Metropolitics

Multiplied Displacement Under Racial Capitalism: The “Migrant Crisis” in Berlin and New York City

René Kreichauf — 2025-01-31T10:17:52Z

Berlin and New York City, both self-proclaimed “migrant-friendly cities,” have long been destinations for internationally displaced migrants. Yet, as René Kreichauf explains, the façade of “migrant-friendly” belies racialized policies and practices that multiply displacement and dispossession. In New York, the inauguration of Donald Trump, and the mayor's fealty to him in the hopes of a pardon, portends an intensification of the violence that multiple displacement produces.
The 21st century

- Essays / migration, criminalization of migration, migration crisis, migrant workers, migrants, Berlin, New York, United States, Germany, asylum, displacement

The French Exception on the European Migration Scene

Speranta Dumitru & Ettore Recchi — 2024-06-04T05:00:00Z

The notion of mass migration to France is regularly mobilized in the country's European election campaigns. Using international data, Speranta Dumitru and Ettore Recchi show that, in fact, France is less attractive to migrants than neighboring countries, and highlight the exceptionally broad scope of France's expulsion policy compared with those of other EU nations.
A century and a half ago, Victor Hugo, a staunch advocate of a “United States of Europe,” saw borders as a synonym for

- Debates / Europe, migration, migrants

Reinventing Politics Against its Brutalization

Laurent Bazin & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-10-27T05:00:00Z

In Greece, the violence of anti-migration policies is compounded by that of economic adjustment measures. Christiane Vollaire and Philippe Bazin visited the people and places that are countering this violence with “an archipelago of solidarities.”
Magnificent from every point of view, Christiane Vollaire and Philippe Bazin's book presents the results of investigations carried out in Greece between 2017 and 2020. Its originality lies in the combination of two approaches: field philosophy and

- Reviews / philosophie, histoire, photographie, migrants, Grèce, solidarité

Securing Shelter While Facing Eviction: The Case of Syrian Migrants in Lebanon

Dima El Khouri — 2022-12-16T06:00:00Z

Dima El Khouri documents the politics of securing housing for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. She shows the complex web of negotiations that take place between refugees, local Lebanese city dwellers, local authorities, and international NGOs.
Between the beginning of the conflict in Syria in 2011 and 2014, the Lebanese government failed to react to the arrival of Syrians fleeing conflict in their country. By 2015, approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees resided in Lebanon, in addition to almost

- From the Field / Syria, Lebanon, refugees, migrants, migration, shelter, housing, evictions

Arrests of People Smugglers in Niger: A Criminalization of Mutual-Aid Practices in Migration Situations

Alizée Dauchy & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-07-08T05:00:00Z

From the point of view of the Northern states, international migration from the South now has its designated leaders, the networks of "smugglers", which should be dismantled. Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in Niger, the author shows the lability of this role and the perverse effects of a blind repression of mutual aid.
Long ignored by European migration policies, Niger has emerged in official discourse as a transit country for West African populations heading for Europe since 2015

- From the Field / Niger, migrants, migration, criminalization of migration, borders, law, migration crisis, Global South, Africa

At the Borders of Europe

Elsa Tyszler & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-05-13T05:00:00Z

Against the backdrop of the deaths of 27 exiled people, who drowned in the English Channel while trying to reach the United Kingdom in November 2021, Camille Schmoll's book sheds light on the migration tragedy and the responsibility of states and the European Union when it comes the fate of migrant women on the margins of Europe.
Geographer Camille Schmoll conducted her research during a decade (2010-2020) in which the sea became a border-graveyard for Europe's unwanted migrants. Contrary to

- Reviews / migration crisis, migrants, reception, feminism, borders, migration

Lawyers and Borders: Using Legal Recourse to Oppose State Discretion?

Annalisa Lendaro & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-05-06T05:00:00Z

In the autumn of 2020, the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France, prohibited associations not mandated by the state from distributing food aid to migrants on the street. While opponents of this decision have taken their case to the administrative courts, Annalisa Lendaro shows the central role of lawyers in challenging migration policies.
In a context of reinforced controls at the French–Italian border for the last 10 years, a small group of lawyers has specialized

- From the Field / migrants, law, Italy, borders, migration, migration crisis, criminalization of migration

The Professionalization of Migrant Assistance in Tunisia

Camille Cassarini & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-04-15T05:00:00Z

In Tunisia, the management of sub-Saharan migration has in recent years become a new sector of employment. Camille Cassarini highlights the effects of this professionalization, a key element of which is the integration of state objectives for checks and controls on migrants by NGOs.
In Tunisia, the issue of the reception of irregular sub-Saharan migrant populations is a relatively recent one. Up until 2011, migration of this kind was managed within a national framework – primarily repressive

- From the Field / Tunisia, Africa, North Africa, NGOs, migration, migration crisis, migrants, reception, law

“Welcomed with Closed Arms”: The Everyday Abandonment of Asylum Seekers in Marseille

Béatrice Mésini & Assaf Dahdah & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-04-01T05:00:00Z

Asylum policies in France are torn between welcoming and dissuasive measures, and appear ambivalent. Béatrice Mesini and Assaf Dahdah's investigation in Marseille paint a picture of a “welcome with closed arms.”
In France, the right to asylum was introduced in the Constitution of 1793: "the French people shall give asylum to foreigners banished from their homeland for the cause of freedom"; and in the preamble of the Constitution of the Fourth Republic in 1946: "Any person persecuted because

- From the Field / Marseille, sans-papiers, asile, droit, migrants

The Everyday Realities of Marriage Migration

Laura Odasso & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-03-18T06:00:00Z

If unions between nationals from Global North countries and foreigners are frequent, their marriages are often met with suspicion by state administrations. This article analyzes the rationales for this interference in people's private lives and its effects on marital life.
When explaining her encounter with the immigration authorities, Anita says she should never have told the Belgian police the truth. For this Flemish woman in her thirties, everything changed when she told the police officer

- From the Field / migration, justice, Europe, migrants, law, Italy, Belgium