Covid-19 has increased the disparities between the global North and the global South. According to the UN - by the end 0f 2022 - 800 million more people in the South will be under the poverty line. In the pandemic the poorest of the poor, the most marginalized, the subaltern are not even seen as “rural data” (Spivak 1999). Many deaths of the subalterns remain undocumented and many in remote rural areas and urban slums are rendered into invisibility. Consequently, the space for organizational learning is diminishing. In the global North the strict regulations on border crossings have not stopped migration to Europe. In November 2021 as many refugees have arrived in Lithuania and Poland as in Greece in the year 2015. Even in Europe, the subaltern are made invisible, living in crowded camps and enduring dehumanizing conditions. The refugee camps can neither be seen as living space nor as a space for learning. Residents, already stuck in limbo, are also made invisible in society. In addition, due to infection protection measures, they are cut off from learning processes. However, the paper argues that even a global “crisis” like Covid-19 can open up avenues for organizational learning that gives recognition to refugees. In the first part, the paper discusses concepts of organizational learning in confined educational spaces. Then, it provides an example of organizational intervention with state actors, civil society actors, academic institutions and student learners that initiates learning processes. The paper eloborates on how these processes lead to empowerment and self-determination of refugees. Finally, the findings are being contextualized in the large discourse on organizational learning that aims to stem the increasing gap between the global North and the global South.
