The refugee crisis is considered in two main dimensions. On the one hand, it demonstrates that war has become the generalized condition of our time. More than an extraordinary event, the refugee crisis is a sign of the normalization of violence and inequality. In this regard, naming as a crisis the incessant increase of displacement is a way of legitimizing the constant violence in which large portions of the world population live, especially the poorest. The humanitarian foundation of the institution of refuge is inseparable from the global management of iniquity. In this first dimension, qualified as negative, the refuge regime, founded on a conception of always diminished life, is treated as a mechanism of control and docilization. Through the distinction and classification of refugees and migrants, life, rights and citizenship arise as scarce goods. On the other hand, without rejecting this tragedy, the affirmative dimension of the crisis is considered. In this perspective, the classifications established by states give way to the subjectivities produced by the fleeing subjects. They affirm the constitutive and ontological character of the escape: through survival, subjects in escape assert resistance as the foundation of life, giving, through their very struggle, value and dignity to life itself. Concomitant to the pain, negativity and violence, in escape there is a positive desire for freedom and democracy. Escaping subjects decide to flee because they want to live. This is not to deny the tragedy, but reclaim escape from emptiness and impotence.