Refugee situation / EU response - rolling news

Why are there so many people coming from the Balkans at this point in time?

political instability in most of the non-EU Balkan countries plus unresolved tensions caused by the wars in the former Yugoslavia plus established traditions of emigration to western Europe

The whole region has been unsettled this year but a lot of the push from Kosovo and Albania has been economic - Germany has traditionally not see Kosovo as a safe country so wouldn't deport people back there, though this has changed in the last few weeks.

The majority of people from Serbia who go to Germany are Roma who argue that racism and endemic poverty give cause for claims of refuge, though the German and Serbian governments disagree. I would guess that the increase in number of refugees making the same passage makes it easier for others to go too - if they were being waved through checkpoints, etc.

Big hearted Britain

― Fields of Fat Henry (Tom D.), Monday, September 7, 2015 12:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh tom, why the hell did i read the comments to your link?

In Germany, for instance, a rapidly aging population is becoming increasingly aware of the need to welcome foreigners.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/08/this-map-helps-explain-why-some-european-countries-reject-refugees-and-others-love-them/

The article talks about demographics, economies, and morals/ethics...

A call for communism to sort this out once and for all:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n18/slavoj-zizek/the-non-existence-of-norway

The greatest hypocrites are those who call for open borders. They know very well this will never happen

But dreaming of communism is just fine.

Got the govt's response to the '“Accept more asylum seekers' petition today. The take-home message:

Those who have already reached Europe are no longer in immediate danger and the European countries in which they arrive have a duty to provide adequate protection and support to refugees within their territory.

It is not inherently racist or proto-fascist for host populations to talk of protecting their ‘way of life’

It's a bit early for me - can't quite think of an example where doing this wasn't either of those things...

This has always been used by idiots. I never really understood that notion anyway.

We should avoid getting trapped in the liberal self-interrogation, ‘How much tolerance can we afford?’ Should we tolerate migrants who prevent their children going to state schools; who force their women to dress and behave in a certain way; who arrange their children’s marriages; who discriminate against homosexuals?

I don't know anyone who thinks like this. Maybe I don't read the correct loony-left blogs but this seems like a total non problem.

Who fucking asked Zizek anyway?

(Is a question that can be applied to many issues, I find)

The LRB, I assume, but cosign nonetheless.

Right wing populists the Swedish Democrats, who may now become the biggest party, are exploiting people’s worries about the end of the welfare state. The leader tweeted “The election is a choice between mass immigration and welfare. You choose.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/26/scandinavia-far-right-stolen-left-ground-welfare

I don't know anyone who thinks like this. Maybe I don't read the correct loony-left blogs but this seems like a total non problem.

That line seemed to be conflating several things - what the right-wing seem to think an effect of multiculturalism was, and then the international left's distrust/hatred of liberals. xp

Reading Zizek and Taylor Parkes' piece on Corbyn back-to-back yesterday was "one for the ages", as its sometime said.

I thought there were a lot of interesting points in Zizek's approach.

It is not inherently racist or proto-fascist for host populations to talk of protecting their ‘way of life’: this notion must be abandoned. If it is not, the way will be clear for the forward march of anti-immigration sentiment in Europe whose latest manifestation is in Sweden, where according to the latest polling the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats have overtaken the Social Democrats as the country’s most popular party. The standard left-liberal line on this is an arrogant moralism: the moment we give any credence to the idea of ‘protecting our way of life’, we compromise our position, since we’re merely proposing a more modest version of what anti-immigrant populists openly advocate. And this is indeed the cautious approach that centrist parties have adopted in recent years. They reject the open racism of anti-immigrant populists, but at the same time profess that they ‘understand the concerns’ of ordinary people, and so enact a more ‘rational’ anti-immigration policy.

But what does this mean? Is there no way of avoiding immmigration and no way of life to protect?

Immigration IS a way of life and the only one worth protecting.

if a "way of life" can't accommodate change then chances are that it is pretty rubbish

Morris Dancing RIP

I read that as Morris Dancing MP, I thought what constituency does he represent?

