As part of the ongoing collaboration between the Laboratory of Collective Action and Social Movements (LaCASMo) of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Aegean and the Department of Social Work at the University of Würzburg, the 5th International Symposium titled “Colonial Wars, Racial Hierarchies and Mobility in the 21st Century” will take place on Thursday and Friday, September 17 and 18, 2026, in the Auditorium ΓΕΩ Ε‘ of the Geography building.

The new Pact on Migration and Asylum shifts the pressure for controlling population movement to countries outside the EU borders. Since 2016 the brutality of extensive pushbacks and the detention of People on the Move on EU soil, have evidently been practices incompatible with the narrative of a democratic and liberal Europe being the champion of human rights. The solution to this now decade-long problem has been found through the establishment of neo-colonial agreements between the EU and states such as Libya, Rwanda, or Morocco, turning the latter into international contractors of border violence.

The almost unapologetic return of Europe to its colonial past is not merely a tragic realization or a critical slogan-like commentary. On the contrary, it calls the international scientific community to a state of alert regarding the understanding of the complex processes of dependency and control prevailing especially in the African continent.

Within this framework of reflection, this year’s International Symposium will host presentations from academics from Iraq, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Canada, attempting in this way to compose an international field of understanding and interpretation of these extremely concerning developments.

The event will be conducted in English.

Nikos Xypolytas
Assistant Professor
Laboratory of Collective Action and Social Movements
Department of Sociology
University of the Aegean