I saw them
with my own eyes. We were on the highway between Athens in the south and
Thessaloniki to the north. At one point, we stopped to have a break.
And there we
saw them: They were milling around the Greek rest stop for buses: standing,
sitting, smoking, and eating. Though there were families present, many were
young men. Everyone had a cell phone. Arabic was often heard, though a South
Asian language may have been detected, too. They had come from the Greek
islands to Athens, now they paid 50 euros per person to be driven from the
Greek capital to the northern border. From there, they planned to make their
way to the rest of Europe.
Who were these
people? They are part of the biggest news story of the year. Hundreds of
thousands of migrants are flooding into Europe, with many having Germany and
Scandinavia in mind. What does this mean for the continent and the world?
Before
proceeding, the word ‘migrant’ is being used to denote someone on the move, be
they a refugee, asylum-seeker, or someone looking for a better life. ‘Refugee’ speaks
of someone fleeing their homeland because of trouble, war, and/or persecution.
A person deemed to be a refugee cannot be deported against their will back to
their homeland.
For our
purposes, we will use the word ‘migrant’ as the umbrella term for all the above
categories.
First, it
should be remembered that Europe has been visited with mass migration
throughout the centuries. With no natural barriers, it has happened on several
occasions that migrants and armies from the East have poured into Europe. With
60 million people worldwide in search of a new home, Europe’s prestige,
prosperity, and proximity to Asia and Africa make it a tempting target.
Why is there a
mass of migration today from the Middle East? Simple: Jihad is alive and well
in the Muslim world. From Nigeria to Pakistan, a low-level intra-Muslim world
war is raging. Look at Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Central
African Republic, Libya, and Mali. These places are in great turmoil and this
is sending migrants northward or westward. The worse place of all is Syria, and
its humanitarian tragedy has given Europe the incentive to open its doors wide
- if only for a moment.
The migrant
river towards Europe began to flood in mid-2015. Turkey has been housing the
majority of Syrian refugees, estimated to be 1.9 million. Neighbouring Greece
has been an iron door; erecting a fence and sending would-be migrants to camps
for processing. Then circumstances began to change:
1. Syria: With 250,000 killed, 10 million internally displaced
and 4 million externally, the chances of a peaceful, united, democratic Syria
in the near future is hopeless. With no end of the war in sight, this war is
the single-greatest impetus of the refugee crisis;
2. The Turkish Economy: The Turks do not allow Syrian
refugees to work legally; so when its economy began to decline, this pushed
migrants westward;
3.
Greece: The
rise of the ultra-left wing Syria Party of Alexis Tsipras closed down the
internment camps and released detainees; This means Greece is no longer a
stumbling block, but a stepping stone towards Europe;
4.
Angela Merkel: The German Chancellor offered temporary asylum to Syrian refugees and
said in general that migrants would be welcome. This was viewed as an open
invitation and many migrants have been crashing the doors down to get in;
5.
People smugglers: Up to 30,000 are involved in this ultra-lucrative practice. They have a
callous tract record of not caring about the safety of those who pay for their
services; this has led to many people drowning while in transit;
6.
Ayaan Kurdi: The
heart-breaking photo in September 2015 of 3 year old Syrian Kurdish boy Ayaan
Kurdi, whose lifeless body was laying on the beach, created a torrent of
emotion, putting pressure on besieged European governments to ‘do something’
about more migrants. Never mind that little thought was given about the cost or
ability to do so.
All these
factors mean that anywhere from 800,000 to 1,000,000 migrants could be heading
to Germany in 2015. Many are Syrians but Pakistanis, Afghanis, Eritreans, are
part of the mix.
In our next
blog, we will look at how we should respond to this headline-making phenomena.
In our first
part, we saw that a flood of migrants is pouring into Europe and learned some
of the reasons. Here, we want to consider how we should respond.
As a migrant
myself, the son of a migrant father, grandson of four migrant grandparents, and
with some of our family as former refugees, this topic is of great important to
me personally. Here are some thing to consider:
1.
Orderly & sustainable: There are those in the West who want unlimited immigration, replete
with immigration services and welfare benefits. This is simply unsustainable:
No country can take in everyone who wants refuge, not even the United States,
which is the Number One favoured haven of migrants worldwide. Healthy realism,
not ‘feel good’ rhetoric, is sorely needed;
2.
Economic opportunists Though no statistics are currently available, many of the would-be
migrants are young men, equipped with the best cell phones and money in the
bank. They are not refugees; they are migrants looking for a better
opportunity. Nevertheless, they are joining the flow of refugees while the door
to Europe is open. This is not necessarily bad in itself, however, when there
are limited ‘seats at the dinner table,’ economic opportunists are taking the
places of those who are truly needy;
3.
Minorities: In
the Middle East, minorities like Christians and Yazidis are the neediest of
all; yes, there are Muslim suffering in the Muslim world war. Yet you can be
sure if a Syrian or Iraqi Christian or Yazidi shows up on a Greek island, they
are genuine refugees in need of asylum; they have a valid reason for protection
and should be made a top priority. They will also be the quickest to assess;
4.
National sovereignty: Every nation has the right to screen migrants and turf out terrorists or
even opportunists, if they don’t meet the criteria as set out by the individual
nation; while national sovereignty still means anything, we need to respect
this;
5.
Take another look at multiculturalism: This dominant philosophy says that all cultures
are equally valid, benign, and beneficial; no one culture is better than
another. If this is the case, why do many migrants leave their own culture to
embrace the western version? Multiculturalism discourages assimilation of
migrants into the mainstream and views the prevailing Judeo-Christian culture
with contempt. On the other hand, America was renowned for its ‘melting pot’
concept, where migrants from China, Poland, Argentina, or wherever, blended int
and became ‘Americans.’ Don’t mix up multiculturalism with immigration - the
point being that genuine refugees and approved migrants should want to blend
into their new country, not build an impregnable enclave of the one they left?
6.
West is Best? Whenever
possible, it is best to keep refugees in their own culture zone; the
differences of an alien culture can be overwhelming. Many refugees would prefer
to return home if it were stable. The ever-increasing coarseness of western
culture could be grievously offensive to migrants from strongly
family-orientated and religious backgrounds, and nothing short of a revival can
stop this.
Handled
properly, migrants can help fuel economic growth and lift up sagging population
figures. Handled poorly, it can lead to social disunity and dysfunction.
It’s important
to ‘get it right,’ especially now.
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