Hitchin & Bitchin

the U.S. has admitted only 1,500 since the war started four years ago

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/09/obama-propose-higher-refugee-ceiling-syrian/71948318/

Refugee relief groups have called on the United States to allow as many as 65,000 Syrian refugees in the United States

"The greatest hypocrites are those who call for open borders. They know very well this will never happen"

But dreaming of communism is just fine.

Why isnt it? He's calling for alternatives to global capitalism. The liberal faux moral high ground isnt going to provide any.

the world and her dog are calling for alternatives to global capitalism. i don't see why zizek's moral high ground is any less faux.

^

A reply: https://samkriss.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/building-norway-a-critique-of-slavoj-zizek/

Germany has reintroduced controls at the Austrian border.

https://twitter.com/DanAmira/status/643503538065272832

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34275400

Hungary using water cannon and tear gas against refugees now. Serbia is sending police and medics to protect them at the border and says it'll never erect fences to keep people fleeing violence out. Victor Ponta, Prime Minister of Romania, has said Orban's measures bring “shame to the culture and values of the European Union.”

Seems to be a concerted effort on the side of Poland to push their position in the Western press at the moment:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/16/eastern-european-migrants-refugees-selfish

Marcin Zaborowski talking about "creating safe havens within Syria" (!) for them to stay and Jacek Rostowski, former deputy Prime Minister indicating that they should all stop in Greece / Malta / Italy:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/606bf3ec-5b07-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html#axzz3lyjkzIpf

my uni announced we're going to host 100 syrian refugee students for their 3 years toward a licence, with Qatar picking up the bill at 600,000 euros per year. I guess that's one way Gulf states can handle their consciences.

Its encouraging to see Hungary being shamed by other Eastern countries. The European Union not being as harsh on Hungary as they were with Greece when not dealing with payments.

Bet Eastern Euro have a better infrastructure than Lebanon. xp

This is great:

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3266/spanish-football/2015/09/16/15434232/refugee-tripped-by-hungarian-reporter-to-coach-in-getafe

The guy who was tripped up by the Hungarian camerawoman while carrying his son was previously a Premier League coach in Syria and has been offered a job to work with Getafe.

This is what's confusing people: The idea that refugees could be people with capabilities and strengths, as opposed to starving, skinny, etc.

As soon as the winner of "Syria's Got Talent" turns up, well...

Serbia getting good publicity for the first time in... well, possibly ever. Good job there, Hungary.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/16/refugee-crisis-hit-uk-working-class-powerless

"We must not turn on each other". No thanks. Remaining silent on racism - whether its by the members of the working class or not - doesn't help. The widow in the parable gives without resentment so its insertion in the piece is confused.

Why not look at what a change of reality would look like instead of accepting it, or is that a stretch of imagination?

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/10/the-stunning-hypocrisy-of-mitteleuropa-refugees-poland-hungary-czech-republic/

Interesting piece that looks at this from all sides.

Counterintuitive as it may be, the periods of emigration and the tragedies that triggered them may be part of the reason that the Central Europeans feel entitled to refuse refugees from elsewhere. There is a prevailing attitude in the region that these countries have suffered enough at the hands of history — that they are small, poor nations that have gotten the short end of the stick so many times that they’re still entitled to think of themselves as victims. Now, just when they’re getting back on their feet, they feel they should be able to look out for themselves.

Given the fraught atmosphere in Central Europe at the moment, it would in fact be a grave mistake for the EU to force these countries to accept unwanted refugees. This would put the newcomers themselves in danger. If reluctant governments, as outspoken as they’ve been, are muscled into it, there’d be a green light for right-wingers and populists to abuse the new arrivals. There’d be shelters burned down within a week, just as happened in eastern Germany in the early 1990s. (Refugee shelters still burn in Germany today, but anti-foreigner sentiment remains on the margins of public opinion, not smack in the center.)

But there could be voluntary quotas for all of the EU’s 28 countries: higher than those currently proposed, with provisions for EU aid for countries with lower-than-average GDPs that take in refugees. The money would enable the leaderships of these countries to put a positive spin on accommodating those in need. There shouldn’t be penalties attached to noncompliance — but the lack of empathy shouldn’t be forgotten when it comes time that these nay-sayers are in need, either.

