Examining the blurred lines of solidarity with people targeted by border violence in Europe: Revised reflections of an ethnographic study

Am J Community Psychol. 2026 Jul 21. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.70090. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

There is an ongoing debate on the blurred lines of solidarity, inspired by a surge in solidarity collectives that accompany people on the move in Europe, in the aftermath of the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015. Realizing that people racialized as migrants and refugees have been systematically objectified, either as “criminals” or “helpless victims” by the border regime, grassroots supporting people on the move experimented with more contentious and horizontal forms of solidarity. But how far did they actually go, to challenge the hierarchies of deservingness produced by increasingly harsh migration policies and border violences? Trying to shed light on some of the transformations and pitfalls that have impacted solidarity collectives, over time, I look back into my PhD fieldwork-a multi-sited ethnographic study, to revise its reflections on collective resistance. I argue that, over time, collectives are prone to struggle with conflict and friction, attempts of subalternization and co-optation, demanding new strategies of autonomy and political agency. These reflections aim to contribute to community psychology scholarship interested in studying the transgressive power of solidarity and allyship, which have the potential to regulate community resistance and power in hostile sociopolitical contexts.

PMID:42478569 | DOI:10.1002/ajcp.70090