ABSTRACT

Building on Arendt’s insight that to become displaced is to lose one’s place in the world, in the sense of our lived experience of belonging to particular communities, this chapter investigates the potential of refugee and asylum seeker protest, and the UK City of Sanctuary movement, as ways in which to address this problem. It reflects upon refugee protest as instances of performative rights claiming, a practice which not only reveals the refugee as a political actor but also begins the work of building new ‘worlds’ to which to belong with others, through the mutual recognition of rights between those engaged in the protests. However, due to the dynamic nature of power relations and efforts by the state to reclaim the political ground from the refugee evident in these protests, these actions stand in need of greater support if refugees are to mount an effective challenge to their exclusion. It is necessary, therefore, not only to focus on the political action of these ‘non-political’ subjects, but also on the role to be played by those already ‘included’ in the community in supporting such action. The UK City of Sanctuary movement is therefore presented as one such avenue of support.