Exploring the Emerging Dynamics of Migration Policies and Border Violence

events Programme

The seminar took place in Świnoroje in Podlasie, on the Polish-Belarusian border. It brought together researchers from different countries who presented their respective empirical work on border violence and who responded to the invitation to join us in advancing critical dialogue on migration, border violence, social struggles and social justice. Speakers were selected based on abstracts submitted in response to an open call circulated through academic and activist networks. In addition to the speakers and other active participants in the seminar, about 25 other people attended the sessions and the opening of the exhibitions (activists and humanitarian workers, local residents and international students from the University of Warsaw who joined the discussion). The event was organised in a hybrid format so that the audience could also participate online. Apart from the discussion in the venue, the participants in situ had the opportunity to experience the border space and observe the consequences of the ongoing militarisation during the ethnographic walk in the border space facilitated by the organisers and the guided tour in the strict reserve of Puszcza Białowieska, the last primary forest in Europe. The opening of the exhibition was an opportunity to exchange ideas with activists who provide humanitarian assistance to people on the move and to reflect on different ways of archiving and remembering the violence and struggles that take place on the border.
The Call for papers:
Poland's eastern border, and thus EU external border, is a territory where we observe ongoing societal struggles to reclaim the border space, that since the beginning of the humanitarian crisis in 2021 has been militarised and excessive force put in use against people on the move and local populations. This localised example of border violence happens against the background of similar struggles on many other EU borders and world-wide and the harrowing statistics of migrant deaths at various border crossings. The human toll of fortified borders is on the rise - there are 57 confirmed deaths on the Polish-Belarussian border, more than three hundreds confirmed fatalities in the Evros River (Greek-Turkey border), between 2000-2017, and the staggering figure of tens of thousands of individuals dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea since.
As researchers and activists, we see the urgent need for a critical re-evaluation of contemporary migration policies and their societal implications. We observe how, escalating and troubling normalization of border violence and a shifting narrative around migration and mobilities take place. What was once deemed debatable has now been embraced as mainstream discourse and eventually a state policies, with the legitimization of practices such as mass incarcerations, the use of force and the proliferation of discriminatory language in public discourse. This normalization extends beyond mere rhetoric, seeping into the very fabric of our societies, shaping attitudes towards migration and refugees in ways that demand scholarly scrutiny.
In this vein, we invite submissions from Authors, academics and activists who share similar concerns and wish to engage into discussions touching upon following aspects of the contemporary migration landscape, border regimes and social impact: border-racialisation nexus, securitisation and weaponisation, internalization and externalization of the border, normalisation of violence, fascisation and the rightwingisation of migration policies, accountability and justice, migration and mobility justice.