AMRO20_ From Sea to City | Violeta Moreno-Lax, Adnan Hadzi, Nicolas Zemke, Hagen Kopp

The way we collectively discuss about migration, in general, and forced displacement by sea, or "boat migration", in particular, has an impact on our responses to address the phenomenon. Narratives on "boat migration", be it in the media or in public discourse, affect political processes across Europe, influencing our perception of "boat migrants", ultimately having an effect on the ways they are received in (or repelled from) our societies. The challenge is to unpack and explain the causes and consequences of such narratives, examining their construction and assessing their effects on prevailing attitudes.

Sea Watch and Alarm Phone have already been working in a state of permanent crisis for 5 years now, fighting the EU'S policies of letting die at the deadliest European border, the Mediterranean. It is an avoidable and deadly crisis. Now the biggest difference is that our environment is also in one. Staying at home, in those Covid-19 times, is a privilege that the people we pull out of the water do not have. We must not and will not forget the people who are fighting for their survival on the doorstep of Fortress Europe. Flight is not a choice.