Ahead of World Refugee Day

 

If the past year and a half has been brutal for most, it has been several magnitudes of uglier for refugee populations. Imagine fleeing your country for fear of your life because of natural disasters, war, or violent social environment. Refugee crises have expanded because of climate change, civil wars, violent coups, and situations where families and individuals are threatened with execution for attempting to speak truth to power and to fight for change(1).

Let’s be clear: no one wants to be a refugee. However, few seem willing to show support to refugee populations, despite a majority around the world being in favor of allowing refugees into their countries(2). In so-called “developed” nations, we denigrate or dehumanize those fleeing political persecution or war. We turn them back at borders (3), we leave them adrift at sea (4), and this puts a lie to the values of inclusion and assistance we purport to believe in.

Recently, Vice-President Kamala Harris had a succinct message to Guatemalans who are seeking asylum in the United States: “Do not come”. (5) This is risible in the extreme since, in the broader scheme, almost all of the flights of refugees from Latin America are outcomes of U.S. foreign policy that continue to destabilize the region. Guatemala, especially, has suffered for decades as a result of U.S. involvement in their elections and manipulation of their government. Our policies of engagement dating back decades in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and frankly, Mexico – let alone much of South America – has continued to create hot zones of crushing despotism, civic unrest, drug production and trafficking and the resulting problems the War on Drugs creates, and more (6).

This is only one example of how the (again, “so-called”) developed nations of the world owe the refugees more than dismissal or a few supplies or shitty camps or detention centers to the displaced. There is no part of the world where destabilization and civil war is now taking place that does not have its origins in larger colonial/imperialist projects. From the Middle East to almost every African nation to Tibet and more, the flight of large populations from a region that was originally their home has been the result of larger, oppressive, and acquisitive powers. (7)

When we see people pleading for asylum, the question of “why don’t they stay in their own country and take care of their own problems?” dribbles forth from either ignorance or xenophobia or both. So much for charity and loving one’s fellow human beings. To the question’s point, though, however stupid it is, many of the people who do flee are doing so because the situation is untenable. Caught between rocks and hard places, typically lives are threatened or simply wiped out. There isn’t a “safe space for discussion”; those in power, at whatever level and scope, are only interested in exercising their will and it usually doesn’t include the words “according to the rule of law” or “according to the Charter for Human Rights”.

“Why, gee, some of my best friends are refugees”

I would much rather have met my friends from elsewhere – be it Vietnam, Tibet, Cambodia, Nicaragua, and others – in their own countries. Of course, that would assume the existence of a completely different world. One we do not live in.

Once again, the question of what we as individuals can do arises. There are quite a few things, actually. In the U.S., just about every city has a refugee organization, the UNHCR provides several ideas (8) for how you can help and at the very least, recognizing the origins of refugee flight in the patterns of history and often imperial foreign policies (take your pick: the U.S., the British Empire, France, The People’s Republic of China, etc.) goes a long way to providing context for another (dumb, frankly) question: “why are they coming here?”

Learn a little (9) about how capitalism and the lifestyle it affords you has contributed to the exploitation of the populations that arrive on your country’s doorstep/border.

I don’t accept the excuses that “we can’t afford more immigrants” as legitimate when a) we can (maybe take a little from the Pentagon and put it to human services like education, healthcare, and housing) and b) it flies in the face of assumed ideals of inclusion (particularly when couched in religious drag). Once again, though, the solutions start with each of us. If our values are all self-centered, there is no solution; if we value others, a large part of the solution is found.

Footnotes/sources:

1. Global Citizen. “5 Of The Biggest Reasons Why People Become Refugees” https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/reasons-why-people-become-refugees/.

Malim, Mohammed. "Biggest Causes Of A Refugee Crisis". Epimonia. https://epimonia.com/blogs/news/biggest-causes-of-a-refugee-crisis. November 1, 2019.

World Atlas. “What Are The Biggest Causes Of Refugee Crisis In The World?” https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-biggest-causes-of-refugee-crisis-in-the-world.html.

2. Dugan, Emily and Mulholland, Tara. "Safe havens in a hostile world – for 60 years". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/safe-havens-hostile-world-ndash-60-years-2319537.html. October, 23, 2011.

IPSOS. (2020) World Refugee Day - Global attitudes towards refugees. https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2020-06/2020-world-refugee-day-ipsos.pdf.

Lindsay, Frey. "Everyone Agrees We Need More Refugee Solidarity But Nobody Wants To Give It". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2021/06/18/everyone-agrees-we-need-more-refugee-solidarity-but-nobody-wants-to-give-it/. June 18, 2021.

