Refugees today: superflousness and humanitarianism

Abstract

This article discusses some questions concerning the humanitarian approach to "solving" the so called refugee crisis in Europe in autumn 2015, when thousands of refugees headed on the journey to EU, most of them to Germany, by the so called Balkan migrant route. When some European states like Slovenia started to place razor wire on their southern borders, the others resumed the control of their inner EU borders and almost all introduced more restrictions on the existing laws on international protection of refugees and asylum. While taking up the question of what is the core element of today's "refugee problem" the main argument relies on Hannah Arendt's concept of superfluousness as the key feature of the new form of global government. There are two sides of the phenomenon of superfluousness that are crucial for understanding the situation in which we find ourselves in regard to the so-called "mass migrations", the problem of "refugees", "migrants" and "us". Regardless of the need for a dose of humanitarianism in such moments, the focus on the humanitarian "solving" of the problem conceals the key question: how to enable, as soon as possible and in the long term, those who are excluded from political units and the law to be included (have the right to have rights) in a political community?Keywords: Refugees; Migrants; Humanitarianism; Arendt; Agamben; Superfluousness; Europe.Resumo: Este artigo discute algumas questões relativas à abordagem humanitária para "resolver" a chamada crise dos refugiados na Europa no Outono de 2015, quando milhares de refugiados partiram em jornada rumo à UE, a maioria deles para a Alemanha, pela chamada rota migratória dos Balcãs. Quando alguns Estados europeus, como a Eslovênia, começaram a colocar cercas de arame farpado nas suas fronteiras meridionais, os outros retomaram o controle de suas fronteiras internas da UE e quase todos introduziram mais restrições às leis existentes para a proteção internacional de refugiados e asilados. Ao abordar a questão do que é o elemento central do "problema dos refugiados" de hoje, o principal argumento se baseia no conceito de supérfluo de Hannah Arendt como a característica-chave da nova forma de governo global. Há dois lados do fenômeno da superfluidade que são cruciais para entender a situação na qual nos encontramos em relação às assim chamadas "migrações em massa", o problema de "refugiados": os "migrantes" e "nós". Independentemente da necessidade de uma dose de humanitarismo nesses momentos, o foco na "solução" humanitária do problema esconde a questão-chave: como proporcionar, o quanto antes e em longo prazo, que os excluídos das unidades políticas e da lei sejam incluídos (tenham o direito a ter direitos) em uma comunidade política? Palavras-chave: Refugiados; Imigrantes; Humanitarismo; Arendt; Agamben; Superfluidade; Europa.Resumen: En este artículo se describen algunos problemas relacionados con enfoque humanitario para "resolver" la llamada crisis de los refugiados en Europa, en el otoño de 2015, cuando miles de refugiados...

Criminalizing “Pro-Immigrant” Initiatives: Reducing the Space of Human Action

“…Luckily, to date, there have always been people who have continued to practice human solidarity, even in dark times and at the price of their own freedom or life. As I have argued elsewhere, one of the main characteristics of proto-totalitarian governments is that they increasingly produce the phenomenon of "double superfluousness" (Jalušič 2017). Not only do they make superfluous those people who are seen as radically unequal and are as such exposed to inhuman treatment (refugees, foreigners, migrants), they also produce the dehumanization and superfluousness of their own citizenry by attempting to destroy their capacities and framework for agency, and hence their spontaneity and politics.…”