Rediscovering the Trans-national Migration of Truck Drivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

This research aims to understand the daily life of professional truck drivers on the East-West European route, including the harsh situations derived from the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, I will conduct specific case studies, participant observation on-site and on social media, and semi-structured interviews with Romanian truck drivers. Social media represents a principal field of the present research as, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, they functioned as recruiting platforms while also providing specific psychological support through Facebook groups' members. I will analyse public Facebook groups consisting of Romanian immigrants in Germany and groups of truck drivers Soferi de tir pe comunitate, Comunitatea română din Germania, Romani in Baden Württemberg, Romani in Stuttgart, Dreptul muncii în Germania de la A la Z. Concepts of biopower and biopolitics represented on the course of the SARS-CoV-2 the starting point for a series of discriminatory attitudes towards people working or travelling to other European states. Thus, analyzing official Romanian authorities' Facebook pages and online press trusts (Digi24, HotNews, Antena3, Deutsche Welle, Bild, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit), we observe that truck drivers represent a category highly affected by the medical emergency and how it has been approached both in the home and the target country. Truck drivers became civic activists, a voice of people who are poorly treated at their workplace, manifesting themselves most notably in the online environment. However, they also took action physically by organizing protest movements and violating the law through not obeying pandemic-related measures imposed by the biopower represented by the national authorities.