Mobilising Against Racism in Contentious Times: Context, Challenges, and Coalition Dynamics

This communication explores how the current political context has influenced anti-racist civil society in French-speaking Belgium, and its relationships with migrant-related causes. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between June 2022 and March 2025 with anti-racist activists across the Brussels and Wallonia regions.
In the run-up to the 2024 elections, many activists expressed apprehension about a tightening political climate. These fears were confirmed by the February 2025 government agreements under the new De Wever government, which marked a sharp acceleration in neoliberal policies coupled with authoritarian shifts in areas such as policing, justice, defence, and asylum and migration (Evrard & Piron, 2025). Against the broader backdrop of the far right’s rise and mainstreaming (Corcuff, 2021) across Europe, including in Belgium, civil society associations have encountered structural constraints, significant challenges, and new stakes.
The objectives of this communication are twofold. First, it analyses how these contentious times have impacted anti-racist mobilisations in French-speaking Belgium. Activists report facing shrinking civic spaces, growing repression, criminalisation of activism, and reduced access to resources. Second, it interrogates the ambivalent relationship between anti-racist struggles and causes for and of migrants. It explores how the current context reshapes these relationships, and what possibilities remain for coalition-building. These analyses are situated within the sociology of collective action.