After a series of successful online events which explored the intersections of different identities with migration status, we have expanded this work into a wider campaign.
Building on the themes explored in the Who is Welcome event series, which included the relationship of racism, Islamophobia and queerness with migration, we are pleased to launch the Who is Welcome campaign alongside our Words Matter campaign.
Migration is often looked at as a siloed issue. Campaigning and policy work rarely looks at the construction of migrants through an intersectional lens or how racism shapes our idea of who is welcome in the West. At the Migrants’ Rights Network, understanding the role intersections of identity play in shaping migration, including refugee, policies is central to our campaigning work. We must understand and be honest about who harmful migration, including asylum, policies are aimed at, and why.
The language of ‘welcome’ also has hidden meaning. A ‘welcome’ places the destination country as a hospitable ‘host’ that welcomes ‘guests’ (in this case migrants) who in turn are expected to be grateful. This rhetoric reinforces the problematic ideas that migrants, including refugees, must contribute, integrate and exhibit gratitude thus creating a hierarchy and the notion of conditional belonging. By calling this campaign ‘Who Is Welcome”, we are also questioning the inherent nature of migration and belonging that creates the host/guest relationship.
Who is Welcome events
The recording for the first event can be accessed here.
Our reflections on our second event can be accessed here.
The recording for the third event can be accessed here.
The recording for the fourth event can be accessed here.
Podcast
Episode 1: Patriotism and Migration
Episode 2: Queerness and Migration
Episode 3: Masculinity and Migration
In this project:
- Who is Welcome: Gender, Queerness and Migration
- Who is Welcome: Disability and Migration
- Who is Welcome: Islamophobia and Migration
Updates
Our latest articles about WHO IS WELCOME?
-
dislocated diasporic identities: A Poem by Dija for Lesbian Visibility Week 2024
It is always easier to count backwards from the end thanforward from the beginning. Easier to orient yourself in yourown countdown than history’s fickle hands of time. Forget themassacred family they had to leave behind, the lips crackeddry with starvation and every heaving breath tasting likeblood. You’re not concerned with the women that came beforeyou…
-
Erasure, Lesbophobia and Migration: Lesbian Visibility Week 2024
**Content warning: This article includes references to homophobia, transphobia, sexual violence and misogyny Today marks the first day of Lesbian Visibility Week 2024. ‘Visibility’ goes beyond merely ‘being seen’ or highlighting a problem, but also the ways in which something is complex or has not been addressed until now. Exploring how gender and queerness intersect…
-
New extremism definition attacking Muslim-led organisations is a descent into authoritarianism
In light of the UK Government’s new definition of extremism, we at the Migrants’ Rights Network are inviting organisations to endorse our statement which sets out our critique and demands. If you would like to sign the letter, please complete this form and attach your logo for publication on our website. The new definition of ‘extremism’…