Migration and the Contested Politics of Justice: Europe and the Global Dimension by Giorgio Grappi

Author:Giorgio Grappi [Grappi, Giorgio]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, World, European
ISBN: 9781000392746
Google: BMwqEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 56187139
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-05-19T11:13:09+00:00

7Towards an aerial geography of forced migration1

William Walters

Deportation on the London Underground

On December 18, 2018, travellers on parts of the London Underground – known colloquially as the Tube – were confronted with an unusual poster (see Figure 7.1). Where normally a glance upwards from their mobile phones would have exposed them to advertisements for hair replacement therapies, foreign language courses, or, indeed, cheaper data plans, on this day some commuters would have encountered the poster shown above. Playing on Transport for London's “See it, say it, sorted” public information campaign – an initiative designed to mobilize travellers to identify and report suspicious activities – this poster alerts passengers to ways in which they can intervene to stop deportations. Not only that, by borrowing the colours and logo of British Airways, the poster also drew attention to the pivotal role that one of the world's largest airlines plays in the deportation of illegalized people. The posters were the work of Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, an activist group that has staged a number of inventive protests concerning justice for migrants in the UK (LGSMigrants, 2018). On this occasion, their ad-hacking of the Tube had been timed to coincide with International Migrants Day. But if the day of the campaign was meaningful then so was the specific subway line on which the posters were covertly stuck. The one shown above is on the Piccadilly line which ends at Heathrow airport. Information about air travel is therefore common on this line. The poster would both have blended in with other air-oriented messaging while also, on closer inspection, radically jarring with that messaging's themes of safety, precaution and smooth international mobility. It is no surprise that the posters were quickly removed by the transport authorities. But their media flash would significantly outlast their actual time in the train carriages and extend their reach beyond the geography of the Tube. Picked up by mainstream as well as alternative media the ad-hacking campaign ensured that LGSMigrants generated widespread attention for its protest against the UK's deportations programme.

Figure 7.1One of a series of posters protesting UK deportations placed on the London Underground in December 2018 by the group Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants. (Photo courtesy of Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants)

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