In this episode, listen to the live recording of an evening event hosted by Hanaa Hakiki from ECCHR’s Border Justice team as she is joined by guests to explore how deeply narratives on migration are still trapped in racism and colonialism. Together they discuss knowledge and narrative formation, the pseudo-science of constructed identities and categories, as well as the aliveness of colonization coupled with collective amnesia. Thinking beyond the present, the guests talk about the power of reimagining new futures, of reclaiming language and celebrating amazing human connections.

Hanaa’s guests are Aghogho Akpome, Musa Okwonga and Sandra Alloush. Aghogho is a narratives specialist and associate professor from the University of Zululand. Through his project, “The refugee ‘crisis’ and European re-imaginings of Africa”, he has analysed the portrayal of black African refugees by authors, filmmakers and playwrights. [1] [2] Musa is a widely published journalist, [3] the author of a number of books [4] including, “In the End It was All About Love” and he hosts a very popular football podcast [5] and Sandra is a Syrian refugee journalist and documentary filmmaker and vice chair of the European Network Against Racism. [6]

For over a decade, (ECCHR’s border justice team)[7] has supported people on the move to legally challenge European states for their pushback practices at land and sea borders. Illegal pushbacks are now at the core of European border management. ECCHR exposes this state of rightlessness as well as states’ attempts to invisibilize their actions. As a team we also support people on the move to document their stories and to engage in the public debate pushing towards a shift away from harmful narratives around migration. [8] [9]