Between humanitarian action and protest. The ambivalences of compassionate engagements in time of crisis
Between humanitarian action and protest. The ambivalences of compassionate engagements in time of crisis
NGO Action, Brussels, March 2017. Image Alexandros Michailidis via Shutterstock
OSC Scientific Seminar 2020-2021
Friday, 8th January 2021, 11:30 am / 1 pm (Zoom videoconference)
Between humanitarian action and protest.
The ambivalences of compassionate engagements in time of crisis
Pierre Monforte
Associate Professor, University of Leicester
Since the ‘long summer of migration’ in 2015, individuals and charities across Europe have participated in an unprecedented wave of compassion towards asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the European Union. Often represented through the ‘Refugees Welcome’ slogan, this movement has materialised into initiatives such as organised hosting networks, language courses, food and clothes donations, legal assistance, or rescue missions at the European borders.
This talk will draw on an ongoing research project exploring citizens’ engagement in refugee support networks in Britain and France, and examine the boundaries between charity (or humanitarian) action and social activism. The talk will highlight the complexity and ambivalences of engagements based on notions of compassion and hospitality, as well as their transformative dimension. In particular, building on the idea of ‘quiet politics’, I will show how these forms of engagement connect strategies based on individual lifestyle changes with objectives of broader structural changes.
