is a postdoctoral researcher within the research project ‘Elastic Borders: Rethinking Borders in the 21st Century’. She is based at the Centre for Southeast European Studies (CSEES) of the University of Graz.
Ongoing instability, due to conflict, environmental crises and economic hardship in parts of Africa, forces many to migrate. Those who make it to Tunisia’s borders face state violence and informal trading. Can the EU’s failing cash for immobility plan be anything more than legitimization of Tunisia’s authoritarian regime and Italy’s perilous politicization of immigration?
Italy is now more closed than Matteo Salvini ever dreamt it would be. Prevention is focused on citizens, but ‘stay at home’ orders are a mockery for asylum seekers and homeless people, whose servicing is becoming impossible. The government has had to reach out to formerly denigrated NGOs for help. Our miniseries on refugees and the coronavirus pandemic continues.