Refugee solidarity activism in times of pandemic: reorganizing solidarity practices at the EU border

ABSTRACT

This article explores how grassroots refugee solidarity groups adapted their solidarity practices to the unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. By taking as a case study the EU border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which is situated along the Western Balkans migratory route, this piece explores how grassroots solidarity groups continued to provide first aid in the field to people on the move during the pandemic by adapting their practices to the changed circumstances. Combining a spatial and relational perspective to the study of solidarity activism, this article found evidence that solidarity groups managed to continue their activities during the pandemic thanks to two specific conditions: the existence of established networks and strong ties between international and domestic actors; and the spatiality of the border, which provided fertile ground for these relationships and ties to develop and thrive. The study placed social movement literature into dialogue with critical border studies and critical geography and is based on online and offline participant observation as well as in-depth qualitative interviews with solidarians engaged in refugee solidarity activism.

KEYWORDS:

• Solidarity
• refugees
• activism
• pandemic
• Western Balkans route

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript, whose feedback helped to improve it, Chiara Martini, who conducted part of the interviews, Devid Sbeghen, for the logistical and emotional support during the participant observation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Emmet Marron for the careful proofreading of the article. I am indebted to all the interviewees who dedicated their time to participate in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Throughout the article I use the terms ‘migrants’, ‘refugees’, ‘people in transit’, ‘border-crossers’ and ‘people on the move’ interchangeably to refer to individuals who navigate borders having fled their countries in a bid to escape war, or due to economic deprivation, regardless of whether they have lodged an asylum claim or have been granted official international protection.

2 Following the 1990s war, the Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina, one of the two entities composing BiH (the other being Republika Srpska) is composed of 10 administrative and largely autonomous units called cantons. These substate layers of governments each have its own constitution, government, and court.

3 Online interview with a spokesperson of NNK/BVMN, 25 November 2020.

4 Online interview with a spokesperson of NNK/BVMN, 25 November 2020.

5 Online interview with a spokesperson of the Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche Alto Vicentino, 29 October 2020.

6 Online interview with a representative of Bozen Solidarity, 15 June 2020.

7 NNK holds a high degree of flexibility since its foundation, as their mobile kitchens and showers can be quickly moved from one place to another depending on the circumstances and needs of people on the move, and on the different camps, border crossings and transit zones where people on the move are stranded.

8 Online interview with a representative of Bozen Solidarity, 15 June 2020.

9 BVMN is a network of watchdog organisations active in the Western Balkans and in Greece, which at the times of writing includes the following groups: No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Are you Syrious, Mobile Info Team, Josoor, [re:]ports Sarajevo, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response. It is engaged in documenting violations at borders directed towards people on the move. The network collects testimonies of illegal pushbacks through interviews and publish them on a website database (https://www.borderviolence.eu/).

10 Amongst others: ‘Beyond the borders. The state of emergency in the Western Balkans’ (April 2020), ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the Western Balkans route’, organized online by NNK in May 2020, ‘COVID-19 and border violence along the Balkan route’ (May 2020) and the international conference ‘Along the Western Balkans route’, organized by the Italian network Rivolti ai Balcani (Targeting the Balkans) in November 2020.

11 Interview with a representative of One Bridge to Idomeni, 19 July 2021.

12 Online interview with a representative of Bozen Solidarity, 15 June 2020.

13 Online interview with a spokesperson of NNK/BVMN, 25 November 2020.

14 Interview with representative of U Pokretu association, Bihać, 23 February 2022.

15 Interview with representative of U Pokretu association, Bihać, 23 February 2022.

16 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44709252 (accessed 29 December 2023).

17 Interview with a representative of U Pokretu association, Bihać, 23 February 2022.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union’s Erasmus + Programme under the Jean Monnet Network “Transnational Political Contention in Europe” (TraPoCo), Grant agreement number 620881.