Refugees in borderlands: Safe places versus securitization in Athens, Greece

Abstract

Following the start of the Syrian civil war, the Mediterranean Sea gradually became a cemetery for refugees. As Europe closed borders and criminalized refugee rescue efforts, some gateway cities took on a new role of refugee protection and accommodation. These “cities of refuge” created safe havens for refugees while resisting Europe’s fear-inducing anti-immigrant regime and rising xenophobia. This article analyzes how Athens became an exemplary city of refuge. My ethnographic fieldwork (2017–2019) shows how collaboration among a left-wing municipality and network of local pro-refugee NGOs and activists effectively challenged right-wing populism, racism, and ultranationalism. Complicating current debates on cities of refuge as welcoming places, I argue that the power of Athens does not come from solving Europe’s so-called refugee crisis, erasing conflict, or undoing rampant fear of the Muslim refugee. To the contrary, the city of refuge is built from the bottom up through high levels of political contestation. I argue that the politics of refuge is manifested through the everyday creation of safe (urban) places sustained by inclusion and juxtaposed against top-down securitized spaces that are upheld by fear and exclusion. Athens is a resilient city of refuge that stands as a bulwark against the EU’s border politics even amid economic crisis.