Testimonies of Informal Solidarity Along Migrant Routes

Five testimonies from young sub-Saharan migrants who have travelled through Libya shed light on the largely under-researched aspect of solidarity that is here called informal solidarity. In the migration and border studies literature, solidarity is mostly understood as aid provided from external actors, such as nongovernmental or international organizations, activists, local/national/international authorities, and the media, who act in more or less formal and organized frameworks. Informal solidarity instead materializes in two distinct categories of small-scale acts. One includes endogenous, mutual support among migrants, who help each other inside and outside detention by sharing housing, food, smartphones, information, and more. The other includes unexpected aid from external actors, such as bus drivers, employers, and passersby, whom migrants happen to come across in their trajectories.