Nothing to lose: The power of subtle forms of resistance in an immigration detention centre

Abstract

This chapter discusses various forms of resistance of migrants held in administrative detention, using the case of the small Italian island of Lampedusa. In particular, this work helps to shed light on the role played by the subtle, everyday struggles that precede the emergence of open and intermittent protests in the public space. In paying serious attention to migrants’ repeated refusal to obey the law—in particular, the refusal to record their fingerprints under the procedure known as the ‘Dublin Regulation’—this study highlights the fact that the subversive potential of transgression of the rules lies in its ability to sabotage the system of classification and transfer of asylum seekers, prior to the organisation of a collective protest outside the centre. While emphasising the context of deprivation of rights that the migrants are confronted by on a daily basis, the chapter aims to underline the political scope of these subtle acts which often go unnoticed, and which are, nevertheless, the sine qua non condition for the emergence of collective protest.