Rendering Space and People Economic: Naguib Sawiris’ Refugee ‘Country’

Abstract

This contribution explores the intersection of humanitarianism and neoliberalism as ‘recipes’ to address the ‘migration’ or ‘refugees crisis’ in the Mediterranean. It takes the recent proposal of Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris to buy a ‘refugee island’ as a starting point for a discussion of the increasing propensity to view refugee communities through their economic potential in a neoliberal marketplace. Such an understanding in turn feeds into the continued construction of the Mediterranean as a particular neoliberal market space.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Polly Pallister-Wilkins for helpful comments on a previous version of this article.

Notes

1. https://twitter.com/NaguibSawiris/status/638753801655177217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

2. http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/09/13/telecom-billionaire-naguib-sawiris-on-syrian-refugee-crisis-i-cannot-just-sit-and-just-do-nothing-and-pretend-its-not-my-problem/

3. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerenblankfeld/2015/09/05/egyptian-billionaire-urging-greek-and-italian-leaders-to-sell-him-island-for-refugees/

4. http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/04/news/refugees-island-billionaire/

5. http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/04/news/refugees-island-billionaire/