Summer of Migration

The "long summer of migration" was not a refugee crisis, but a historic and structural defeat for the European border regime.

Under the banner of Schengen, a racist and classist European mobility order had been established to serve the "interests" of European hegemonic powers. It combined the expansion of the internal market and the freedom of movement within Europe for some, with the rigid exclusion of those from regions that did not fit into the neoliberal, postcolonial order. Migration became an object of surveillance, and the Mediterranean a militarized death zone.

Persistent migration movements broke through this order. Hundreds of thousands crossed the Mediterranean and overcame Europe's fences and barbed wire. Border crossings became visible as collective, politicized acts – a direct challenge to Europe's mobility regime.

Between the 3rd and the 5th of September 2015, it all culminated in the "March of Hope" — an iconic moment when tens of thousands, defying all repression, travelled from Turkey through Greece along the Western Balkan route. When Germany and Austria officially opened their borders on 5 September, the system collapsed.

This historic moment did not end with a massacre on a highway or in Hungarian camps, but with people arriving the next day at Munich's main station – greeted with applause by rows of supporters.

The "long summer of migration" was rooted in two key consequences of the Arab uprisings.
First, the brutal Syrian civil war entered its fifth year in 2015, forcing over half the population to flee, most to neighbouring countries like Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, where they lived in extremely precarious conditions. As international aid declined, prospects worsened, and many set out for Europe, often drawing on the networks, skills, and democratic aspirations forged during the uprisings.
Second, the European border regime in the Mediterranean began to erode. The fall of authoritarian partners such as Libya's Gaddafi disrupted the EU's strategy of externalising migration control, while Italy's "Mare Nostrum operation" in 2013–14 temporarily prioritised saving lives over deterrence.

By spring 2015, growing numbers of people crossed from Turkey to Greece and continued along the Balkan route – transformed for a few months into a corridor of state-organised onward travel. Between March 2015 and March 2016, over a million people reached the EU this way.

The summer of 2015 also represented a vision of a different, bottom-up Europe built on practical solidarity.
It was in this period of heightened struggles around mobility that private rescue ships such as MOAS, Sea-Watch, MSF, and soon after the Iuventa, began their operations at sea, becoming one of the last remaining lifelines to Europe for people on the move.

Organising around ships echoed the direct action approach of initiatives such as the Alarm Phone, which had, since 2014, cultivated an extensive network of activists to assist migrants on their journey by phone and to pressure maritime authorities to fulfil their duty to rescue. Now, activists organised to do the rescuing themselves. Since then, governments have sought to restore control: tightening laws, building new fences, setting up "hotspots," restricting asylum rights, expanding deportation systems, and outsourcing border enforcement to countries like Turkey or Libya. The EU continues to pursue strategies of centralising migration control and externalising it beyond its borders.

The story of the Iuventa is part of both sides of this history: it was a living expression of solidarity, of overcoming borders, of peaceful protest, resistance, and practical support for people on the move. It was part of the subversive counter-movement against racist exclusion and selection. At the same time, it became a testing ground and a symbol for the repressive reconstruction of power and control.

READ more about the SUMMER OF MIGRATION and the MARCH OF HOPE:

interactive TIMELINE about the long summer of migration

https://www.assoziation-a.de/buch/der_lange_sommer_der_migration/

https://bordermonitoring.eu/ungarn/2015/09/of-hope-en/ 

https://moving-europe.org/march-of-hope-3/