Gemma Bird
Dr. Gemma Bird is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Liverpool. She is part of the IR_Aesthetics research project and works on migration along the Balkan route(s).
Fire destroys Moria refugee camp: another tragic wake-up call for the EU’s asylum policy
Fires at a reception centre for asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos have left thousands of people without shelter. Around 13,000 people – including those from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and west Africa – lived at the Moria Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) in a space intended for just… »
Bringing communities together through film: community cinema responses to COVID-19
Community cinemas across the UK play a valuable role in bringing communities together to engage with film, build relationships, combat loneliness, to educate. In times of physical distancing they, and their representative body Cinema For All have found new ways to continue this. The current Coronavirus pandemic is affecting us… »
Not everyone can travel home for Christmas
At this time of year often people talk of going home for the holidays, of travelling to see family and friends, and of spending time in places where they grew up, reminiscing about the past and discussing, or even arguing, about the present. At this time the topic of politics… »
Children alone amongst 6.000 refugees on Samos
On the 6th of November the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs welcomed the Minister of Citizen Protection in Greece to the European Parliament to discuss the Dublin Agreement and the conditions faced by refugees in Greece. As a part of this the Minister was asked questions about… »
Fire in Samos Refugee Camp
Last night there was a fire on the island of Samos, a fire that ripped through the temporary homes of human beings living in ‘the jungle’, the overfill space relied upon to house men, women and children in a Reception and Identification Centre that can no longer cope with the… »
More refugees arrive on Greek islands amid overcrowding and water shortages
The hotspots on the Greek islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros are struggling to manage an increase in the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey in recent months. Between January and August 2019, 25,590 people arrived by sea on the Greek islands, according… »
From Rome to Athens, squatting is under attack
In July of this year New Democracy came to power in Greece with a promise to crack down on immigration and the networks of solidarity surrounding refugees. In the last few weeks they have started to put this process into action suggesting that they are ‘cleaning up Exarcheia’, evicting… »
Changing vulnerabilities on Samos: Why young men are not always the least vulnerable refugees
Men between the ages of 18 and 39 are often assumed to be the most likely to survive troubling conditions in refugee reception centres. Drawing on recent research on the Greek island of Samos, Gemma Bird highlights that this is now always the case. Vulnerabilities are not fixed, and in environments… »
The best and worst of humanity, side by side in Samos
There is an island in the South Aegean Sea that, until a few years ago, was known only as a tourist destination, then it was the ‘Hotspot’ or Refugee Reception Centre that got ignored, and then, of late, the media arrived. The media arrived to tell the stories of the… »
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