We’re all human
November 4, 2015
The Middle East has had problems for what seems like an eternity now. Ever since I was born they’ve had problems that they, nor the world as a whole, can fix. The people there have to go everyday with the worry of “will I be killed today?”
European countries made room for immigrants when immigration from the Middle East first started to happen a few months ago, but then decided that they couldn’t take in any more people. There were, and still are thousands of people fleeing their home countries trying to get to safety, but they are being turned away from the golden land of opportunities that they gave up everything for.
How could these countries do this? From my perspective, I can see how overcrowding becomes a problem and there aren’t enough resources to go around. I understand that even these well established first world countries can’t care for a sudden rush of millions of additional people.
A story that shocked me was one on 4-year-old Zain al-Abideen Majid, a syrian refugee that the New York Times told the story of in late October. Being so young in a country like Syria where all he’s ever known is conflict with no resolution made me think of all the other refugees trying to find a place to call home, while their homes are being destroyed.
He is four, yet he has traveled through many countries through the night with his entire family while they try to find a new place to live, away from all of the fighting in their home country. Over a two month time frame, they traveled through eight countries trying to get to their end destination in Sweden. They went through hard times, like being stranded in a train station with no idea how they were going to get where they were going.
As someone who has lived in the US her entire life, I have never had to worry about that. I never have to worry about my family members being killed due to small infractions such as having a short beard or having a child in my family kidnapped due to a distant relative’s mistake. I also never have to worry about my school being demolished all because of religious conflicts or being bombed as a warning sign for all of the people in my town so that they’ll behave.
Many of the citizens of the Middle Eastern countries, such as Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, have put up with these fears for too long. They are starting to immigrate to European countries, giving up literally everything they have just so they can have the peace of mind of knowing they won’t be killed that day.
They travel through the Mediterranean sea in inflatable boats with so many people on them that it’s a surprise they don’t sink. All of the people on these rafts are seeking asylum in European countries, mainly landing on Greece and Italy’s shores.
But these are human beings asking for help. They aren’t asking for anything major like a new house, car and great job; they’re asking for some of their peace of mind back. They’re asking for a safe place for them and their children to be and where they won’t get killed because of their beliefs.
From the viewpoint of the immigrant, if a country closed its doors on me when i desperately needed help, I would feel stranded. I would lose hope and feel like there was nowhere I could turn. From their point of view, they gave up everything to be where they are and they won’t even open the door for them.
I think that yes, countries should be able to say no, but they should also offer a solution to the problem. Instead of just closing their borders, the countries officials should say to the scared people looking for new beginning and tell them who is open and offer a way to get there.
I think instead of turning away millions of people in desperate need of help, the UN as a whole should set up some type of funds so that they can have hostels, food and their sanity back. They don’t have to be five star hostels, just a place where they can sleep and stay warm with their families.
This brings up the questions of where would all of this money come from, but I think that many countries would try their best to donate as much as they can, even if it’s food or blankets. Then, gradually, these countries can grant citizenship to all of the immigrants who sought help. They don’t have to do every single one at once, but steadily so that their countries can adapt food and shelter wise.
We are all different countries with different values, languages and ways of life, but in the end we’re all human. Being human means having to ask for help every once in awhile and we should all be more than willing to help, even if it’s only by offering a new solution.
Robert J. Armstrong • Nov 4, 2015 at 12:38 pm
“The Middle East has had problems for what seems like an eternity now. Ever since I was born they’ve had problems that [neither?] they, nor the world as a whole, can fix. The people there have to go everyday with the worry of ‘will I be killed today?'”
Ms. Lorentz, you start off immediately with a critical error in your understanding. Firstly, “the Middle East” is not a homogeneous region. The glittering city of Dubai is in the middle east. The people who allegedly live in constant fear are for the most part the people of Syria, who are currently held in the midst of a proxy war between Assad, backed by Russia; various rebel groups, backed by America; and ISIS, backed by Saudi Arabia and others. Furthermore, they are not immigrants pulled to Europe by hopes and dreams alone. Rather, they are refugees, pushed away by the tryst ripping apart their country. Again: these are Syrian refugees, not “immigrants from the Middle East.” Continuing on.
