Abstract
This chapter traces various acts of radical democratic disobedience on the part of people who are commonly disqualified as ‘illegals’. To begin with, Oberprantacher addresses a few basic doubts in terms of the initial premise: to what extent can one speak of ‘illegals’, bearing in mind the risk of discursively consolidating discriminatory approaches? Moreover, he critically investigates some of the arguments that are currently generating extremely ambivalent images of the situation of people who are governed as ‘illegals’, be it as ‘helpless victims’ or as ‘cunning criminals’. In the final part, he more broadly responds to the question of what it amounts to when ‘illegals’ are subjectivating themselves and making themselves count as a litigious political subject of a democracy to come.
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Notes
- 1.
The so-called Bossi-Fini Law is based on an initiative of the former government members Gianfranco Fini (Alleanza Nazionale) and Umberto Bossi (Lega Nord). It came into effect on 10 September, 2002, and dramatically deteriorated the situation for those without valid entry or residence permits in Italy. Aside from the fact that third-country nationals are usually obliged to produce a work contract in order to obtain a regular residency status, the law, which remains in effect in modified form, provides also for the following: that measures for the identification of clandestini be expanded, that relatively few residence permits be issued, that the options for an administrative detention of ‘illegals’ be augmented, and that, as part of bilateral agreements, more Mediterranean ‘smuggler boats’ be pushed back.
- 2.
Designations with pejorative connotations such as ‘economic refugees’ or ‘asylum industry’ are particularly hateful variants of this confusion, whose purpose is to preemptively disqualify the democratic aspirations of people without valid documentation.
- 3.
In addition to the Bossi-Fini Law, the so-called ‘security package’, which resulted from an initiative of former Interior Minister Roberto Maroni (Lega Nord) and was passed on August 8, 2009, represents a further deterioration of the situation of clandestini in Italy. Amongst others, the ‘security package’ provides that illegal border crossings should be criminalized and treated as a criminal offense punishable by law.
- 4.
A certain amount of caution is appropriate, however, when discussing the radical democratic disobedience of ‘illegals’. It would amount to an uncritical glorification of heroism, for instance, to disregard the fact that clandestinity tends to reproduce discrimination. It is certainly no coincidence that so many sexually loaded images of ‘illegals’ as virile young bodies are circulating at the moment, that is, stereotypical images, which over-determine certain situations, while neglecting others (for example that of irregular female domestic workers).
- 5.
This speech was revised and republished by Balibar in February 2013 on the occasion of the Refugee Protests in Vienna and in other European cities.
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Oberprantacher, A. (2016). Radical Democratic Disobedience: ‘Illegals’ as a Litigious Political Subject. In: Oberprantacher, A., Siclodi, A. (eds) Subjectivation in Political Theory and Contemporary Practices. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51659-6_16
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