Struggles for Freedom within and against the Legal Order at the Borders of Europe

Abstract

The rescue of migrants at sea has recently been tackled by authoritative acts that have led to an increasing criminalization of solidarity between and toward migrants. By drawing on the case of the Mediterranea platform of activists, this article argues that the notion of arbitrariness defined as a departure from the rule of law fails to capture the ongoing conflict at the borders of Europe. By highlighting its ambivalent meaning, arbitrariness appears instead either as an authoritative attempt to impose a different order on society or as a means to contrast unorderable acts of resistance to border regimes. The article advocates the importance of reframing the demand for open borders as a call for freedom of those who challenge the pragmatic order of borders.

Abolitionist vistas of the human. Border struggles, migration and freedom of movement

“…I am convinced that such a framework is not only valid for the historical interpretation of the tumults and upheavals of the 1860s in the US (see for instance in this sense Lipsitz 2004). While it inspires struggles against the 'prison-industrial complex' in the US, following the lead of Angela Davis (see for instance Davis 2005), it is of obvious importance also for border activism and for the forging of a politics of freedom of movement (see again Heller, Pezzani, and Stierl 2019;Rigo 2020). Such a politics should rely on migrants' practices and should aim at building coalitions among heterogeneous actors, acknowledging that even beyond solidarity with migrants and refugees a society that affirms freedom of movement is a free society, where happiness and wealth are easier to fulfill than in a society huddled in fear behind walls with militarized defenses.…”