A promise of listening: migrant justice and the London Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal

Abstract

This article explores the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) hearing, ‘The hostile environment on trial’, which took place in London in 2018. When calling a gathering a ‘people’s tribunal’, certain kinds of listening and attention become possible, which are shaped by specific histories and contexts. The author considers the kinds of listening that took place during the London PPT and what changed as a result. She argues that the legal framing that comes with calling a gathering a ‘tribunal’ both compels and excludes, and the politics of listening for migrant justice within such a space is laden with imperial pitfalls and power relations that must continuously be worked through. Instead of a legal remedy, what results is a social relation – an ‘Us’ created through the mutual effort of organising and participating in the tribunal that can open up different understandings of migrant justice and its connection to wider struggles.