[-empyre-] : Across borders and networks: migrants, asylum seekers, or refugee?

[Johannes Birringer]

Dear all, 

Header:  it actually would make sense to track back to opening statement for this month. For me, it raised many questions, for example what the 'networked existence' of a refugee or migrant or asylum seeker is meant to denote, in the question/ proposition? And Babak, Huub, Ricardo - do you not eloquently evoke a crisis of the from, not the to, the issue of why people are fleeing?   Have we discussed the wars?

Well, Ana, what would hands on discussion be for you? 

I really appreciated all posts, and I found Christina's painting very powerful, maybe because I saw it on the  same day that someone, accidentally (and yes I despise superbowls and police Kettling/enclosures,  and huge movies that strive  to awe us, like The Revenant), sent me a mapping of the US in the 18th and 19th centuries of annexation and theft of millions of acres of native American lands, the map was created by Claudio Saunt, more about that mapping tomorrow. (and i hate the mumbling of native american languages in The Revenant). 
Today, I marvel at what Ana means by the callosity of poetry, is it callous or cynical to draw, to make dance, to write, to sing? and what exactly is political activism in the era of post democracy? What are border tools and apps that won't be available to the  migrant from Bolivia or Honduras making her way up to Mexico and then Texas? How long do your phones and laptop batteries last for the poetry to kick in? Would she are what you call her and definebher as, would we a voice here from the ones talked about?  And then, writers and researchers, at the limits of language (as Christina and Irina pointed out), artists, scholars and activists - what do we chat about here, then?

Regards
Johannes Birringer