Generational perspectives on homeland-oriented diasporic humanitarianism: Coptic, Assyrian and Iraqi Christian charities in the UK (original) (raw)
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Based on interviews with leaders of diaspora organizations providing aid to forced migrants now residing in Lebanon, Turkey, as well as those internally displaced inside Syria, this article addresses several unique advantages that Syrian diaspora nonprofit organizations offer in their efforts to aid such migrants in various Middle Eastern host states of the global South. Among these are: a strong motivation based on deep personal ties which cause diaspora members to be more resilient and less risk averse when working in difficult contexts in host states in the global South; a certain cultural competence and familiarity that make diaspora members adept at navigating complex legal and operational environments, particularly when diaspora members have experience living and working in the global South; and an ability to make use of informal accountability mechanisms derived from their social network ties which assist in identifying trustworthy partners and effective processes for providing aid. The article adds to research on diaspora philanthropy by empirically confirming the benefits of diaspora philanthropy found in the extant literature, and proposing future research comparing efforts of diaspora members based in the global South and those in the global North. It also contributes to the literature on third sector organizations and migration by examining Middle Eastern host states in the global South at a time when the vast majority of the literature focuses on very few high-income host countries of the global North (Garkisch et. al 2017).
Diaspora Organization in International Affairs (ed. Dijkzeul and Fauser), London and New York: Routledge, 2020
Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Syrian diaspora organisations (Dos) in Lebanon have been providing diverse forms of support, relief and assistance to Syrian refugees. Whether in areas which are difficult for international providers to access, or in major towns and cities where international actors including the UN, INGOs and state actors have been providing assistance, Syrian Diaspora Organisations (DO)s have played a vital role in providing support and relief to their Syrian fellows. At times, these DO initiatives have been actively funded by international donors or developed in formal partnership with UN agencies and INGOs, while in other contexts they take place on the margins of (or at times in ways that directly challenge) formal humanitarian aid structures. Against this backdrop, and based on long-standing research vis-à-vis local, national and international responses to displacement from Syria within Lebanon, this chapter examines the diverse roles that faith and secularism play in the initiatives developed by Syrian diaspora organisations based in Lebanon, exploring how and with what effect faith, religion, secularism (and secularist frameworks) relate to Syrian DOs’ relationships with different local, national and international actors, including Syrian refugees, members of host populations and diverse UN Agencies, NGOs and INGOs. Syrian DOs in Lebanon include organisations established and led by activists, ex-protesters, established Syrian migrant workers, and religious leaders who have ‘become’ relief providers since the crisis broke out. On the one hand, by drawing on interviews with members of a range of Syrian DOs in Lebanon, this chapter explores the personal and collective reasons behind the act of establishing these organisations. On the other hand, it will investigate the social roles played by secular and faith-based DO members who engage in relief work, and their contextual relationship with their international and secular counterparts. This is particularly important in light of the strong financial and political support that a core group of popular secular(ist) Syrian DOs have received from international donors/agencies. In contrast, faith-based diaspora organisations have often been viewed by members of the international community (both in the context of Syria and more broadly) as exiled communities that do not fulfil key international humanitarian principles such as neutrality, impartiality or universality as they are assumed to prioritise political or sectarian dimensions through providing assistance (only or primarily) to their co-nationals/co-ethnics. This secular-centric interpretation of the partialist nature of faith-motivated assistance remains particularly biased towards diaspora groups that mobilise within the global South, where the source of crisis supposedly lies. By providing examples from Beirut and from northern Lebanon, this chapter will show how DOs’ configuration and engagement with specific international and local communities have been changing since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria in 2011. By analysing the organisational configuration (including partnership models) and the forms of provision of these secular and faith-based DOs, we are particularly interested in examining how intra-community solidarity is (or is not) built within southern host societies through Syrian DOs’ initiatives – this is a dynamic that has received hardly any attention from scholars examining diaspora transnational endeavours. With the purpose of investigating the human and social geographies of such secular and faith-based DOs, our chapter aims to draw on lessons from anthropological, sociological, and IR studies, in a bid to construct a deeper understanding of secular and faith-based DO-led aid provision and their social impacts in settings of the global South which geographically (and geopolitically) neighbour new and ongoing crises.
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Middle Eastern Christians in Diaspora and their Political Activism towards Their Countries of Origin
Politické vedy/Political Sciences, 2019
A contemporary globalized world brought intensive research of diasporas and their connections to their countries of origin to social sciences. These two-way connections are economic, cultural and political. This text was focused on political activities. Transmigrants can be politically active or passive towards their homelands. Transmigrants are usually interested in the events in their homelands where their relatives still live. They benefit from modern technologies, and several authors speak about digital diasporas. These diasporas monitor persecution in their homelands. They establish organisations to boost their fundraising, inform the public and to lobby the governments, primarily in the West, and supranational institutions. The emergence of Middle Eastern Christian diaspora is connected with armed conflicts, religious or ethnic discrimination in the Middle East in the last two centuries. The decline of Christians in the Middle East relates to their massive emigration to Western countries. This article attempted to gather theoretical information about diaspora activism, bring some innovative typologies, present the general attitudes of Middle Eastern Christian transmigrants towards their homelands and show specific strategies of the Assyrian and Coptic Middle Eastern Christian stateless diasporas. The emphasis was put on the comparative method. The author identified various tactics and group opinions among Coptic transmigrants, represented most visibly by laical modernist and church traditionalists, while the Assyrian transmigrants are politically more coherent in criticizing governmental structures. However, members of both groups think they do their best to improve the living conditions of their coreligionists in the turbulent Middle East.