The local level is increasingly seen as a new space for solutions to political dead ends generated by the nation state.22See e.g. Charta di Palermo, 2015. In the end, it is the municipalities and the cities, upon which the responsibilities for the implementation of the political decisions around migration are imposed, which by and large are reached on a nation-state and international level. Advocates of the local turn in the science, politics, NGO and civil society33Advocates for the local turn include, for instance, Gesine Schwan, the French President Emmanuel Macron, and Franziska Brantner the Green Party; see Bendel, Petra / Schammann, Hannes / Heimann, Christiane / Stürner, Janina, 2019: A Local Turn for European Refugee Politics.Recommendations for Strengthening Municipalitites and Local Communities in Refugee and Asylum Policy of the EU. Heinrich Böll Stiftung: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_a_local_turn_for_european_refugee_politics.pdf?dimension1=division_euna (24.09.2019), p. 5. argue in favor of giving cities and municipalities more leeway and authority in the field of decision-making within migration politics. This would allow on-site networks of municipal political institutions, NGOs, civil society, refugees as well as economical and cultural actors to fully develop.
The idea to strengthen the local (urban) level has already been the subject of research and European politics for over 15 years.44Bendel, Petra / Schammann, Hannes / Heimann, Christiane / Stürner, Janina, 2019: A Local Turn for European Refugee Politics.Recommendations for Strengthening Municipalitites and Local Communities in Refugee and Asylum Policy of the EU. Heinrich Böll Stiftung: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e- paper_a_local_turn_for_european_refugee_politics.pdf?dimension1=division_euna (24.09.2019), p. 15. Many cities already have a strong self-understanding as cities of refuge and accommodation, they are, however, limited in the implementation of their politics by nation-state politics and the concomitant structural and financial solutions. The local turn investigate ways to take on what has been to-date classical national authority on the city and municipality level so that more participation in the sense of urban citizenship is made possible.
“Cities are not only the level at which national policies are concretely worked out, but they show a considerable capacity of elaborating their own original policy approaches even on matters, such as undocumented access to legal status, naturalisation and political participation, which are traditionally of a national competence.”55Caponio, Tiziana, 2014: The legal and political dimension of local integration policy, in KING Project –Social Science Unit Desk Research Paper 9: http://king.ismu.org/wp-content/uploads/Caponio_DeskResearch.pdf (24.09.2019), p. 17.
This also concerns the question of refugee distribution. Instead of a top-down policy of allocation, which neither persons seeking protection nor accommodating cities have any influence over, ways are being sought for cities and people, depending on their interests and skills, to find a common ground. While the right to self-determination and free movement is meant to be warranted to individuals in this way as well as the widest possible freedom of action at the place of arrival,66At the same time, the right to self-determination of people seeking protection and their suggestions should be taken serious, because movements can only work if refugees themselves participate in the choice of their place of residence; see Bendel, Petra / Schammann, Hannes / Heimann, Christiane / Stürner, Janina, 2019: A Local Turn for European Refugee Politics.Recommendations for Strengthening Municipalitites and Local Communities in Refugee and Asylum Policy of the EU. Heinrich Böll Stiftung: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_a_local_turn_for_european_refugee_politics.pdf?dimension1=division_euna (24.09.2019), p. 5. municipalities also have the chance of ensuring the optimal preparation for and integration of migration into the municipal development plan:
“At the core of the recommendations is a mechanism which considers both those seeking protection and the receiving municipalities and their preferences, and which involves local support groups. Such a matching process which takes into account the needs and integration requirements of persons seeking protection as well as the receiving municipalities combines long-term integration prospects with regional development strategies. The systematic involvement of support groups would not only enhance the prospects of successful integration and increase the social capital of the refugees, but also strengthen the acceptance of their reception and social cohesion locally.”77Bendel, Petra / Schammann, Hannes / Heimann, Christiane / Stürner, Janina, 2019: A Local Turn for European Refugee Politics.Recommendations for Strengthening Municipalitites and Local Communities in Refugee and Asylum Policy of the EU. Heinrich Böll Stiftung: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_a_local_turn_for_european_refugee_politics.pdf?dimension1=division_euna (24.09.2019), p. 3.
The expansion of competences of municipalities should also be achieved with more financial support and less bureaucratic hurdles erected by the nation states and the EU.88Bendel, Petra / Schammann, Hannes / Heimann, Christiane / Stürner, Janina, 2019: A Local Turn for European Refugee Politics.Recommendations for Strengthening Municipalitites and Local Communities in Refugee and Asylum Policy of the EU. Heinrich Böll Stiftung: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_a_local_turn_for_european_refugee_politics.pdf?dimension1=division_euna (24.09.2019), p. 5. All this should lead to migration and inclusion as a process of participation and as an opportunity, not as a “top-down burden” which needs to be rethought and implemented.
“All of these developments suggest that particularly larger European cities consider themselves less and less to be merely the national government’s implementing agencies for integration. Instead they increasingly appear as independently acting participants in migration policy with a comprehensive agenda which also concerns the conditions for entry.”88Bendel, Petra / Schammann, Hannes / Heimann, Christiane / Stürner, Janina, 2019: A Local Turn for European Refugee Politics.Recommendations for Strengthening Municipalitites and Local Communities in Refugee and Asylum Policy of the EU. Heinrich Böll Stiftung: https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_a_local_turn_for_european_refugee_politics.pdf?dimension1=division_euna (24.09.2019), p. 15.
Mustapha F. came to Sicily from Gambia. He had to spend several months in different reception camps until he came to Palermo. Since then he has been going to school, learning Italian and, like many others, working part-time (often several jobs and usually without an employment contract).
Fatima D. goes to school and receives training as a musician at the conservatory. Her future dream is to become a singer and musician. Her wish came about through a spontaneous encounter with a drum teacher who saw her playing the djembé.
Emmanuel comes from Ghana and has lived in Palermo since 1992. In the 27 years he has worked in various professions. Emmanuel could no longer pursue his profession as an industrial mechanic in Palermo and took a job as a night watchman in a flower shop.
Marrie S. talks about what love in the form of solidarity, support, and rescue means to him.
Aliou B. left Guinea alone at the age of thirteen. On his way via Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya, he experienced hunger, mistreatment…
Diawara B. talks about the so-called “Security Decree” passed by the Italian government.
Diawara B. talks about the shocking experiences he made after his arrival in a reception camp in Sicily and the support he received on…
Fatima D. is from Gambia and came to Palermo in May 2017. She is one of many refugee minors who came unaccompanied by adults.…
Fatima D. tells of her escape through the desert.
Mustapha F. talks about his first time in a reception camp and his experiences of the reception in Palermo. He reports about his lack…
Giulia di Carlo worked in a reception centre in Palermo and describes from her perspective the situation for refugees in the city.