Exposing Fortress Europe? The role of the University

WHO?

José Bautista

WHAT?

Our goal during this summative session on Migration is to plan direct involvement, as university members, in the fight against the migration control industry and the externalisation of EU border controls. With the help of an independent investigative journalist from Spain, we shall discuss how migration control mechanisms are sustained by political fear-mongering and public spending, maintained through EU regulations, and promoted by academia. In line with the 2024 EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum, democratic governments with connections to authoritarian regimes, universities, corporations and large NGOs work together to support a model based on detention, deportation and externalisation. We shall also revisit questions and perspectives explored during our roundtable on Political Humanitarianism, the Mediterranean and Border Violence, with the practical purpose of creating an action plan that university members can use, in collaboration with activists, journalists, and members of civil society, to work towards alternatives to these models.

About the speaker

José Bautista is an independent investigative journalist based in Spain and specialized in economics migrations. He leads the investigative journalism team at Fundación porCausa, and also works for The New York Times and Der Spiegel. Bautista has worked for other media outlets and organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, Público, La Marea, Agencia EFE, El País, El Confidencial, Lighthouse Reports, OCCRP, Folha de São Paulo, eldiario.es, and CEPAL, among others. He holds a double master ‘s degree at Sorbonne Paris and the ESCP Business School.