A Fleet of Mediterranean Border Humanitarians

EUrope has created a space of human suffering within which military‐humanitarian measures seem urgently required if the mass drowning is to be halted. The framing of migration governance as humanitarian has become commonplace in spectacular border practices in the Mediterranean Sea. Nonetheless, mar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAntipode Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 704 - 724
Main Author Stierl, Maurice
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.06.2018
Subjects
Borders
Compassion
Disasters
Drowning
EU borders
Governance
Humanitarian aid
humanitarianism
Insecure
Mediterranean sea migration
Migration
military interventions
NGOs
Political dissent
Space stations
Space technology
Suffering
Sympathy
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Summary:EUrope has created a space of human suffering within which military‐humanitarian measures seem urgently required if the mass drowning is to be halted. The framing of migration governance as humanitarian has become commonplace in spectacular border practices in the Mediterranean Sea. Nonetheless, maritime disasters continue to unfold. This article discusses three non‐governmental actors, part of an emerging “humanitarian fleet” that seeks to turn the sea into a less deadly space: the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Sea‐Watch. While the rescue of precarious lives and the alleviation of suffering are central concerns, they imagine their humanitarian practices, the subjects of their compassion, and EUrope's role in shaping borderzones in different ways, pointing to a wide humanitarian spectrum. Engaging with the different discursive frames created by the three “border humanitarians”, the article explores what possibilities exist for political dissent to emanate from within humanitarian reason.
ISSN:0066-4812
1467-8330
DOI:10.1111/anti.12320