Events resulting from the abuse of migrants and refugees in political games on the EU's eastern border have surprised many observers. In an increasingly confusing and unclear situation, civil society initiatives coexist with border guards’ and vigilante groups’ actions. It is clearly an issue of fundamental importance on many levels: political, humanitarian, legal, and simply human. This roundtable responds to the urgent need for information and conversation among members of the academic community. It seeks to disentangle and analyse the current situation against the backdrop of studies of migration, security, and (b)ordering in different European contexts. The participants in the roundtable are social scientists with an intimate knowledge of the recent events in the Polish-Belarusian border region and specialists in social sciences and migration.

The organisers of the panel invite the participants and listeners:

• to share information concerning the current situation, with a special focus on civic engagement on the one hand and political responses to the “crisis” on the other hand
•  to reflect on possible directions for research and interpretation, which could enable new insights into the situation
•  to initiate a comparative analysis in the context of migration routes in/to Europe

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DECEMBER 3, 2021
12:00 CET
ZOOM LINK: HTTPS://ZOOM.US/J/97036715372