ABSTRACT
Greek people, an otherwise predominantly xenophobic and openly nationalist public, demonstrated en masse their support to the refugees. The same social actors that conventionally articulate a strong resistance to the ideals of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism manifested their solidarity to the displaced in a variety of discursive and practical ways. The cultural framework through which this identification was expressed was the concept of humanity, as a quality and an ethos that binds all human beings in a universal and timeless manner. This chapter provides information on reservations against humanitarian reason and governance. It argues that hegemonic understandings of what it means to be human obscure the importance of local, vernacular visions of cosmopolitanism as a moral and yet radically political project. The fragmentary and episodic character of all forms of aid (organized or informal) disputes the unquestionable character of basic political and human rights.
