As borders increasingly open, globalization merged various cultures that were open to the idea of trade. The fear of losing ontological security has arisen as a consequence to open borders. Although Germany has let in the most immigrants, Hungary has the most asylum applications per person in proportion to its population. About 1,799 refugees per 100,000 Hungarians claimed asylum in 2015 (BBC). This is an exceptional amount of immigrants that will be carrying in their own culture and traditions that are very different from Hungarian ways of life. This can be very threatening to Hungarians and their society. The large influx of immigrants and the fear of losing Hungarian identity has been the reason for introducing more aggressive policies, including closing the border between Serbia and Hungary. Also, refugees may be deported or jailed if they enter Hungary illegally. Hungary will reject asylum seekers entering from Serbia if they have not sought asylum in Serbia (Al Jazeera). Although economic burden plays a large role in these policies, I think the fear of losing one’s culture is a greater motivation for their implementation. The fear of losing identity is a fear that all countries in Europe face, and has led many to the support of extremist political parties.
To one extreme, racist white supremacy groups operating under the title of right-wing extremism is on the rise in today’s world. Pegida’s Leader, Lutz Bachmann, was photographed wearing Hitler-like attire, and this is not the only example of racism from the extreme right. The Golden Dawn party of Greece has been found responsible for anti-semitic graffiti and is considered neo-Nazi by various news sources. These two examples allude historically to Hitler’s adamant denial of races he deemed inferior. According to the French National Front, immigrants should be deported if they are engaging in criminal activity, have immigrated illegally, or are unemployed. Many immigrants face discrimination as an obstacle to being hired; it is not necessarily the fault of the immigrant if they are unable to find a job. Using the loss of cultural identity as a cover, racism is latent in some of the right-wing policies of the refugee crisis.
Even in the United States, right-wing parties have been accused of racist behavior towards refugees. Donald Trump’s policies are some of the most extreme on immigration the US has seen in modern politics. His plan includes the deportation of all undocumented individuals, freezing green cards, and banning Muslims. In Wednesday night’s presidential debate, Trump said, “Syrian refugees who probably, in many cases — not probably — who are definitely, in many cases, ISIS-aligned, and we now have them in our country” (IB Times). He implied that the majority of Syrians are involved with ISIS in order to unite Americans under a common enemy. In addition, he plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to prevent illegals from crossing the border. If there is one aim the Donald Trump campaign has executed successfully, it is to unite people around the common fear of terrorism.
The refugee crisis put significant burdens on Europe on many different fronts. Europe is expected to admit thousands of immigrants on top of the refugees they have already accepted. In doing so they are unsure of economic consequences for their nation. Many European citizens fear terrorists and criminals infiltrating their borders. Europe is more industrialized than the Middle East and is in close proximity to Syria, but this doesn’t mean that Europe should be required to take in all of the refugees. Other states outside the EU should be assessed to see if immigration is a feasible option. There can be many benefits to immigration, but the positive aspects are often overlooked in times of crisis.
It is not clear who will take charge of rebuilding the Syrian state. Syria requires a large sum of money to rebuild government and public infrastructures in order to become a functioning state. Where this money might come from is in question; potential sources could include the IMF, the EU, or the UN. Failing states in a globalized world require stronger global institutions, but the international arena has not been given the power it needs to adequately help states in times of crisis. The UN is rarely able to intervene, and when it does, it is criticized for instilling Western culture on non-Western states. Even when the rebuilding of Syria starts, it will be nearly impossible to know when the state is ready for its citizens to return. These questions are often avoided, but must be reviewed before the situation in Syria can improve.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/hungary-enforces-tough-immigration-law-150915003743802.html.
http://www.ibtimes.com/are-syrian-refugees-isis-donald-trump-says-asylum-seekers-are-definitely-many-cases-2434712.
The refugee crisis is SO hard to deal with because most countries agree that it's terrible but they don't really want to take in the refugees. There are countries outside of the EU taking them - Lebanon is a great example - however they don't really have the means to help the refugees. They also have a poor infrastructure and over the years have had many civil wars. It's not exactly a stable state and most refugees there live in poverty. I believe this is why this burden has been placed on Europe. Do you think the IMF, UN, or EU should help countries around the world financially with taking in refugees? The EU has been giving money to Turkey to help support the refugees there, so should it do that with other countries as well? Because then again, in one of the readings, the author points out that it is under question whether or not the refuges in Turkey are receiving the aid they should be according to Turkish law. It's such a hard global crisis to deal with because there is no way to completely protect the everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteAlso since you mentioned Hungary and the issues there I wanted to point out a story I did a project on while studying in Spain. The link below is to a video of a Hungarian reporter tripping and kicking refugees as they cross the border. It clearly shows the strong hatred towards refugees in some European countries, especially ones that are very affected by the refugee crisis.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4N64x797so
So are they really better protected in Europe? I don't know.
PS the man who was tripped while carrying his son ended up making international headlines and Spain offered him and his two sons refuge and gave him a job as a coach for their soccer team since he was a coach while in Syria. Overall Spain has taken very few refugees but it's a story with a happy ending (:
The refugee crisis is a complicated situation. I think, however, that countries should open up their borders and give a helping hand to all the million of people in need. I don't think people should have ontological security when it comes to this situation. Letting these refugees in would be a temporary solution and the amount of refugees let in, wouldn't out number the citizens in the country. They shouldn't worry about their identity being lost, especially since it wouldn't be a permanent stay.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Syrian refugee crisis is complicated. I would say that there is not much of a threat to ontological security to countries giving asylum because ultimately there will be always be more ethnically Europeans in whatever country than Syrians. I definitely agree that there should be other non-European states should take in more refugees as Europe can not do it alone as it is not only a national or regional security issue but also a global one at that. Also it certainly makes sense that Europeans would fear terrorists coming into their country. However this is not seen as a concern refugees haven't committed terrorist acts.
ReplyDeleteRebuilding a Syrian state will be a priority. This is one that third parties would need to get involved in such as the UN or the IMF but Syrians themselves need to figure it out as well as they are the ones that will eventually have to govern themselves.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the refugees will not outnumber the citizens in any of these countries, but regardless, citizens have made it clear that they fear for their identity nevertheless. I think that problem is a lot more nuanced than just "the citizens of the country welcoming immigrants have a majority, so there is no threat to their ontological security." While I don't think acts of violence or discrimination against immigrants are in any way justified, ontological security is still a major problem for both immigrants and citizens in asylum countries. As for permanence, we are still unsure of what the case will be; will refugees want to stay and assimilate with the culture they are indefinitely a part of, or return to their home country once Syria is rebuilt? We don't know for sure how long it will take Syria to be considered a functioning state.
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