Militarization of Borders, Politics of Aid, and Policing the Refugee Crisis: The Case of Palestinian and Syrian Refugees in Greece after the EU-Turkey Deal

Session Submission Type: Non-Paper Session: Dialogue Format

Abstract

On March 20th, 2016 the European Union and Turkey reached an agreement which put the already vulnerable refugee community in Greece, who fled state violence and survived perilous journeys across the Aegean Sea, in a more precarious position. The EU-Turkey deal caused a complete closure of the Greek borders with Macedonia and thus refugees who had already arrived to Greece prior to March 20th, could not continue their journey's through the main Balkan migration route to Western Europe. Thousands of refugees and migrants became stranded in 33 “reception centers,” in Greece, and in five “hot spots,” (detention centers/refugee camps) on the Greek islands. Across Greece, many migrants, and refugees sleep in open tents with no access to clean water, basic sanitary conditions, social services, and face extreme human rights abuses by Greek authorities, private security companies and humanitarian international non-governmental organizations (INGO's). Greek authorities have intensified the militarization of borders and policing of the refugee population to assuage international pressures after threats of being thrown out the European Union intensified in the beginning of 2016.

The multitude and nuance of the inter-locking systems of oppression which have caused and conditioned the experience of refugees in Greece, is often eclipsed by the dominant discourse which has monopolized the narrative across the US and Europe. Two logic's and political projects largely shape this narrative. The first is the “war on terror,” which legitimizes increasingly Draconian policies prohibiting migrants and refugees the right to seek asylum in the West because they pose a threat to “national security.” This project also has legitimized the continued US and European imperialist presence in the SWANA region which has been critical in the creation of displaced peoples in the first place. The second is the logic and project of liberal interventionism, rights and the humanitarian industrial complex. Liberal discourse has summoned upon international civil society and governmental actors to do more to “help” and “save” refugees, turning the aid industry into one of the largest in modern history. Both vantage points do not recognize the critical agency of refugees as decision makers, political thinkers, social movement workers, intellectuals, and creators.

This roundtable brings together four members of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), who are all central in the cultivation and implementation of the PYM’s program, “Dignity, Survival and Community for Refugees: A Volunteer Service Project in Greece.” The participants will engage in a dialogue that highlights their experiences offering services to Palestinian and Syrian refugees, in Athens and the Greek islands of Lesvos and Chios in both 2016 and 2017. The participants will speak particularly to the way the experiences and narratives of Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Greece reflect the intersections of militarization of borders, war, statelessness, occupation, refugeehood, the war on terror, the humanitarian industrial complex and the criminalization of displaced peoples. The participants will also highlight how refugee communities are practicing revitalized and new modalities of being, surviving and making a new wherever they can and how these modalities offer all of us a glimpse into the political work involved in the creation of another world beyond the nation-state. This discussion deeply considers how Diasporic communities, can more intentionally look to refugees as leaders of social/political movement work, and not just as helpless victims.

Sub Unit

• American Studies Association Annual Meeting

Chair

• Crystal Baik, University of California, Riverside

Panelists

• Nadia Barhoum, University of California, Berkeley

• Banah Ghadbian, University of California, San Diego

• Leena Odeh, Independent Scholar

• Loubna N Qutami, University of California, Riverside