Giacomo Orsini and Laura Gazas

Hello everybody!

Last week we were lucky enough to listen to two speakers: Giacomo Orsini and Laura Gazas in the Integration in the Different Fields class.

They were very interesting sessions. We learned about racism and institutional racism. We were introduced to their different trajectories, a theoretical framework based on security and much more.

The once of the italian speaker was on how institutional racism affects migrants in Europe, especially regarding family reunification in Belgium. It explains that since the 1980s, migration has been trated as a security issue, leading to stricter laws that often discriminate against non- European migrants.

It was fascinating and we discussed many different topics related to the institutional racism.

I would like to highlight this sentence: "The securitization of migration in Belgium: from laissez-faire to restrictions".

What do you think about it?

I think it is interesting because it indicates a significant shift of Belgium´s approach to migration, moving from a more relaxed and open stance to one that emphasizes security and control.

I believe this shift raises important concerns about the potentital marginalization of migrant communities. And it also underscores the necessity for a border discussion on how such policies impact not only migrants but society as a whole.

Laura Gazas class was about colonization and NGOs. She told us that colonization often brought with it racism attitudes, as colonizers considered their culture to be superior and dehumanized indigenous people.

She also told us that this led to the exploitation and marginalization of many communities. Racism became a ustification for treating people of different ethnicities as inferior.

Finally, we were talking about the fact that today, many NOGs are working to combat racism and its lingering effects. So, while colonization fostered racism, NGOs are trying to heal those wounds and promote a fairer world.

I hope you have learned interesting things from this post and that it hasn´t been too boring. As always, here you have some pictures and videos.

See you in the next one!