Supervisor: Dr George Kokkinidis

Topic: In the Vortex of Capitalism: A Comparative Study of Refugee and Migrant Workers’ Resistance and Organisation in Cyprus

Brief Description: This study examines how refugees and migrant workers in Cyprus develop everyday forms of resistance in response to the precarious labour conditions shaped by neoliberal governance and strict migration regimes. It situates the Cypriot context within broader structural processes through which neoliberalism individualises responsibility, erodes collective rights, and normalises the portrayal of vulnerable groups as security risks. In the absence of active trade unions or migrant-led organizations, and in a context where legal status determines all aspects of social, political and economic participation, resistance tends to unfold informally and outside institutional channels. Within this legal and organisational vacuum, migrant and refugee labour becomes simultaneously indispensable, expendable, and tightly regulated.

Drawing on case studies from both ends of the labour spectrum, from low-wage, manual jobs (such as the couriers, domestic workers and construction workers) to highly skilled migrant professionals, the study explores how migrants and refugees navigate marginalisation, how they “organise without organisations”, and how collective practices emerge despite isolation, fear, and institutional neglect. By tracing these subtle, everyday strategies, the research seeks to broaden understandings of resistance beyond formal unionism and to illuminate how alternative modes of organisation challenge or negotiate neoliberal forms of labour control.