Advocating on Immigrants’ Rights

The main aim of this research was the exploration of the campaigning strategies applied by Generation 2.0 RED, the official organization representing the youngsters of migrant background in Greece. The focus of this project was the campaign “Equal Citizens: There are More Greeks Like Me” that claims the right of children born and/or raised in Greece, counting at the moment up to 200.000, to be accepted as full and equal citizens, being granted the Greek citizenship. Taking into consideration the alleged anti-immigrant sentiments and the increase of racism and xenophobia in Europe and Greece, due to the current social and economic crisis, this research aimed to uncover the media strategies and the novel “marketing” rhetoric of Generation 2.0 RED. Ethnographic fieldwork and critical discourse analysis, employed to nineteen documents, were used to discover the implicit ideological meanings of the organization’s discourse, their approach on the main challenged notion of citizenship, and the media strategies they employ for the promotion of the campaign. Findings suggest that, with regard to the discursive choices, Generation 2.0 RED adopts a universalistic and democratic approach on citizenship, addressing the issue in terms of belonging and perceiving the notion as status and practice, that are mutually depended. The campaign’s discourse is based on the notions of rights, equality and diversity, avoiding negative language that would victimize children of migrant background and accuse others of being racist. They re-introduce the second generation and offer an alternative terminology that illustrates children of migrant background in a positive way and emphasizes their ties with the Greek society. In respect to the media strategies employed for the promotion of the campaign, the organization rejects grievance as a useful way of attracting media attention and opts for strategic networking with immigrants’ communities and journalists, rational argumentation and positivity, drawing a novel case of activism and campaigning.