The Creation of New Spaces of Heterotopia by the Migrants' And
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The creation of new spaces of heterotopia by the migrants’ and refugees’ solidarity movement in Athens Source of the image in the cover page: Panagiotis Maidis (2015, September 28). Anarchists Have Taken Over a Building in Athens to House Refugees Vice [online] Available at: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/xd7vj4/anarchists-have-taken-over-a-building-in-athens- to-house-refugees-876. [Accessed 25/06/2017] Design of cover page: Emmy I. Karimali 1 | P a g e The creation of new spaces of heterotopia by the migrants’ and refugees’ solidarity movement in Athens GSSS GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES MASTER HUMAN GEOGRAPHY Thesis 2017, June 26 Sofia Ntaliou -11176342- [email protected] Supervisor: Virginie Mamadouh Second Assessor: Inge van der Welle 2 | P a g e The creation of new spaces of heterotopia by the migrants’ and refugees’ solidarity movement in Athens 3 | P a g e Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................. 6 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: Geographies of social movements ..................................................................... 10 2.1. Social Movements as a mean to social change ........................................................ 10 2.2. The importance of space .......................................................................................... 12 2.3. Heterotopias and autonomous geographies ............................................................. 13 Chapter 3: Methodology ...................................................................................................... 16 3.1. Ontological and Epistemological considerations ....................................................... 16 3.2. Research Design and Methods ................................................................................. 16 3.3. Ethics ....................................................................................................................... 19 3.4. Positionality .............................................................................................................. 20 3.5. Limitations ................................................................................................................ 20 3.6. Clarification of concepts ............................................................................................ 21 Chapter 4: The Greek context about the solidarity movement ............................................. 24 4.1. The anarchist movement and the socio-political & economic environment in Greece 24 4.2. The refugee ‘crisis’ ................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 5: The emergence of the solidarity movement in Athens ....................................... 46 5.1. Towards a solidarity movement ................................................................................ 46 5.2. The archipelagos of initiatives in Exarchia ................................................................ 48 5.3. The characteristics of the solidarity movement ......................................................... 68 Chapter 6: The creation of new spaces of heterotopia ........................................................ 74 Chapter 7: Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 78 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 82 Appendix ............................................................................................................................. 94 4 | P a g e The creation of new spaces of heterotopia by the migrants’ and refugees’ solidarity movement in Athens Table of figures Figure 1: Squats of Athens .................................................................................................. 27 Figure 2: Squats of Thessaloniki ......................................................................................... 27 Figure 3: Emergency response sites in Attica ..................................................................... 43 Group of Figures 1: Exarchia .............................................................................................. 50 Group of Figures 2: Social Center for Migrants ................................................................... 53 Group of Figures 3: El Chef ................................................................................................. 53 Group of Figures 4: Dervenion 56 ....................................................................................... 55 Group of Figures 5: The building of Notara after the attack ................................................. 56 Group of Figures 6: Notara ................................................................................................. 57 Group of Figures 7: Mano Aperta ........................................................................................ 59 Group of Figures 8: Hotel Oniro .......................................................................................... 61 Group of Figures 9: 5th School ........................................................................................... 62 Group of Figures 10: 2nd school .......................................................................................... 63 Group of Figures 11: City Plaza .......................................................................................... 65 Tables Table 1: Asylum Applications according to Eurostat ............................................................ 37 Table 2: ‘Irregular immigrant’ according to EU-Turkey agreement ....................................... 41 Table 3: Coding of Interviews .............................................................................................. 94 Table 4: Interview guide ...................................................................................................... 95 Table of Maps Map 1: The route of refugees and migrants ......................................................................... 45 Map 2: Exarchia neighbourhood and the location of the selected initiatives ........................ 51 Table of Diagrams Diagram 1: Arrivals in Mediterranean .................................................................................. 36 Diagram 2: Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Greece 2000-2015 ....................................... 38 Diagram 3: Nationality of the arrested, 2015 ....................................................................... 39 Diagram 4: Nationality of the arrested, 2016 ....................................................................... 39 Diagram 5: Place of capture, 2015 ...................................................................................... 39 Diagram 6: Place of capture, 2016 ...................................................................................... 39 5 | P a g e Abstract Greece is the entry point for hundreds of refugees and migrants who try to reach the Western European countries. Most of them cluster at the city of Athens, the capital of Greece, waiting and planning their next move. Their current situation combined with the on-going economic, social and political crisis that Greece faces for years, has turned the city of Athens into an incubator of grievances and resistances. In the neighbourhood of Exarchia in Athens, which is a long-lasting political hub, a solidarity movement emerged, with refugee and migrant housing squats as the most important declaration and implementation of its ideology. In this thesis, I approach the different initiatives of the solidarity movement as places of autonomous geographies of heterotopia that are affecting the territorial, the material and the social level. In this thesis, it is discussed to what extend these spaces achieved social change, proposing that the creation of spaces of heterotopia in Athens case has created spaces of resistance but has also led to the entrapment of the movement in its microsphere preventing it from expanding into a broader struggle which will facilitate social change. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Virginie Mamadouh, for her constructive comments. I am glad I had the privilege of being guided by you through this process. I would also like to thank all the participants of the initiatives who agreed to answer my questions. I consider this thesis being a collaborative work and without their contribution, this result would not have been reached. Finally, this thesis would not be the same without the help of Phevos Simeonidis. Acknowledgements seem inadequate to express your role and presence in each step of this thesis. 6 | P a g e The creation of new spaces of heterotopia by the migrants’ and refugees’ solidarity movement in Athens 7 | P a g e Chapter 1: Introduction “I think that instead of help[ing] refugees you should help your government not to make wars in our country. Learn your government [that] refugees don’t need them. If there weren’t the wars nobody would come here.” (R.1 08/05/2017). The unprecedent refugee influx that Europe has been experiencing during the past few years has dominated the public’s discourse, speaking for a ‘refugee crisis’.