Saxton, Gregory D. and Benson, Michelle A. "The Origins of Socially and Politically Hostile Attitudes toward Immigrants and Outgroups: Economics, Ideology, or National Context?" University of Buffalo. New York. http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~mbenson2/papers/The%20Origins%20of%20Socially%20and%20Politically%20Hostile%20Attitudes.pdf.

3. Harris, Kathleen. "Canada has turned back 4,400 asylum seekers in 5 years" CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/asylum-seekers-canada-us-trump-pandemic-1.5813211. November 24, 2020.

Rescue.org. "What is happening at the U.S. southern border?" https://www.rescue.org/article/what-happening-us-southern-border. March 24, 2021

4. Fallon, Katy. "'We were left in the sea': asylum seekers forced off Lesbos". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/19/asylum-seekers-forced-off-lesbos-pushback-crisis-europe-borders. March 19, 2021.

5. Huffington Post. "Kamala Harris Tells Migrants ‘Do Not Come’ To U.S. Border In Guatemala Speech" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-do-not-come_n_60bf36cfe4b003865d52491d. June 8, 2021.

The Los Angeles Times. "https://www.latimes.com/podcasts/story/2021-06-17/the-times-podcast-kamala-harris-do-not-come-guatemala". June 17, 2021.

O’Keefe, Ed. "Guatemala's president says Kamala Harris "doesn't hold back" ahead of immigration talks". CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/guatemala-president-kamala-harris-trip-immigration-talks/. June 6, 2021.

Schmidtke, Rachel and Leach, Joshua. "Biden's plan for Central American kids is no substitute for asylum". The Hill. https://thehill.com/opinion/international/558999-bidens-plan-for-central-american-kids-is-no-substitute-for-asylum. June 17, 2021.

6. Batz, Giovanni. "U.S. Policy Toward Central America Continues Legacy of Displacement". https://nacla.org/news/2021/04/28/us-policy-central-america-migration-displacement. NACLA/The North American Congress on Latin America. April 29, 2021

Peppe, Matt. "America’s Destabiliziation Of Latin America ZunZuneo and the U.S. Policy" . Mint Press News. https://www.mintpressnews.com/americas-destabiliziation-latin-america/193224/. June 30, 2014.

Planas, Roque and Grim, Ryan. "Here’s How The U.S. Sparked A Refugee Crisis On The Border, In 8 Simple Steps". Huffington Post. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/refugee-crisis-border_n_5596125. July 18, 2014.

Tseng-Putterman, Mark. "A Century of U.S. Intervention Created the Immigration Crisis". Medium. https://medium.com/s/story/timeline-us-intervention-central-america-a9bea9ebc148. June 20, 2018

7. Bhambra, Gurminder K. "The Refugee Crisis and Our Connected Histories of Colonialism and Empire". Sicherheits Politik-Blog. https://www.sicherheitspolitik-blog.de/2015/10/01/the-refugee-crisis-and-our-connected-histories-of-colonialism-and-empire/. October 1, 2015

Bodine, Alison and Hansen, Tamara. "Imperialist Made Crisis of Migrants and Refugees". Common Dreams. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/23/imperialist-made-crisis-migrants-and-refugees. July 23, 2019

Buxton, Nick and Akkerman, Mark. "The Rise of Border Imperialism." TNI/Transnational Institute. https://www.tni.org/en/article/the-rise-of-border-imperialism. October 1, 2018. Originally published in ROAR Magazine, Issue #8: https://roarmag.org/magazine/border-imperialism-europe-africa/.

Petrowski, T. J. "The Refugee Crisis is a Crisis of Imperialism". Global Research. https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-refugee-crisis-is-a-crisis-of-imperialism/5475014. November 10, 2015.

8. UNHCR. “How you can get involved”. https://www.unhcr.org/publications/brochures/609553414/world-refugee-day-2021-toolkit-pdf.html. June 2021.

Also: Hines, Behtany. “June 20 is World Refugee Day – Here are ways you can show support”. MSN.com. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/june-20-is-world-refugee-day-here-are-ways-you-can-show-support/ar-BB15JSJV. June 18, 2021.

Or take up the MUN Challenge: MUN Refugee Challenge. Countering Toxic Narratives About Refugees and Migrants. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/5df9f0417.pdf.

9. You can glean a lot from the sources in the footnotes, but if you want more:

UNHCR Reading List. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ob0ZIsbD27pAdcgASzSvTL5m3m1aHZB6/view