Who we are

Background of visAvis

visAvis is a magazine that focuses on migration and asylum, produced by people with or without citizenship living in Denmark. From our point of view the policies regarding migration and asylum are repressive. People seeking refuge are made suspect and migrants are made illegal. The asylum process has become almost impossible, life in the camps close to unbearable. This has serious, literally fatal, consequences for the individual persons. And for society as a whole this presents serious problems. The rule of law is being undermined and the public debate is loosing its nuance. In this precarious situation we wish to raise the level of debate, enhance the quality of information, and create a space where it is possible for people seeking asylum to express what is on their mind.

Cooperation and the social dimension

visAvis is a cooperation between people in and outside the camps in Denmark. To create something together is enriching, both at a personal and political level, it breaks with the isolation in society created by the camps, and it expands the horizon for everybody involved. The process itself plays a significant role and is of the same importance as the result. It should be interesting, as well as entertaining and pleasant to participate.

The three pillars of visAvis

visAvis as a magazine consists of three pillars of equal importance:

1) Bringing forth the stories and reflections of the people seeking asylum.
2) Investigative and explanatory journalism that here can find the space and time to go deeper than daily media flows allow; and
3) Commentaries and essays of high quality both intellectually and in terms of entertainment, where arguments are developed and exchanged to raise the level of public debate;

On all levels we think to be filling a void and to have an important democratic task to fulfill.

Editorial line

Pillar 1:

A basic principal in a democracy must be that those affected by a law have a way of making their voice heard in the public space. Unfortunately this does not apply to people seeking asylum today. It is an important task for visAvis to fulfill to be a platform for this. Not only for how people seeking asylum experience the Danish asylum system but also for their experience of society in general, of life itself. For many asylum seekers, as for all, it is of great importance to communicate their thoughts and reflections, to have a voice and to be heard. For society this is an important voice, a voice that today isn’t heard, but one that can tell of things otherwise not visible and from a different angle than usually. The editorial criteria here are to communicate these voices as well as possible. Since many people seeking asylum are afraid that public attention can effect their case, anonymity is acceptable here. The purpose ofvisAvis is also to activate the resources, competences, and other types of stories that are to be found in the camps.

Pillar 2 and 3:

By inviting a group of contributing commentators – experts in law, medicine, politics, journalism, etc., opinion shapers, and people working in the field – we wish to expand the narrow frames for debate allowed today. Since migration in its nature is something occurring across borders, we find it natural that our panel of commentators is international. Migration is a part of globalization and as such an element in the development that is shaping the future of the world. This is another reason for the centrality of the debate of how we consider asylum and migration. Our group of commentators will be supplemented by commentaries from new contributors each time.

The primary editorial criterion for commentaries is focused on argumentation. To a large extent the debate is based on regards to opinion polls or personal emotions, we wish to change this.

We find a huge lack of information in this area. Both for people seeking asylum, which experience the system themselves, and for all other in society it seems incomprehensible. For that reason we wish with investigative and explanatory journalism to create an understanding of how the asylum- and migration area works in Danish and European society. There will be explanations of and questions to the asylum process and the concrete conditions in the camps, critical investigation of the governance of these rules and of the role played by the different actors. We will get attention to the global demographic, geographic, and political relations that create refugees.

Articles will lead the reader along: sentences if possible not too long, difficult terms explained, and articles will be laid out to meet the reader. We recognize the importance of different ways of communication such as: poetry, fiction, photography, drawings, cartoons, caricature etc.

It is important for visAvis to insist that people seeking asylum are not only victims as they are often represented, but are individuals with different resources and backgrounds. Many are traumatized from past experiences, all are under great pressure from the Danish system, but that does not exclude that they can offer important aspects to visAvis and to society as a whole. In visAvis we all participate equally but we are at the same times also aware of that we are not equally positioned in society, that some are in an extremely precarious situations and under pressure. Everyone brings to the project what he or she can, and that is what is important.

visAvis editorial Group:

Ann Sofie Brink Pedersen
Laura Blankholm Nielsen
Liv Nimand Duvå
Nikolaj Houmann
Rasmus P.
Shadia El Dardiry
Søren Rafn

Big visAvis group:

Amy Hamilton
Anders Heggestad
Anders Abildgaard
Anders Carlsberg
Anders Prien Saxbø
André Amtoft
Andreas Christensen
Ann Sofie Brink Pedersen
Antonios Alexandridis
Arendse Krabbe
Caroline Enghoff Mogensen
Casper Øbro
Christina Wendelboe
Christina Jespersen
Christopher Alexander
Daniel Milan
Dominika Ozarowska
Eric Yacuban
Ester Vilstrup
Frederik Lauritzen
Gita Ghei
Heidi Erschbamer
Iain Boal
Ida Lunden
Inger Scharf
Jakob Neerbek
Jennie Kaae-Ferrara
Jens Pfeifer
Jeppe Wedel-Brandt
Jimmy
Joachim Hamou
Jon Erik Nyholm
Karlos Shahinian
Katarina Seth
Katinka Johansen
Kellys Kakunze
Kenneth Bohl
Kipanga
Lars Engelgaar
Laura Blankholm Nielsen
Liban Abdi Abanur
Lise Olivarius
Liv Nimand  Duvaa
Lopez Njang
Loredana Rask Andersen
Lorena Torres
Lorens Juul Madsen
Louise Green
L-Man (pseudonym)
Mahmoud Salem
Maja Moesgaard
Maria Tancula Lund
Marie Sauer-Johansen
Maureen Nge Chi
Mayhan Wak
Memo Jan
Mia Edelgart
Misja Krenchel
Mohamad Khadel
Mohamed MM
Morten Buchard
Muhamed Abubakar GT
Nabila Saidi
Nikolaj Houmann
Nina Monrad Boel
Omar
Otman Miloud
Patrick (pseudonym)
Patthy
Paula Nimand Duvå
Pauline Weller
Peter Laugesen
Pil Rasmussen
Poul Roepstorff
Rasmus P
Ronald Jensen
Rosanna Singler
Sabine Hess
Samiya Mahmed Osman
Sandra Lori Petersen
Sara Houman Mortensen
Sarah Jaqueline Hamilton
Shadia El Dardiry
Shakib Momand
Simon Rasmussen
Simon Væth
Søren Rafn
Sylvester Roepstorff
Tenna Toft Olesen
Theis Wendt
Thomas Elsted
Tina Helen
Trine Høyrup  Henriksen
Ulla Hveisel
Vanja
Ziad Kabbani