The instigation of activism is often a serendipitous moment for children of migrants. Prior to this, they already have the skills, interest and commitment, but have yet to find the specific cause that draws them to engage. Critical events are macro developments that can occur at the national, regional or global levels. These events can be adverse, such as natural disasters and conflicts; for example, Typhoon Haiyan128 in 2013 and the Syrian Civil War. However, these events can also be
positive, such as the signing of a peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which ended a 20-year proxy war129.
Critical events can heighten particular identities for children of migrants, such as amplifying their origin country national identity during a crisis there, and can also disrupt claims of and connections to a specific country or cause. For example, the 11 September 2001 terror attack in the US had a significant impact on children of migrants, especially those with Muslim backgrounds, in both the US and elsewhere. This event negatively affected various facets of children of migrants’ lives and families. Participants based in Washington, D.C. felt rejected by their society of settlement in the aftermath of the attack, despite their horror at the event and strong stance against it. While most research respondents were children or young adults at the time of the attack, they still felt the effects, as most saw and internalised the impact on their families and communities. While the changes they felt often took subtle forms, they still experienced it directly. For example, children of migrants were stopped more often at airports and subjected to additional searches. Asia (Asia, late- 30s, Sudan, Washington, D.C.) was at university when 9/11 happened and very aware of the effects on those from minority communities. At a personal level, 9/11 created a sense of isolation and lack
128 Typhoon Haiyan was the most powerful typhoon of all time. It made landfall in the Philippines in 2013, killing more than 6,000 people, displacing 4.1 million people, and disrupting the lives of millions more (Tiller, 2014).
129 In July 2018, the Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed announced the normalisation of relations with Eritrea. The two countries had been in a perpetual state of proxy war since the border conflict of 1998, which ended with the Algiers Peace Accord in 2000. Since the armistice, the two countries have opened their borders and resumed diplomatic relations (Soliman and Demissie, 2019).
of belonging for Asia and felt her migrant background had a detrimental effect on her day-to-day life in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks: ‘I had a high level of alienation [in the US]. I think the period was very hard, the post 9/11 period. Living in D.C., it was like all the warmongering, the Iraq war, the Islamophobia, the profiling, the hate crimes.’ At the institutional level, this rejection emerged in securitisation policies targeting people of a similar background, even if not citizens, such as US travel restrictions on nationals from majority Muslim countries130 as part of the broader tide
of anti-Muslim sentiments in the Global North. In a sense, whenever there are reports of a terror attack in European or North American cities, children of migrants reject the event but also fear how it will affect them, how their colleagues and peers will treat them, even if they have no personal connection to or sympathy for the ideology driving that event.
There are also other consequences to the disruption of belonging, and activism becomes a route for children of migrants to counteract their marginalisation. For example, there is growing anti- immigrant sentiments in many parts of the Global North, in government policies and public opinion, leading children of migrants to feel an increased sense of alienation. There is no set formula laying out how discontent and isolation can lead to activism, whether positive or negative, but we can see that the interplay between internal (identity formation and family histories) and external (critical events) shows the importance of understanding the contexts children of migrants engage in every day.
Events in countries of settlement can also have a positive impact on children of migrants’ day-to-day lives and instigate activism. For example, there was euphoria among minorities in the US when Barak Obama became the President in 2008. During the election campaign, several participants
130 On 6 March 2017, President Donald Trump signed executive order 13780, ‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States’, into law, barring or restricting nationals from Libya, Yemen, Iran, Somalia, North Korea, Syria and some government officials from of Venezuela from entering the United States. This executive order revoked and replaced Executive Order 13769 issued on 27 January 2017, which restricted travel to the US for nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen (Homeland Security, 2019).
in Washington, D.C. were galvanised to take part, including Tigest (female, early 30s, Eritrea, Washington, D.C.):
Everyone who felt marginalised was like ‘my god, if we could have a black president, this is very incredible.’ And it [her involvement] was a mixture of being involved with the Eritrean diaspora for Obama and the African diaspora for Obama, and also just working for the campaign. I remember volunteering for the campaign, just by myself, and I don’t actually do things like this. I don’t even volunteer a lot, but I volunteered to jump on a bus and go to Ohio. I didn’t know anybody, so I jumped on the bus, and I went to Ohio. It was the most empowering [feeling].
Tigest and many others from migrant backgrounds were galvanised to engage in the election campaign; it was a point at which they felt connected to and part of American society. Thus, it is important to understand how reactions to specific groups, often evoked by critical events, can create an interconnectedness between specific identities.
While children of migrants do not always seek out activism, whether on a voluntary or professional basis, they have in them an undercurrent to seek change that can become the only viable choice when a critical event occurs, thus triggering their activism. This is seen in Tayseer’s (female, early 30s, Sudan, London) journey to establishing a charity. She had been interested in contributing her medical skills to a charity, but her family discouraged it. Tayseer’s parents, also medical professionals, struggled as first-generation migrants to secure long-term employment in the UK health sector and did not want Tayseer to face the same challenges. Thus, they pushed her to obtain a secure job.
