Reflexiones filosófico-políticas en torno a la criminalización de las prácticas de solidaridad hacia migrantes y refugiados en la actualidad. El caso de Carola Rackete (2019)

Abstract

In this article we offer a political philosophical analysis of an “exemplary” case of criminalization of solidarity towards migrants and refugees today: the case of Carola Rackete, captain of Sea Watch 3 who starred in a rescue in the Mediterranean in 2019. Based on certain theoretical-conceptual developments by central authors of contemporary philosophy, such as Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Judith Butler, Etienne Balibar and Jacques Derrida, we seek to address the ethical and political contradictions entailed by the practices of solidarity towards people in situation of international mobility. The manuscript is divided into four sections: first, we analyze the legal status of the case; second, we address the legal-political struggle around the definition of “safe place” and the problem of “traffic borders”; third, we investigate the question of personalizing solidarity actions as a strategy for depoliticizing the humanitarian field; and last, we insist on the need to reposition the political scope of humanitarian law today.