Journal of Language and Politics - Volume 19, Issue 3, 2020

Abstract

This article analyses the humanitarianism and securitisation nexus in effect to migration controls in Italy and Hungary. Noteworthy for our purposes is how the humanitarian discourse is undervalued as the EU border states emphasise either full securitisation or else securitisation as a condition for humanitarianism when it comes to border management and refugee protection measures. Our goal is to trace, on the one hand, how politicians conceptualise humanitarianism for the self and for the extension of the self; and, on the other, how they subscribe to humanitarianism for the other as long as the other follows what the self demands. Reflecting on the institutional and discursive nexus of humanitarianism and securitization in effect to migration controls, we trace political narratives of Europeanisation geared to affect the public. We refer to how securitisation challenges humanitarianism while undervaluing human rights for the other and foregrounding human rights for the self.

Abstract

Principles of refugee protection in Europe are said to have come under great pressure with the populist and nationalist backlash to the ‘migrant crisis’, often traced to illiberal regimes in post-communist countries. This paper tests these claims by comparatively analysing media coverage in the UK and Hungary, establishing the extent to which specific norms were challenged or upheld in April and September 2015. It develops a new methodology connecting ethical justifications for migration controls with the ‘normative terrain’ of refugee protection. The findings complicate existing assumptions about differences between conservative and progressive-leaning publications, and also the divide and direction of travel between Old/New and East/West in the European context. The article challenges the narrative of the ‘illiberal wind’ and advances understanding of the relationship between political culture and media systems in Europe, and the toxic nature of media coverage in relation to the survival of the normative regime around refugees.

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the ways in which mediating spaces like film festivals function as alternative public spheres when social movements escalate, arguing that the Istanbul International Film Festival and Documentarist right before, during and following the Gezi protests turned into politically and socially inclusive spaces for marginalised groups in Turkey. To account for how audiences and organisers aimed to transform these mediating spaces into socially inclusive and heterogeneous outlets during the Gezi protests, the paper relies on an audience ethnography in the sites of these film festivals from 2013 until 2017 including participant observation, go-alongs and in-depth interviews with audiences, film crews and organizers. Although the spaces of these two film festivals functioned differently, the article shows that film festival spaces generally transformed into cosmopolitan outlets in Istanbul in this period, opening room for a dialogue between marginalised and dominant groups, which was fed by social movements

Abstract

The article examines three Romanian diasporic publications in the UK, aiming to identify the formation of a diasporic counterpublic in opposition to mainstream anti-EU immigration stances, during and after the 2016 referendum. Drawing upon (critical) discourse analysis, argumentation theory and rhetoric, it proposes a discursive operationalisation of the concept of counterpublic, employed to analyse the articulation of exclusion and the expression of opposition in diasporic media. The diasporic contributions undermine the nativist logic of particular mainstream stances by exposing discrimination and injustice against EU immigrants as unacceptable for a democratic society, and by openly rejecting the identity-based hierarchies that uphold this logic. Such positions co-exist with the partial reproduction of symbolic boundaries, in a style that is similarly mixed (deliberation, irony, personal narratives, classic reporting and blog style). Despite these contradictory tendencies, critical awareness is raised through (self-)reflexivity and resistance, and claims grounded in EU citizenship rights are made.

Abstract

The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union has triggered a variety of forms of political engagement among EU nationals living in the UK. Our research, carried out in the North West of England, an area that has received little attention so far, demonstrates that the result of the 2016 Referendum sparked a new awareness of public discourse, has led to the emergence of new political and discursive attitudes and strategies, as well as persuasive reflexivity and incipient activism on the part of EU nationals. This article thus contributes to the existing literature on political engagement by analysing EU nationals’ cognitive, discursive and pro/re-active engagements with Brexit.

Abstract

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees occupies a position outside the official legislative system of the United Kingdom, but inside a lobbying network. This gives it a unique place in terms of communicating on behalf of refugees and refugee causes. The Group’s Twitter feed shows that its language is different to that of campaigning organisations outside Parliament and is constrained by procedure, parliamentary practice and the political reality of a party-based environment. Aimed at Parliamentarians, the feed is used to support and promote causes and specific policy proposals. It plays a role in reporting what is going on in Parliament and supports and builds alliances with other organisations inside and outside the system. The feed’s content follows the primary information-providing objective. It could however make that information of more use to recipients, by changing the way in which some of that information is presented.

Abstract

This paper examines the way in which news reports and op-eds published in daily newspapers in Turkey handle the issues of asylum and refugees. The paper aims at revealing the patterns of discriminatory discourses towards refugees and also seeks an answer to the question of how much a discourse that will facilitate the acceptance of refugees and that will help them to be perceived as equipped with public rights finds a place in the Turkish press. The study examines the newspaper discourse on matters of immigration and asylum that is built within the news reports and op-eds of 7 national and 7 local newspapers from 1 June 2017 to 30 November 2018. The texts were first subjected to content analysis and then the selected news reports were treated based on the main components of the news discourse.

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