Contradicting some of what I said earlier - still really maddening.

"Poland, Christ of Nations" complex strikes again.

Anti-migrant sentiment hardly seems "on the margins" of German society and it was only a concerted effort from the government that started to turn the tide in a more positive direction. It's not about money so no amount of assistance from Western Europe is likely to change things. For the most part, it's about keeping nations white and Christian in the face of new European realities.

And on that note, locals in Jelena Gora called the police on a group of suspicious brown people they thought had been smuggled across the border illegally. They were tourists from Malta:

http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/artykul/8014001,zobaczyl-uchodzcow-wezwal-policje-a-to-turysci-z-malty,id,t.html?cookie=1

There has a lot more pro-migrant talk and sympathy in Germany than I'm seeing from Eastern Europe.

Get the feeling if politicians took a lead in a more positive direction in Poland and Czech republic it would be bad for them.

I think there's a danger of overstating how welcoming Germany was before Merkel's massive effort to make a moral case for taking refugees and underestimating how uneasy a lot of people still are now, but i agree it seems a lot warmer than most places in comparison. I don't think it would be as warm without Merkel's moral leadership, though.

It's not as though CEU leaders have simply failed to push for greater acceptance, in many cases they've actively campaigned against with lies and hostile misinformation. Claiming that 95% of refugees are actually economic migrants or that the European way of life faces an existential threat goes beyond failing to accentuate the positive in the face of public scepticism.

It's not a case of one isolated policy, though, it's in the DNA of post-Soviet politics in lots of countries in the region across a wide spectrum of issues. There is no credible centre-left and little break on exclusionary nationalism, sectarianism and radical individualism. Expecting them to do any different in a political climate twenty years in the making is probably unrealistic but damn them anyway.

Yes there are causes to a lot of this and yet how far do you go? Its like the piece I linked above trying to excuse racism, staying silent as bad incidents with newly arrived refugees are used to not take in anyone and help people fleeing persecution.

This is where politicians and leaders come in and set the record and stop looking at polls all the time. Merkel has indeed been good in providing that leadership.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/croatia-is-the-new-frontline-in-europes-refugee-crisis/2015/09/17/3723efc0-5c93-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html

A day earlier, thousands of men, women and children started to arrive in Croatia from Serbia after their old route was blocked by Hungary’s 108-mile-long border fence.

At first they were met with open arms and promises of help to speed them on their journey as many seek final haven in countries such as Germany and Sweden. But the friendly reception turned harsh — a measure of how the vast numbers of people fleeing war and poverty are quickly outstripping a divided Europe’s ability to accommodate them.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/europe/italy-migrants-christians-thrown-overboard/index.html

Rome (CNN) Muslims who were among migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy in a boat this week threw 12 fellow passengers overboard -- killing them -- because the 12 were Christians, Italian police said Thursday.

Italian authorities have arrested 15 people on suspicion of murdering the Christians at sea, police in Palermo, Sicily, said.

If it's not love then it's the foam that will bring us together.

quickly outstripping a divided Europe’s ability to accommodate them

I don't think it's a matter of inability.

.....good to know...?

If my understanding is correct, the entire EU hasn't yet absorbed as many Syrian refugees as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which is the size of Portugal and has a per capita GDP of $5,600 a year.

The EU has voted by majority to apply quotas for refugees - against the wishes of Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/22/eu-governments-divisive-quotas-deal-share-120000-refugees

The quota for the CEU accessions states is low - with the nine EU accession states being asked to take 15,000 between them out of a total of 120,000 - but it's still being furiously opposed. It looks like Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania will go along with it but Robert Fico, PM of Slovakia, has said that he'd rather be in violation of EU rules than accept refugees under the scheme. This is something of a change of tune given that he was one of the main cheerleaders for Greece being forced to follow the rules in the recent economic crisis. Fico's party is a member of the "Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats" in the EU parliament along with Labour and the French Socialists, btw.

Poland ended up siding with the rest of the EU in the end but as the Guardian article mentions, the government is almost certainly going to be voted out next month anyway to be replaced with the far-rightish Law And Justice Party.