“European countries made room for immigrants when immigration from the Middle East first started to happen a few months ago, but then decided that they couldn’t take in any more people. There were, and still are thousands of people fleeing their home countries trying to get to safety, but they are being turned away from the golden land of opportunities that they gave up everything for.”
Just as the Middle East is not a homogeneous region, neither is Europe. Germany, France, and the Nordic countries have disproportionately taken the blows from the refugee crisis. Understand that “crisis” is not a term used lightly. Especially for workers, immigration is the norm in Europe, due to the EU’s open border policy. However, this policy is already unpopular in poorer communities due to the way that an expanded labor market reduces wages. Europe can handle regular immigration, but the big countries that serve as destinations for refugees cannot handle their sheer bulk. You claim to know that overcrowding is a problem, but you don’t understand that it’s a problem. This is like asking the entire population of Chicago’s suburbs to move to Chicago proper within a space of years.
“As someone who has lived in the US her entire life, I have never had to worry about that.”
Then why the fuck are you talking about it?
“They aren’t asking for anything major like a new house, car and great job; they’re asking for some of their peace of mind back.”
The problem is not that they aren’t entitled to peace of mind. The problem is that moving to their host countries entails them getting “a new house, car and great job”. Again, this is a matter of population growing faster than resources.
“I think that yes, countries should be able to say no, but they should also offer a solution to the problem. Instead of just closing their borders, the countries officials should say to the scared people looking for new beginning and tell them who is open and offer a way to get there.”
This is not a solution. Ironically, this is much of the cause. Smaller countries are unwilling to take on any refugees for various reasons, so they send them to Germany, France, and Scandinavia, who cannot take on the refugees. If Southern and Eastern Europe are unwilling to take on refugees, and now Northern Europe is unwilling too, then who receives them? The solution is not to encourage passing the problem around.
Then, you suggest that the UN set up a fund to help temporarily provide for the refugees. Per se this is not a problem. But you suggest this:
“This brings up the questions of where would all of this money come from, but I think that many countries would try their best to donate as much as they can, even if it’s food or blankets.”
This is idealism at its finest. Resources will not somehow sprout from the good and caring of the mythical Human Spirit. If someone donates, they donate as little as possible. When you see a homeless man begging for spare change, you do not give him a Benjamin. You fish around in your pockets for a dollar. Likewise, there is no reason to donate wealth to a cause of helping immigrants.
Even UN intervention and humanitarian nonsense is hardly a solution. It’s morphine in place of a tourniquet.
So, what could we do? Our first priority should not be finding a new home, it should rather be making sure what homes are left are left inhabitable. Armistices are in order. Russia doesn’t want to fight NATO doesn’t want to fight Kurdistan doesn’t want to fight ISIS. The simple act of demilitarizing Syria, at least as a temporary measure, will do wonders at stemming the flow of refugees. Recall that this is a proxy war! It can be stopped, easily!
What to do about the refugees who are already there? In times of a surplus of labor, public works projects have historically been a powerful tool for putting labor to use. This will not only keep refugees from disrupting the current labor market, but will also provide a chance for the refugees to grow their skills as workers and return home with useful skills. Indeed, these public works projects could GI towards creating public housing, which could not only house refugees temporarily but also lower the financial burden on housing once they leave.
Of course, public works as a means to revitalize the economy has been out of favor since Thatcher, whose political legacy Angela Merkel, de facto leader of the EU, carries on with a smile, but Frau Merkel would rather send them away anyways. Perhaps that could be the project of French or Nordic legislators.
The point of writing such a long comment is to make it clear that humanitarian idealism is not going to be the solution to the refugee crisis. The crisis in grounded in real events and real problems. Rather than trying to force a bleeding heart upon these nations, we need to understand why the crisis is so severe and attempt to fix the crisis.