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Paperless underclass exposes dark side of Europe

by lorenz on Jan 26, 2011 in politics, Us and Them, Europe, globalisation, aboriginees, migration


Demonstration in Sevilla. Photo: No Border Network, flickr

(Draft) "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." These noble words in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights might be true in some distant part on this planet, but certainly not in Europe.

Here, peoples' rights are dependent on their nationality. While I, with my German EU passport may travel and live nearly everywhere I want, people from countries like Egypt, Syria or Pakistan cannot. Europe has put much effort in building different kind of walls to prevent certain categories of people from entering. While wealthier peoples' migration is celebrated, poorer peoples' migration is criminalized. Anthropologist Owen Sichone calls this policy "Global apartheid".

Two weeks ago, eight Norwegian police men arrested 25 year old Maria Amelie, an award winning book author, blogger and former anthropology student, born in North Ossetia. She had just finished her lecture at the Nansen Academy – the Norwegian Humanistic Academy about being paperless, undocumented, "illegal" migrant. This happened just three months after she had published her bok "Ulovlig norsk" (Illegally Norwegian), and one month after she was named "Norwegian of the Year" by Norway's only cosmopolitan-minded magazine, Ny Tid.

Maria Amelie (her real name is Madina Salamova) is one of those 18 000 illegalized migrants in Norway who live here without any rights at all. No access to healthcare, education or work. They cannot open an bank account, they don't get an ID-number, they actually don't exist officially. Even helping them is forbidden.

Here is a video from Russia Today about Maria Amelie and a demonstration i Oslo for better rights for undocumented migrants. See related news story

Yesterday, despite lots of demonstrations and media attention, she was thrown out of Norway, where she has lived since she was 16, and deported to Russia. For Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his red-green government, it was important to make clear that they don't tolerate people like her. The Norwegian government is responsible for the deportation of hundreds of individuals and families - usually in the middle of the night without any prior notice. Media in Norway has done a good job in highlighting the plight of these people who all have a unique story to tell.

Read more:

Norway Expels Migrant Celebrity (Moscow Times, 25.1.2011)

Human rights court slams EU asylum policy as inhumane (Deutsche Wele, 21.1.2011)

‘No One Is Illegal’ Campaign aims to protect Norway’s ‘paperless’ refugees (Women News Network 8.12.2010)

SEE ALSO:

The "illegal" anthropologist: Shahram Khosravi's Auto-Ethnography of Borders

"Human smugglers fight global apartheid"

"Anthropologists Should Participate in the Current Immigration Debate"

No more conferences in Arizona: Anthropologists condemn Immigration Law

How to challenge Us-and-Them thinking? Interview with Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Why borders don't help - An engaged anthropology of the US-Mexican border

David Graeber: There never was a West! Democracy as Interstitial Cosmopolitanism

For an Anthropology of Cosmopolitanism

Interview with Sámi musician Mari Boine: Dreams about a world without borders

For free migration: Open the borders!

This entry was posted by admin and filed under politics, Us and Them, Europe, globalisation, aboriginees, migration.
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4 comments

Comment from: Marjut

Marjut

Hi Lorenz,
you have once again a very interesting post, thank you!

I wonder if you have come across these online books:

Smith, Andrea L. (ed.): Europe’s Invisible Migrants. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2003. http://www.oapen.org/xtf/search?brand=oapen&identifier=340242

Schrover, Marlou, Leun, Joanne van der, Lucassen, Leo & Quispel, Chris (eds.): Illegal Migration and Gender in a Global and Historical Perspective. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2008. http://www.oapen.org/xtf/search?brand=oapen&identifier=340072

The OAPEN library (Open Access Publishing in European Networks; http://www.oapen.org/xtf/home?brand=oapen) has even more books on related migration issues as well as plenty of other interesting stuff -also in German and other languages. Check their website and enjoy!

Best regards,
Marjut

2011-02-20 @ 21:14

Comment from: lorenz

admin

Hi Marjut, thanks a lot! I’ve never heard about that website, so now I’ve blogged about it

2011-02-21 @ 04:16

Comment from: Sybil Amber

Sybil Amber

dear lorenz, dear all, basically thank you for this website (i think i leave this kind of message once a year ;-)). i was looking for similar texts as mentioned above, so again: tak so myket!

2011-04-12 @ 08:52

Comment from: lorenz

admin

Danke, Sybil! You’ve actually been one of the first who signed the antropologi.info guestbook, it was nealy six years ago. Thanks a lot!

2011-04-12 @ 22:15


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