelands is devoting a new issue to migration in the pandemic era. In the editorial of issue 54, we analyzed the coronavirus crisis’s origins, characteristics, and social effects. In this editorial, we present an overview of migra- tory movements and migration policies and the impact on labor and health for immigrants. The current eco-pan-syndemic 1 has produced new elements compared to the pre-COVID era, at the same time consolidating existing phenomena and high- lighting old problems. While it has limited, interrupted, and disrupted migratory movements, at the same time, it has deepened the underlying causes of migration by accentuating the need to emigrate

The Racialized Welfare Discourse on Refugees and Asylum Seekers: The Example of “Scroungers” in Italy

The rise of anti-immigrant racism over the past two decades has taken place through multiple mechanisms and processes, including the resurgence of welfare racism, which has been re-functionalized towards refugees and asylum seekers. As a key weapon of today’s sovereignism and white supremacism, the “return” of welfare racism is intrinsic to the rise of neo-liberal racism and is an integral part of a global process of erosion of social rights, weakening of social citizenship, and dismantling of the welfare state. Welfare racism—a combination of racial discrimination in the welfare system and racialized welfare discourse—operates through discriminatory laws and measures related to social benefits and through public discourses depicting refugees, immigrants, and people of color as parasites and scroungers sponging off the welfare state. The resurgence of welfare racism in the last decade has seen the specific spread of welfare racism against refugees and asylum seekers as part of the dual war on asylum and on the welfare state. This article examines the ideological-discursive dimension of welfare racism (that is, the public discourses, rhetoric, and images), first analyzing the development, dimensions, and characteristics of racialized welfare discourse more generally, then focusing on racialized welfare discourses about refugees and asylum seekers in contemporary Italy. It explores the arguments and conceptual metaphors of the racialized welfare discourse on asylum seekers, revealing the devices and dynamics at play in the construction of the refugee as a “scrounger” and welfare abuser. Furthermore, it highlights the consequences of racialized welfare discourse on public policies (particularly on social policies and welfare controls), on migration policies (particularly on immigration controls and internal controls), and on the relationship between citizens and migrants, receiving societies, and newcomers

La crescita strutturale delle disuguaglianze nell'era neo-liberista

La crescita impetuosa delle disuguaglianze costituisce una delle grandi questioni sociali del nostro tempo, nonché una delle principali caratteristiche dell’era neo-liberista. Il saggio intende dimostrare che tale crescita è strutturale e organica all’attuale fase del capitalismo; analizza le principali tendenze di tale processo di crescita, soffermandosi in particolare sulla globalizzazione della polarizzazione sociale interna nei singoli Paesi; infine prende in esame le molteplici cause alla base della crescita delle disuguaglianze.The dramatic growth of inequalities is one of the main social issues of our times and one of the main features of the neo-liberal era. This essay aims at proving that such growth is structural and functional to the current phase of capitalism; it analyzes the main trends of such process, focusing on the globalization of the social polarization within the countries, and it examines the manifold causes at the roots of the growth of inequalities

Precarización del trabajo y nuevas desigualdades: el papel de la inmigración

Este artículo se centra en el “doble papel” que puede tener la inmigración en el proceso de precarización del trabajo: por un lado interesa sobretodo y de manera considerable los trabajadores inmigrantes, por el otro, la inmigración es a menudo un vector de difusión y ampliación de precariedad. Examina el impacto de la precariedad sobre los trabajadores inmigrantes en el contexto europeo y la importancia general de las políticas migratorias en adelantar una mayor ampliación de la precariedad; después toma en consideración el contexto italiano como símbolo de la precarización del trabajo inmigrante y de la experimentación en el sector de la inmigración de nuevas formas de precariedad. The article focuses on the “double role” immigration may have in the process of causalization of work: on one hand such process firstly and markedly involves migrant workers, on the other hand immigration often provides a vector of spreading and increase of precarity. The article deals with the impact of precarity on migrant workers within the European context, and the global importance of migration policies in anticipating a larger expansion of precarity; then, it focuses on the Italian context as a symbol for both the precarization of migrant labour and the experimentation in the migration sector of new forms of precariousness

Subappalto e sfruttamento differenziale dei lavoratori immigrati. Il caso di tre settori in Italia

L’articolo indaga il legame tra nuove forme di organizzazione del lavoro derivate dall’esternalizzazione della produzione attraverso il subappalto e sfruttamento dei lavoratori immigrati occupati nei settori della navalmeccanica, della metalmeccanica e delle costruzioni. Dopo un inquadramento sulla globalizzazione del subappalto, si analizzano le tappe della sua diffusione in Italia, le condizioni di lavoro degli immigrati nel sistema del subappalto di tali settori in rapporto alle trasformazioni dell’organizzazione del lavoro, alle politiche migratorie e alla combinazione tra stratificazioni del mercato del lavoro e civic stratification. Infine vengono presentate le nuove sfide – divisione/unione dei lavoratori determinate dalla politica del subappalto, difficoltà di sindacalizzare i lavoratori immigrati – poste ai sindacati da queste trasformazioni e le misure adottate per tutelare questi lavoratori e sostenerne la partecipazione al sindacato