They had tied my wrists together behind my back very tightly; the coarse rope almost cut my hands. Somebody was pulling my arms; his hand grabbed my neck just below the knot in the smelly…
Struggle and Politics
Keeping warm in cold country
When you exit the metro at Christianshavn in Copenhagen you see a number of statues known as the Greenland Monument. They were made from red granite by the Danish sculptor Svend Rathsack after he had…
The border produces the violence that surrounds it
Recommendation: Reece Jones: Violent Borders. Refugees and the Right to Move. Verso 2016 By Lise Olivarius • 2017 Why are states so obsessed with restricting the movements of people, and particularly poor people? This is…
Language is a soft and delicate piece of cloth in which every mother wraps her child
How is it possible to leave ones language and start over? When Jila Mossaed came to Sweden in 1986 she had published two novels and five collections of poetry in Farsi. In the following pages…
ICARH and the plight of LGBTs in Nigeria
Nigeria has adopted a range of laws targeting LGBT people. One Nigerian organisation, however, is trying to confront the dire situation by providing healthcare, counselling, and protection of LGBT people. By Loke Bisbjerg Nielsen •…
Nr. 56: My name is Ekaterina
Ekaterina Lemonjava is a Georgian journalist and migrants’ rights activist who was imprisoned in 2012 in the Polish detention camp Lesznowola: a closed camp for women, children, and families. The same year, she was deported…
Waiting for Asylum
visAvis brings two poems by Reem Zakzouk, a stateless woman of Palestine, born in Saudi Arabia and currently living in Sweden. In her writing she explores questions of exile and belonging, registration versus recognition and…
“If in Our Country”, The Policeman Said
By Ali Ali • December 2015 A “Syrian Swede”, whose status was complicated further by being a policeman, happened to check my documents at the Swedish border today. I gave him my passport, but his…
A narrative from the dirty doorsteps of ‘Fortress Europe’
Speech given at ‘Vi har Plads’/’We have Space’ – a solidarity manifestation for the refugees of the world with a particular focus on the situation in Syria. By Michelle Schulze from Asylret • September 2015…
Reflections on War and Home
The words ‘home’ and ‘repatriation’ are widely used in the public debate, but the meaning of these words is rarely elaborated on. Starting from experience from the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this text attempts…