Countering the 'migration crisis' frame: Ter Apel and beyond

We welcome perspectives and insights from other struggles where the crisis framing is used in a similar way to see if we can come up with common strategies.

For many months last year refugees were forced to sleep in inhumane circumstances outside the gates of the asylum application centre in Ter Apel, in a situation where a crisis was deliberately created by a government trying to frame migration to The Netherlands as 'overwhelming' and in 'too high numbers' for society to deal with. One of the consequences was the introduction of stricter migration policies, including suspending the right to family reunion.

The same mechanisms are at play on international level. Since 2015 countries in the Global North have introduced ever more repressive border and migration policies, using one crisis after the other as part of the argumentation: the European 'refugee crisis' of 2015, the wars in Syria and Libya, the Covid-19 pandemic, Belarus' perceived 'weaponisation' of migration, the Ukraine War and so on. In short: migration is essentially presented as a permanent crisis. Governments, right wing politicians and the strong lobby of the military and security industry have invoked this 'crisis framing' to push for stricter migration policies, border militarisation and externalisation, the introduction of refined surveillance technology, an increase in deportations and the normalisation of pushbacks.

As Naomi Klein describes in her groundbreaking book 'The Shock Doctrine', disasters and (perceived) crises are often used to quickly push through controversial policies without much opposition. New restrictive measures are introduced as temporary, to deal with the 'heat of the moment', only to quietly remain in order once they are established. On top of that, because of their vulnerable position, refugees are often used as 'guinea pigs' for measures which are later introduced on a broader scale.

In this workshop we will unraffle the process of the 'permanent crisis' framing of migration, look at the consequences and discuss ways to resist this cycle of ever more repressive border and migration policies in a societal environment that permits little questioning and opposition. We welcome perspectives and insights from other struggles where the crisis framing is used in a similar way to see if we can come up with common strategies.

Workshop with an introduction by Stop the War on Migrants, followed by discussion on crisis framing and strategies to resist (possibly in groups, depending on the number of attendees).