Emotional solidarity: social movements’ framing of migration

The journal Social Movement Studies has published an article by Mojca Pajnik and Marko Ribać on emotional solidarity within social movements in the field of migration. The authors analyze how social movements in five European countries – Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Denmark – mobilize emotions in their solidarity-based advocacy for the rights of migrants. Based on an analysis of publicly available documents published by the movements on the topic of migration, the study finds that movements use various strategies to mobilize emotions. When addressing border and deportation regimes, they express empathy towards people on the move, while also mobilizing anger and resistance in response to exclusionary practices by state and European institutions. The article contributes to the “rehabilitation” of the affective in social movement analysis, advancing an understanding that moves beyond dominant traditional binaries such as rational–emotional and public–private in tackling social issues. The analysis reveals a high degree of “affective resemblance” among social movements across the five countries. It also shows how emotional solidarity can empower movements in their collective struggle for the rights of people on the move.