Resisting Deportation Live: Affective Witnessing and Recognition of Airplane Deportation Protests

The article examines mediated videos of three Nordic airplane-based anti-deportation protests, by Elin Ersson (July 2018, Sweden), Aino Pennanen (July 2018, Finland), and ‘Ahmed’ (August 2017, Finland). Visual and multimodal analysis reveals how mediated spectators beyond the immediate location are addressed and how the videos’ visual arrangements produce affective witnessing, identification, and thus attention among the intended viewers. Recording the events and circulating the footage figure as attempts to make the violence of deportation recognizable for the publics of the deporting society. Analysis reveals how visible and personified figureheads draw interest toward such mediatized protest, thereby also contributing to circulation and attention. The approach simultaneously facilitates reflection on the intersectional conditions for such protests’ public recognition: the videos’ visual arrangement alone is only one factor in protests’ recognition; intersectional conditions perceived in connection with the protesters’ (ethnicity, social status, race, gender, and language) played their own part in the formation of public awareness. The work also highlights that civil disobedience and livestreaming in selfie mode risk drawing attention to the protest methods and the protesters themselves rather than the grievances.