Refugee situation / EU response - rolling news

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.

Also worth noting that the UK is the only country that can opt out of the scheme and did. Denmark and Ireland can opt out but didn't.

Also this is only to deal with the current numbers, not an ongoing solution.

Yes, which put Hungary in the strange position of voting against rules which would require them to take under 2000 refugees but would mean that 64,000 who are already in Hungary would be placed elsewhere.

Theresa May, the British home secretary, declared that “we need, as Europe, to get on with the job”, while stressing that the UK would not take part in any refugee-sharing scheme.

Mind boggling.

indefensible really

surely europe, as the OECD said yesterday, has the experience and capacity of rising to this challenge??

or you know, maybe not!

that's what i don't get about the immigration deniers, the keep-em-out crowd - surely the nation you love so much is strong enough, generous enough, flexible enough, robust enough to handle welcoming thousands of new workers, taxpayers, citizens?

and if not well maybe your country isn't quite as hot shit as you think it is!

mate we're full up. workers? scroungers more like. etc etc

Well, y'know, that's why anti-immigrant sentiment, and really, most types of racism, at least in Europe, flare up during tough times, as Europe has very much had since 2008. And why so much anti-immigrant sentiment comes from the working classes, under attack from globalization for decades, and in competition with these new people for the few remaining paychecks. Like, I don't want to defend them too much, they're racist assholes, but they're also already suffering from the globalized capitalist system.

But really, my response is that whether or not our beloved states are strong enough to survive the multi-culturalist future, they definitely aren't strong enough to keep refugees out, not without losing ourselves in the straight up fascist methods that would be needed. The job is to create a multiculturalist society that doesn't just result in lowered wages for the workers, and more exciting cuisine for the middle classes.

(xp) TINY ISLAND etc

the supply of jobs is not fixed! welcoming 50K immigrants would result in a LOT of shit needing to get built, staffed and supplied which..... wait for it....... CREATES JOBS!!?!2111eleven!!!11!

and just so we follow this full circle, the people in those jobs.... pay....... TAXES!!!!!!111!1!eleventy111!!!

but no, let's not borrow at historically low interest rates and gas prices to do this, that would be MADNESS

that's what i don't get about the immigration deniers

similarly the proudest american patriots who exalt their country above all else and whose goal is to transform out of all recognition

like, our country is the greatest. except it is so feeble that it can't grow and change. and if gay people marry each other it might fall apart. other than that though we are the HOTTEST SHIT

we are experiencing an unprecedented upheaval in the make-up of a country once united by ties of language, history, creed and patriotism don't forget

Not to mention immigrants are good for the growth of the all-sacred Small Businesses.

Over the last 20 years, the number of small businesses grew 58% – from 3.1 million to 4.9 million – and immigrants started about 540,000 of those, or about one-third, over that period. And more than half don’t even have a college degree.

http://business.time.com/2012/06/15/immigrants-outpacing-the-rest-of-us-in-small-business-ownership/

The aging German population is one of the reasons the government has been so keen to bring more people in.

It's going to be substantially worse in CEU if they are not going to be open to any immigration. Everyone talks about the decline of the Russian birth rate as having reached crisis point but it's higher than every EU accession country in the region. They have also probably lost 5-10% of their populations to intra-EU emigration in the last ten years and that's not likely to stop any time soon. It's a demographic nightmare.

A small indication of some of the 'astonishing and grotesque' barriers put in the way of those trying to start a new life in the uk:

https://www.freemovement.org.uk/approach-of-home-office-to-nationality-case-astonishing-and-grotesque-rules-high-court/

Still happening daily this, just not getting anywhere near the top of the news. http://news.yahoo.com/38-missing-aegean-migrant-boat-sinking-102457060.html

At Least 18 Asylum Seekers Are Tied to New Year’s Eve Assault in Cologne
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/09/world/europe/cologne-new-years-eve-attacks.html

The good news is, there's a massive feminist backlash against people making this a race issue. Massive as in "crowds of young women standing around in public spaces, having spontaneous debates concerning the menfolk." Because if it hadn't been for the theft and pigmentation, the victims would have been expected to laugh it off.

It was my impression that the victims were being expected to laugh it off because and not despite of the "pigmentation" involved. It's a very inconvenient story for Merkel's policy goals.

The reporting on this "assault" -- which is basically a series of unrelated crimes in the middle of a shitshow near the Bahnhof and made possible by some very shitty policing and crowd control -- has been awful. I have yet to read an entirely coherent description of the night's events -- much contradiction everywhere, including what the police say and what has been attributed to police sources. The Pegida crowd of course attributed reticence to report on an as-yet-unclear story as part of the massive Gutmenschen media conspiracy to thrust Sharia law upon us, and the media has since been responding as stupidly as you'd expect.

I don't think you need a Sharia law conspiracy to understand motivations to ignore this story -- they aren't trying to establish Sharia Law but Merkel does believe that bringing refugees into the country is both a compassionate policy and a productive one. This kind of thing undermines that policy. You don't need to be a conspiracy monger to understand why this might be an inconvenient story.

And it's not a coincidence that at least 18 asylum seekers were tied to the assault. They are coming from a region where the oppression of women is pandemic. You can't bring in a large number of people from a vastly different culture w/ vastly different values and then act surprised when they don't immediately sign onto egalitarian Western values. It's not a series of unrelated crimes (which isn't to say there's a refugee conspiracy) and it's not the fault of the police and crowd control. That's just more shifting the blame to avoid the awkward facts.

xxxpost - This was p much business as usual for a NYE, groping, rape and all. Only news is, they weren't drunk white guys.

Egalitarianism does not apply to girls in Germany btw. Pretty much everyone accepted this until NYE.

Acc to the NYT German police called this an unprecedented number of reports for NYE.

Taking advantage of the New Year’s Eve street party, hundreds of young men broke into groups and formed rings around young women, refusing to let them escape, the authorities said. Some groped victims while others stole wallets or cellphones.

Witnesses described the atmosphere around the city’s central train station as aggressive and threatening, with firecrackers being thrown into the crowd. The women who were attacked screamed and tried to fight their way free, a man who had struggled to protect his girlfriend told German public television.

The Cologne police added that they had received 90 complaints from victims, including one who said she had been raped. No arrests have been made.

like if this is a normal NYE in Germany the country is far more fucked than i realized