EG-2022(1)-March-NEWSLETTERDownload

Dear comrades and colleagues of the European Group

We hope this month’s newsletter finds you and your loved ones well.

Once again, we write at a point of international uncertainty this time with increasing concerns for rights abuses, political aberrations, and the horror of war in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. The impacts and implications are, and will remain, undoubtedly profound. However, we are most aware that some members will be working or living in areas and regions most affected, and we send solidarity and support to those supplying assistance and resistance in Ukraine, as we do wherever an invasion is committed, at border areas, and with those against war speaking out from within Russia. If there is anything that the European Group can practicably do to offer support, please get in touch with the coordination team.

We also want to join the claim for the release of our colleague from the University of the Basque Country and freelance reporter Pablo González, who was arrested in the early hours of February 28 under incommunicado detention, and remanded to custody last March 3 on charges of “espionage”. The Polish and Spanish authorities must explain the reasons for his arrest, and Poland must release him immediately, ensuring that all members of the press can cover refugee movements without interference. #FreePablo

We are also acutely aware that the impacts of restrictive and militarized border controls are continually exposed as people move across and between borders, and raise concerns over the harms which can and will occur if people are not enabled to move safely. This aspect is not new, and must include people from war and conflict zones internationally, including long running campaigns of conflict related violence and state violence.We will set a date for a meeting in which members can come together online in the near future as this unfolds, and to see how people are holding up (some of the coordination team have been down with various illnesses, so it serves to reason others may also be floundering or even just feeling the angst of contemporary politics) – a catch up is a always welcome and we will arrange one ASAP.

In the meantime, please read on for the March edition of the newsletter. There are excellent additions, and as you will see, the call for papers for the annual conference has now been released, and we are so hopeful to see as many of you as possible in Torino, 7-9th September. It seems a long time since our last conference – perhaps longer than the two years it has been! – and a chance to see members again is certainly a welcome thought as the year pushes on.

On this, we’d like to thank the conference organization committee for their excellent work on this call and for moving forward with organizing so brilliantly – it is much appreciated, and we are looking forward to the EG being hosted with such fine colleagues in September.

In the meantime, keep well everyone, and thanks for your continued support.

Vicky, Katja, Dani and Simone [EG incumbent coord. team]