[My father] was like, ‘go on, do this, finish this, this exam, and that exam’. It was constantly one thing after the other. I got to a point when I was just like, I’ve done too much too early, and I started to feel really agitated and claustrophobic. I wanted to delve into something a little bit more. Every time I decided or thought maybe I would take time out and work for MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières], he was like, ‘no, you do not need to, finish first and then do that because they want somebody who is highly skilled, and you are not there yet.’
Tayseer’s opportunity to break away from her parent’s ambitions arrived when the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur erupted in 2003. She found herself being asked about Sudan by
colleagues, who enquired about the conflict and her family’s safety.131 Tayseer had limited
knowledge of the situation in Darfur at the time, and felt compelled to learn more so she could better respond to such questions. Tayseer’s quest to learn about Darfur ignited her interest in discovering how she might use her skills to help civilians affected by the conflict. However, while this was the moment, the driver to engage in activism can be found in a much earlier period of her life: her experience as a child leaving Kuwait following Iraq’s invasion. Her memories of this event, the trauma of which was compounded by the fact that her family were also not able to return to Sudan because of her father’s political activism, had more impact on her as an adult than as a child. All these layers of events were brought to the fore when Tayseer was confronted with news of the conflict in Darfur; it became a catalyst for her engagement in activism.
This research shows that critical events not only heighten elements of children of migrants’ identities but also instigate the evolution of new characteristics. Khalil (male, early 30s, Somalia, London) represents a relevant case among my research participants. In 2006, Ethiopia intervened in Somalia,132 and Khalil was among the numerous Somalis at home and in the diaspora who did not
welcome this intervention. Despite not being involved in political activism related to either the UK or Somalia at the time, Khalil co-organised an event to raise awareness about the situation and show his opposition to the Ethiopian intervention. Khalil identified as a Somalilander133 but decided to set
aside these differences to embrace a broader Somalia identity. At that time, he felt a collective unified position as Somali was more critical, and divisions should be set aside:
I never could really relate to people of Somalia, being from Somaliland we had completely different backgrounds, but then suddenly you had this foreign occupier in Somalia, that was Ethiopia. So, forget the idea of the tribes and clans or the political conflict because now it was
131 Geographically, there is considerable distance – around 800 kilometres – between Darfur and Sudan’s capital Khartoum, and the conflict was mainly confined to the Darfur. The exceptions to this were the government targeting of civilians across the country with links to Darfur and the attempted attack on Khartoum by one of the Darfurian rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), in May 2007 (Human Rights Watch, 2008).
132 In 2006, Ethiopia invaded Somalia to support the then Somalia Transitional Government (TFG) in their fight against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which led to a high number of civilian casualties. Ethiopia withdrew two years later (Bamfo, 2010; Møller, 2009).
133 Somaliland is a self-declared state that sought a distinctly different identity from Somalia; a legacy of the Siad Barre government’s crackdown on the Hargeisa-based armed opposition group, the Somali National Movement (SNM), in 1988 (Hoehne, 2019).
all about, ‘what are the Ethiopians doing on our land?’ That is not something I can’t tolerate, and all the Somalis from Djibouti, to Kenya, to Ethiopia, to Somalia, to Somaliland were united against the Ethiopians.
Ethiopia’s incursion in the Somali conflict shook the Somali diaspora. Coupled with its closeness to Ramadan and the media images of displaced people, this event galvanised the Somali diaspora to not only provide humanitarian assistance but also lobby for the expulsion of Ethiopian troops. For example, Amin (male, mid-20s, Somalia, London) was shocked by the images of Somalia in the media. He was galvanised, along with many other children of migrants with Somali heritage, to assist in the humanitarian response to the crisis and raise money to send to Somalia. He was surprised by the positive response to his efforts from first-generation Somali migrants, as often they dismissed the second generation’s connection to Somalia:
Basically, [we] organised in the space of a week. We started going around collecting money, we had gone on Somali TV and Somali Radio, we just did a lot, and we raised a decent amount ….. The idea [was] when we deliver [the money] to the other side, we’re going to call Somali TV and go public as to where the money has gone, so you avoid that typical ‘well they just took the money and just used it for their own gains’ and stuff like that. And it was just as you were walking down the street, the amount of random Somali women who would break down into tears when we were telling them what we were doing, and they just started praying for us and saying ‘this is what we’ve been waiting for, youths that haven’t been tainted’. It really does build into the idea of charity. We are doing something positive; we’re doing something amazing.
Amin and Khalil were galvanised to raise humanitarian funds for Somalia and engage politically to advocate for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. The background to their actions was not simply empathy for the plight of civilians in Somalia, but also the context of their own family’s pre-migration history. As both of their families had fled civil wars, Amin and Khalil had a heightened sense of empathy for people undergoing similar experiences. In addition, opposition to Ethiopia’s military presence in Somalia is also intertwined with the geopolitical histories of the Ogaden war.134
This shows how present-day events can not only bring memories of trauma to the fore, prompting
134 In 1977-1978, Somalia launched a military offensive against Ethiopia over the disputed Ogaden region, a territory in Ethiopia inhabited by predominantly ethnic Somalis This incursion was part of ambitions for uniting Greater Somalia, which includes all territories inhabited by ethnic Somalis – which were divided by colonial powers – in the Northern District of Kenya, Djibouti, Ogaden in Ethiopia and modern day Somalia, including Somaliland (Tareke, 2000).
children of migrants’ activism, but also how these events can heighten or diminish particular identities, showing the fluidity of identity among children of migrants.
