5. Contested Spaces [chapter]

2021 Migrant Protest  
In early 2012, the suicide of an Iranian asylum seeker in Würzburg initiated the most disruptive precarious migrant protests in German history. Starting as a spark of protest against the living conditions in one specific asylum facility in southern Germany, the dissent soon spread. Tent camps emerged in other cities and in September 2012, the scattered camps joined forces and organized a bus tour as well as a 600 km protest march to Berlin. This chapter analyzes how precarious migrants were
more » ... to raise public attention and mobilize asylum seekers and the media by moving from socially and spatially isolated locations into urban centers. In organizing central protest camps, marches and bus tours, they broke the routine of precarious migrant invisibility or victimization. In and through contested spaces, they temporarily succeeded in tapping the resources needed to sustain political mobilizations.
doi:10.1515/9789048550197-009 fatcat:atmu52phgjbb5hzawoslbwftrm