Can the migrant and refugee speak?

Małgorzata Kot

This question, a paraphrase of the title of Gayatri Spivak’s essay ‘Can the subaltern speak?’, might sound bizarre at first as it seems that noone takes physically the ability to speak and everyone is just free to express themselves. It is worth considering further if that is really the case for refugees and migrants. Can refugees and migrants speak in Poland and if not, what’s stopping their voice? The discussions with representatives of Polish Migration Forum; Institute for Social Safety and Our Choice provoked me to consider how an individual voice can be blocked and whether such a space for raising one’s voice can be reclaimed and how.

To consider the act of silencing a person, we need to take into account that the act of raising one’s voice happens in specific conditions and space. The space one enters might be either welcoming or hostile and conditioned to encourage or block the speech; so an individual might be silenced even before actually arranging words to make a statement.

The current public discourses tend to be anti-refugee and anti-migrant; nationalist and xenophobic attitudes are widespread, thus creating a space which encourages migrants and refugees to remain silent and unacknowledged. Nongovernmental organizations supporting refugees and migrants have scarce resources and therefore are not able to provide assistance as frequently as needed. In practice it means that refugees lack space to raise their concerns and fears in order to solve them, these issues can be only whispered in a trusted ear. With a widespread hate speech encountered in Poland, the space to speak seems to be reduced to zero. Besides the discourse, specific practices block the voice. As one of the speakers, Myroslava Keryk from Our Choice mentioned, it’s not uncommon of employers to to take advantage of Ukrainian migrant workers, underpay and not provide a contract. Creating such a situation of economic exploitation is one of many examples where migrants and refugees are deprived of dignity which lets one speak about their needs.

The question which arises after consideration of how spaces are conditioned to unable refugees and migrants to raise voice is simple yet the most complicated: what are the strategies to change this situation? What can be done by an ordinary Polish citizen to support refugees and migrants in speaking out? One of the most critical things to keep in mind is to deconstruct and reconstruct our own language and attitudes. ‘We need to give voice to refugees’ is a phrase which I have heard many times and at the first sight it seems supportive. However, when we examine ‘give’ closer we actually discover that by saying ‘give them voice’ we position ourselves as saviours who generously give poor victims a space. Therefore, we strengthen the neo-colonial relationship in which ‘we’ hold the power and decide if, when and where we give ‘them’, ‘Others’ a space; also we decide how big this space will be. Refugees and migrants in this relation are only passive figures, waiting for possibility to open their mouth. How then is it possible not to objectify and establish an equitable relationship? First and foremost, it demands getting out of one’s bubble of expectations how this refugee or migrant should speak and what emotions should or shouldn’t express. This might entail for us- supporters, that we won’t always like how a certain statement sounds, we won’t always be prepared what’s going to be said. As much as difficult it might sound, it is the only way to enable space for communication. Embrace what is said and step back. Listen instead of imposing your attitude. This is how enabling a true space looks like, instead of patronizingly giving it. Once the space is established, we are still in the back and that’s where we should stay in order not to speak on behalf of someone else. It is tempting and very often used by activists: ‘we speak for those who cannot speak’. They can speak; our job is only to use our privileges to make a space more supportive for an individual to speak, not for our spotlight and five minutes of fame. Only such a non-hierarchical space allows for victimized to reclaim voice. A simple start might be just looking each other in the eyes, bringing in curiosity about another person. The video developed by Amnesty International might be a good point to get inspired and see how hierarchy can be broken when we just meet without imposing our position.