Just Around the Corner: How Cross-ethnic Solidarity Is Established Between Locals and the Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in a Local NGO

Abstract

The paper examines how an NGO, established by a group of Hong Kong students, an academic (myself) and a group of asylum-seekers and refugees from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, have worked through different barriers to create a network which builds on diversity to achieve cross-ethnic solidarity within the local community. It seeks to understand what makes a cross-ethnic solidarity network work in a local community. Using the concept of solidarity, the study looks into how the local NGO builds on a mix of diversity of race and gender and (non-)citizenship status to establish solidarity through community activities, advocacy and friendship. Based on ongoing ethnography between 2014 and 2020 and continuous activism work through 2014 until current, and interviews with 50 members of a local NGO, I argue that empowerment through solidarity needs to adopt a ‘neighbourhood’ approach based on mutual support, respect for diversity and empathy when building a solidarity network. An organization which takes on a ‘community’ and ‘neighbourhood’ approach by establishing friendship, focusing on relational aspect amongst local people and the asylum-seekers, is very effective in creating a lasting solidarity with trust. The study shows how solidarity built on differences could work effectively when migrants are in the host countries. More importantly, the results suggest that local population will need to take a more proactive approach to connect to the migrant community so as to build solidarity and achieve recognition and support from a wider community.