An agora on the European political space: why is Europe the decisive political space for the Left?

June 13, 2018, Catania, Sicily. The Aquarius arrives in Sicily carrying more than 900 migrants as a diplomatic standoff continues over Italy's refusal to let the rescue ship dock. Orietta Scardino/Press Association. All rights reserved.

The Aquarius
affair made clear that the European political
space understands itself as only able to permit unrestricted freedom of movement
within its internal borders – the Schengen area – by denying movement across
its external borders.

Moreover, the fact that refugee camps are increasingly emerging on the
borders of the European area – and even outside it – is a concrete
manifestation of the way that Europe, by means of an
externalization of its borders, has been reshaping its imaginary geography.
This perspective is somewhat vexed by the indeterminacy of where to locate
state boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea and, consequently, by the indeterminacy
of deciding which state is responsible for saving refugees from the water.

Ultimately, it is
always up to the government to decide whether any given state has any
obligation to grant security to refugees. Put differently, although a refugee convention
exists, whether any particular state is bound to this convention still remains
dependent on the decision of the state’s sovereignty – i.e. it is entirely
at the discretion of this sovereign will to consider someone a refugee and
grant him right of asylum. In this sense, international law does not seem to
have escaped the Schmittian dichotomy between normal and exceptional, along
with the idea that the state of exception always calls for a sovereign
decision.

It follows that the development of an ethics of our borders is one of
the most pressing tasks of our time, and this is even more the case given the geopolitical
situation in which Europe finds itself, whereby many European countries are
currently experiencing a permanent state of exception – something that even
Carl Schmitt would scarcely have attempted to justify.

The so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the nation-state

Indeed, in response
to the so-called refugee crisis, Europe has produced the idea of a direct association between securing one’s existence
and closing borders, such that the relationship with the “other” happens on
the basis of fear. Fear, far from being reduced, remains central on an
emotional level, even while we witness the constant effort to reduce it on what
we might call the physical level.

The act of building
walls or reinforcing – even militarily – the borders, is aimed simply at
stopping people from moving. The construction of walls
corresponds to the attempt to suspend freedom of movement across the borders,
thereby channeling fear. In short, the act of containing
mobility responds to the need to limit fear. All this
illustrates that the Westphalian order is currently being shaken apart by the
political and ethical significance of these refugee movements.

In the modern world,
the nation-state is the main political space. However, all countries within the
European Union – and beyond – are currently facing the epochal issue that there
is no longer a shared conception of what a state is. We are now confronted, if not with the potential
twilight of nation-states, certainly with the emergence of new political spaces. The
current political challenges must therefore be addressed, starting with the
problem of the permanence of a political space which, however, requires a new
definition – one that is capable of accounting for liquid borders and the
movement of refugees.

Public debate

Now more than ever, it is
necessary to create opportunities for a public debate to think about how to
reorganize the European political space and reintegrate within it. Seizing on the
idea of Prague’s night of philosophy from Étienne Tassin and Étienne Balibar,
we are calling for an Agora on the European
Political Space – a new initiative that goes in this direction. The
subtitle, quoting Balibar, could be: “Pas d’autre France sans autre Europe”, “
Not another France without another Europe” – a formula which could clearly be
applied to all the countries of the EU. This cultural and political event on the
future of the Left in Europe will discuss the potential for each nation’s Left
to shape the European political space.

June 11, 2018. Demonstrators protest at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport against the failure to allow the Aquarius to be landed in Italian ports. NurPhoto/ Press Association. All rights reserved.Our first agora was held at
the Sorbonne on May 25, thanks to the sponsorship of NoSoPhi. It brought together
representatives of the French, Italian and British Left: Étienne Balibar, Luke Cooper, Simone
Oggionni, Antonio Panzeri, Andrea Pisauro and Nadia Urbinati. Three more
agora are currently being organised and will take place in Italy in September
and in the UK next year.

We hope for these to be the
first of many occasions to talk about the future of the European political
space in this moment of appalling political instability. The idea is to open a
permanent political debate, with both intellectuals and politicians of the EU
Left, centred, each time, on a few subjects which determine our contemporary
political experience, such as capitalism – fragility and labour – socialism vs
populism – migration and citizenship – equality. This initiative, like those
planned for the future, will be a cultural event (i.e. there will be no party
logos). Moreover, these events will not be academic, but open to everyone and involving
all citizens. This is why, more than that of a roundtable, we seek an agora, as
the participation of the audience will indeed be central to our task.

The video of the first agora is available on our website, where details regarding the next three
agora will soon be available. Many prominent figures of the academic and
political European landscape will be participating: Riccardo Caporali, Sandro
Mezzadra and Maurizio Ricciardi (Università degli studi di Bologna), Nadia
Urbinati (Columbia University), Caterina di Fazio (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne),
Darian Meacham (Maastricht University), Francesco Tava (UWE Bristol); MEP
Guillaume Balas, Virginie Rozière and Flavio Zanonato, Luke Cooper (Another
Europe is Possible), Niccolo Milanese (European Alternatives), Simone Oggionni
(Movimento Democratico Progressista), Andrea Pisauro (DIEM UK) and Sara
Prestianni (Immigration Specialist).