Localities of welcoming in hostile times

Across Europe, certain localities have become synonymous with citizen-led actions in the name of safe passage for refugees and the right to rebuild one’s life in peace of mind and body. What factors have contributed to these clusters of welcome? How do they compare in different local and national environments? What circulations link them?  

Localities of welcoming is an informal network of people living and working in European cities and districts, and around ports, camps and border places where refugee arrivals are concentrated. We are a mix of academics, journalists, and human rights campaigners - both Europeans and the new arrivals themselves. We have members and links to member organisations in the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Sicily, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Greece, Malta, Ireland and Germany.

Co-Convenors

• Professor Sue Clayton (Goldsmiths)
• Professor Anna-Louise Milne (ULIP)

Our aims

Is to promote and exchange information, discuss long-term strategies for welcoming and working with refugee communities, and support initiatives that these communities are taking themselves towards self-determination and integration. And we aim to develop a critical framework of ideas with a particular interest in intersections between refugee-oriented work and other forms for critical opposition, including movements such as Cities of Sanctuary and Black Lives Matter.

We exchange information and ideas on a constant basis and have built up an archive of over 130 current reports, articles and books that are freely available to our members.  We have also been meeting online for over a year, to explore and discuss topics such as:

• The legality of new border controls within Europe and the issues facing those trapped in border zones such as Calais and Ventimiglia
• The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the rights, health and safety movement of migrants and refugees
• The increasing criminalisation of humanitarian aid efforts to support these communities
• Focus on localities such as Palermo, Malta and the Balkan states

We plan to hold an online Symposium in 2021 to consolidate our discussions and finds to date.

Publications 

• Sue Clayton: The New Internationalists: Activist Volunteers in the European Refugee Crisis (Goldsmiths Press 2020) The book also contains chapters and reports from many of our group including Anna-Louise Milne John Borton, Maria Pisani, Maddie Harris and Nidzara Ahmetasevic.
• Anders Hellstrom (co-author) Nostalgia and Hope: Intersections between Politics of Culture, Welfare and Migration in Europe (Springer Open, 2019)
• Anders Hellstrom (contributor) The Refugee Reception Crisis in Europe (University of Brussels 2019) 
• Maria Pisani (co-author) Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat: Mapping and documenting migratory journeys and experiences(University of Malta/University of Warwick 2017)