The Nexus between Diaspora Mobilization and Immigrant Resistance: A Case Study of the Arab Spring Abroad

• In Event: 3549 - Immigrant Resistance: Collective Action and Everyday Contention

Abstract

Diaspora mobilization and immigrant activism promote political incorporation in the host-country. Yet, few have examined the nexus between these types of mobilization or the effects of transnational diaspora activism on domestic immigrant resistance. This paper fills these gaps by investigating Syrian and Yemeni mobilization from the US and Britain in response to the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions. Based on the analysis of 167 original interviews, the article demonstrates how home-country conditions impeded the mobilization of Yemenis and Syrians as diasporas and as immigrants before the Arab Spring. I then show how the 2011 rebellions changed these conditions and spurred anti-regime diaspora members into action, which simultaneously empowered activists to combat illiberalism at home and abroad. As Syrian activists converted or formed new organizations for home-country rebellion and relief, they built an organizational field with the dual capacity to contest host-country discrimination. Intra-community divisions and resources shortages in the Yemeni community prevented activists from forming or converting associations to political causes, but leaders nevertheless worked to import the principles of the Arab Spring abroad through protests and brokerage. In all, the study demonstrates the importance of diaspora mobilization in shaping the voice and visibility of immigrant groups, especially those targeted by xenophobic and Islamophobic host-country policies such as the “Muslim Ban” in the Trump era.

Author

• Dana M. Moss, University of Pittsburgh