The MotM Monthly
April 2023

Making Representations
of the Migrant Experience Authentic
What portrayals of migrants have
you become accustomed to?

Happy April, everyone! Spring is here, and with the start of the new season, we want to draw your attention to our most recent event to spark some fresh conversations on the migration situation in Europe.

Last month, MotM Founder and Lead Correspondent, Pamela Kerpius, gave a talk at Brandeis University with support from one of our heroes, Abdul Mohammed Ali. Reflecting on Abdul’s Journey Story, we’re reminded of the many means of movement that people can take that’s frequently dependent on factors like social status or economic capacity.

Just this year, for example, over thirty-thousand migrants arrived in Europe, over 2,600 of whom reached by land, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Addul’s journey also reflects this pattern. After being trafficked by air and road through France and Belgium to reach the Netherlands, he has just recently received an approved asylum claim in the Dutch context, after losing it after his initial arrival. It’s a process that took years.

Abdul’s story speaks to the lengthy, and uncertain process of gaining asylum in European countries. Part of our work is to continue to deconstruct mainstream ideas of migration and the asylum-seeking process as being simple. We can begin to think about ongoing media representations and political conversations surrounding migrants in Europe. It’s a good place to start considering the most recent changes in power that took place on the continent.

Italy’s current leader, Giorgia Meloni, has been vocal about her conservative beliefs on many topics, but especially those on immigration. Her administration has already begun limiting the means and volume of immigration reception in Italy, as promised during the campaign. Whether it is through the proposed naval blockade or other hindering policies, the actual seizing of humanitarian ships, as we’ve seen in the case of the Louise Michel, the NGO ship funded by British street-artist Banksy; or through the spread of xenophobic speech and writing, more minority right-wing parties and their followers around Europe have been emboldened.

Clearly Italy has no monopoly on these extremist ideas, rather they are dispersed across many countries both on and off the continent of Europe. Meloni’s NGO bill bears similarity to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s, for example, in the sense that both bills are based on extreme perspectives on immigration that are, or border on illegal.

Sunak’s bill—praised by other right-wing European commenters—allows the UK to not only deny asylum to any adult arriving in a small boat, but also requires them to send migrants to their country of origin, or of departure—one that they have no connection to—regardless of the reason someone may attempt to enter the country, whether it be sex trafficking, persecution or poverty. This, along with the almost non-existent and frequently unreliable, legal pathways into the country, means vulnerable people in the migrant community are denied the help they desperately need.

The effect of the bill won’t be contained within the UK but be felt throughout the continent as a whole. Movements never stay static and are by definition widespread. We call on you to rally for migrants and to be vocal in displaying such support in the face of growing xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiments. MotM is working every day to create proper visibility and media portrayal of people in the migrant community. Stay with us this spring and beyond, and get refreshed now on every illuminating narrative on the migrant experience in our Journey Story Archive.

––Ayomide Badmus, Iselle Diaz

37,976 people have migrated to a European country as of 2 April 2023. 28,023 of whom went to Italy. (Source: IOM)
That’s just the start of how many stories are left to tell.

New Article:
Taking a Stand in Westminster Park.

This month, Correspondent Jon Brookes contributes a report from London after attending a demonstration against the UK’s latest anti-immigration bill. “There are currently no safe and legal routes for these asylum seekers to come to the UK,” he says. Here’s a clip:

“The latest bill escalates the dehumanization in UK migration policy, seen by most people as a last-ditch attempt by the current government to galvanize its waning political base and pander to far-right voters. It is the latest in a series of actions which has also included an agreement between UK and Rwanda (as well as Denmark) to deport asylum-seekers to the African nation rather than process claims in the UK.

To-date, not one person has been sent to Rwanda. The process has been tied-up in court, with many charities challenging its legal basis. So if this is a policy of deterrence, it has already proven a failure.

Meanwhile, currently more than 160,000 people in the UK are waiting for decisions on their applications for asylum. They are not allowed to work or claim benefits and receive a desperately small living allowance whilst they await the results.

This is a pernicious approach. It immediately renders the asylum claims of those arriving in small boats (or in theory via any other irregular means) automatically “inadmissible”... Continue reading >

What's coming up.

The month of May takes us into the field for fresh reporting—from Berlin to Milan to Brussels and across the Netherlands. The latest stories and updates will come on Instagram, so follow us there. Plus, stay tuned for event dates in Berlin and Brussels! If you’re in the area and want to attend one of our upcoming appearances in May and early June, follow us on LinkedIn or Facebook where we’ll be sharing the dates of each event as they become available.