The Socio-Political Mobilization of Ethno-Racial Minoritized Groups in Belgium: Between Fragmentation and Convergence

Over the past decades, the mobilization of migrants and ethno-racial minoritized groups in Europe has attracted increased scholarly attention. Yet, most of the literature has focused on the institutional political sphere, i.e. their mobilization in the electoral arena. Several scholars (Però & Solomos, 2010; Martiniello & Vintila, 2021, among others) have highlighted this research gap and the need for more empirical research on minorities’ political participation, while also arguing in favor of broadening the definition of minority and migrant politics.
Building on their critique, this paper aims to contribute to the scholarship on contemporary socio-political mobilizations of ethno-racial minoritized groups and migrants by bringing new insights on antiracist fights through which activists promote counter-hegemonic views on social inequalities linked to racialization processes, while addressing issues of power dynamics, belonging, and“vivre-ensemble”. To do so, the paper draws on an ethnographic research in francophone Belgium, a particularly relevant context characterized by increased societal diversity and a diversification of antiracist fights that remain understudied in the scholarly literature. The ethnography allows for an in-depth intersectional analysis of the patterns of convergence between different socio-political fights of ethno-racial minoritized groups, while also revealing processes of coalition formation and alliance building despite the current fragmentation of struggles within the anti-racist field.