Purpose

  • Understanding ways how the criminalization of solidarity operates through state and judicial practices
  • Sharpening personal lenses to recognize state and police violence
  • Reading legal texts with confidence and disrupting the inaccessibility of legalese

Method: Discussion

(in a human rights organization, in a classroom, at a coffee shop, round table, workshop, conference…) based on the analysis of a court ruling

Time: 90 minutes and possibly more

Materials

Guiding Questions for Analysis

Questions of Comprehension

  • What are the facts entailed in this ruling?
  • How this ruling relates to the Aliens Act and its provision on the criminalization of solidarity?
  • What is hidden in the ruling? What can we not read here? (personal motivation of Dragan, for instance)

Critical Questions

  • Why does the Aliens Act not protect Dragan UmičeviΔ‡? What kind of message are the courts delivering with this ruling?
  • How does the criminalization of solidarity look like in this particular case? What are the consequences Dragan and Are you Syrious must bare?
  • Why is the criminalization of solidarity harmful broadly and not just for Dragan and Are You Syrious?
  • What are the ways to stand against such criminalization?
  • What are the ways that more groups and individuals can act similarly to Dragan and support migrants on their perilous journeys?