While critical macro-level events certainly play a crucial part in instigating children of migrants’ activism, the internal, micro-level factors raise questions around how the interplay of internal and external environments act as drivers of activism. Helen (late-20s, female, Eritrea, Washington, D.C.) articulated this difference in describing how she felt pushed away from engaging in Eritrean politics due to the deep divisions within the diaspora.
For a long time, I felt like I wanted to be a part of some type of community or organisation, but I couldn’t align myself with YPFDJ135. Then, when I looked at some of the opposition groups, I
also didn’t see myself represented in those groups either, and I couldn’t say that I identified with their political ideologies.
Helen’s experience demonstrates that the impact of such factors is not necessarily static, as despite having a negative association with Eritrea, her Eritrean identity was significant to driving her activism. Helen’s stance was made even more evident during a visit by the Eritrean President Isais Afewerki to the United Nations in New York in 2011. This was a turning point for Helen, as she watched the anger of the community’s opposing sides spill out onto the street in a confrontation between a young woman and an older man. Helen fit with neither group and, thus, wanted a space to articulate herself, her identities and her visions. That incident was to become the catalyst for the creation of a neutral space for the Eritrean diaspora, especially the second generation who did not want to engage in divisive Eritrean politics.
Critical events play an important role in galvanising children of migrants’ activism, but this does not mean such activism will focus on those issues. The Arab Spring136 in Egypt saw thousands
of protesters on the streets of cities across the country; this became the inspiration for Huda's (mid- 20s, female, Sudan, Washington, D.C.) engagement in activism. Huda lived in the Egyptian capital,
135 The Young People's Front for Democracy and Justice (YPFDJ).
136 The Arab Spring was a series of pro-democracy uprisings that enveloped several largely Muslim countries, including Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Bahrain. The events in these nations generally began in the spring of 2011, which led to the name (Lotan et al, 2011).
Cairo, during the revolution, but as a Sudanese diaspora, she did not feel she could take part. However, the effects of the Arab Spring remained with her, and when protests broke out in Sudan in 2011137, Huda wanted to be involved. Although she felt somewhat disconnected from the narrative
of fighting injustice in Sudan, as she did not live these struggles, Huda utilised her transnational space to support Sudanese refugees in Egypt.
I was in Egypt around the time of the revolution, but I didn’t really contribute to that. But when I went to Sudan there were protests happening, so I went out to see, I wanted to get a feel of what everyone was fighting for, the patriotism and everything. Then I knew I could understand people’s struggles more when I went to Egypt. I worked more with Sudanese [based in Egypt] who were persecuted in Sudan. They had things happening to them in Sudan, so I was able to understand more [about] people’s struggles, the systems, the brutality, and everything.
Building on her experience working with Sudanese refugees in Egypt, Huda continued to engage in activism when she moved to Washington, D.C. She used the knowledge acquired in Egypt to focus her efforts on changing US foreign policy towards Sudan.
The interplay of identities and motivation with critical events shows that such scenarios are complicated. Children of migrants must navigate multiple identities, which can be both advantageous – as they connect to different spaces – and make them feel like outsiders or imposters, whether concerning countries of settlement or origin. Huda and other participants were able to identify and navigate these often complicated scenarios and spaces, as they saw the added value of being transnational and bringing their skills and values to causes. Thus, critical events ignite elements of children of migrants’ identities that become the motivators of their activism.
In conclusion, a degree of receptiveness is required before a critical event can ignite activism in children of migrants. Moreover, with multiple identities, children of migrants are more likely than their peers in either countries of settlement or origin to engage in activism, as they are connected to multiple sites and thus affected and influenced by more diverse issues. It can be true that critical
137 In early 2011 protests broke out in Sudan, were settled, and began again in 2012 and 2013 (Medani, 2011 and Human Rights Watch, 2013).
events, whether negative or positive, can force identities or intergenerational memories to manifest much more strongly, spurring the drive for engagement in activism. However, this does not mean all children of migrants are activists; there are many who make a different choice. What these findings do suggest, nonetheless, is that children of migrants are more likely to engage in activism, by virtue of their multiple identities and connections with various geographical sites.
6.4. Conclusion
This chapter looked at what motivates children of migrants to engage in activism, and yielded several key findings. Noteworthy among these findings is that children of migrants’ activism does not always focus countries of settlement or origin, it can also focus on third countries or regions. This challenges the framing of migrant activism within the confines of settlement and origin countries only, as activism among children of migrants including third countries. Moreover, this was central to the finding that children of migrants draw motivation for their activism from origin countries, but can direct it toward other sites.
Other key findings include the prominent role of trauma in shaping children of migrants’ activism, which revealed the interconnectedness and significant degree of reciprocity between how children of migrants view and comprehend the interplay of their relationship with the society of