The New gulf of migration and seed for far right parties

The European citizens saw the European Economic Market growing and had high hopes the European Union was going to become some big prosperous state like they could  see the United States of America.

Lots of Europeans were looking for the EU standing for prosperity, security and peace. The EU was created by men and women with vision and first-hand experience of the misery inflicted by two World Wars. When the EESC was established in 1957, civil society was involved right from the outset. They have managed to build a thriving region from the ruins and the devastation of the Second World War. Furthermore, despite 50 years of painful division, more than one third of the EU is now made up of former Eastern bloc countries, including a reunified Germany.

But with the present asylum crisis we could see the ex-communist countries are still in a sort of communist after-sleep and xenophobic alertness, plus mainly thinking of their own pocket, not willing to share the real European serious issues. Though they should have known when joining the EU, from them too would be expected a cooperation, mutual trust and solidarity which have helped to bring about, extend and strengthen this European project.

Only an economically strong EU can play a key role in the international political arena and in this way meet global challenges.
Completing the internal market and achieving Economic and Monetary Union are essential in this respect.

The EESC, with its committed representatives from the trade unions, employers’ organisations, chambers of agriculture, consumer organisations and other interest groups, has drawn up proposals to this effect and on many current problems. In spite of different origins, different ideologies and often diametrically opposed views, we have almost always managed to find a good compromise.

These months EU has been hit by unprecedented economic, financial and humanitarian crises in recent years. From serious youth unemployment to concerns for the Eurozone to the tragedy facing migrants on our shores, EU leaders have struggled to find solutions. The EU’s founding principles remain intact but the application of some, such as equality and solidarity, often appears more aspirational than inspirational.

Hans-Joachim Wilms, EESC Vice-president called on the Parliament and the Council to prioritise the quest for optimum solutions and not to allow themselves to be influenced
by ideological, national or party political considerations.

Europe needs more integration to make it economically strong. Unity and solidarity between the Member States and the Commission are also essential for helping to give Europe a stronger social dimension and thus enabling it to withstand crises more effectively.

he said.

For sure there has to be made more work to build solidarity through ‘Europe in Harmony’ and to increase understanding about the EESC ‘back home’ and in Brussels, through the press, social media, publications, culture, visits and much more.

European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP): foreign relations instrument of the European Union (EU) which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the European territory of the EU to the Union. The ENP apply to those countries close to EU member states‘ territories in mainland Europe.

The EESC calls for civil society to be more involved in EU relations with neighbouring
countries and believes the new European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) should focus on increasing security and stability and improving economic and social conditions in partner countries.

Migration is nothing new for the WestEuropean countries. They got many people from the South of Europe to work in the colder Northern parts. Millions of ex-colonials, ‘guest workers’ (‘Gastarbeider‘ or ‘Gastarbeiter’), refugees, and other immigrants came to find some work in the darker parts of Europe, were they rebuild their family. In several countries the original idea was that they would rotate before planting family roots. Soon families joined the workers, and migratory chains formed. The third generation of ex-immigrants do feel being a Belgian, German or Dutch, though still many may also still feel their connection with Italy, Greece, Turkey or Morocco.

Unlike African Americans, these new Europeans were in the past also often viewed as not ‘belonging’, and it took a whole time before they became accepted to be apart of the real country population. They had and some of them still have to face prejudice, discrimination, political opposition, and violence.

By the growing European Union and coming up of social media the West became more and more attractive for those living in poor countries. An increasingly large cluster among the new minorities who arrived in EU countries rose rapidly during the 1980ies from 65,000 in 1983 to 289,000 in 1989 (Castles 1993, p. 18). It reached a peak in 1992 with 700,000 applications but, with tightened regulations, declined to 300,000 in 1994 (Koser 1996, p. 153).

In the 21st century Polish construction workers and truck drivers in Belgium and Germany and African harvest workers in Italy brought in unfair competition. The native truck-drivers in Belgium and Germany started losing their jobs and the builders found themselves also with less and less work. The accepted illegal immigrants (those who, while not legal, are known to authorities and tolerated as long as they are economically useful) undermine the economy in in the long run do more bad than good. They also frustrate the native job seekers, who cannot bid up against the cheap labour of those immigrants.

Though the government and schools did quite a lot against the discrimination (social, employment, religious, racial) their efforts in some areas seem to have been largely ineffective. Far-right, anti-immigration political parties have formed to exploit this situation. These openly racist parties have succeeded in shifting the political spectrum on the issue to the right. In addition, violence against third-world immigrants has increased in recent years, especially in nations such as Britain and Germany where the far-right parties since the 1930ies had their ups and downs but never disappeared.

During the 1970ies and 1980ies, mainstream political parties embraced a post-material agenda with less concern for traditional class and economic interests and greater concern for lifestyle issues such as feminism and environmentalism. Some think this may have lead to an aversion for the mainstream political parties, particularly centre-left and progressive political parties and a growing populism for nationalist parties.

Natives finding more and more the pressure and breath of the incoming refugees who could take their work and income possibilities away are an easy pray for far right wing parties.

For the locals it is also a burden that the rejected illegal immigrants, who are the true illegals, are not really deported. Sending them out of the police station with a paper or putting them on a train with their notice to leave the country, does not make them leave the country. Not finding legal work, not able to afford proper housing they are forced to look in the fraudulent market and find their way in organized criminal groups, often from eastern Europe and Russia. Many generalize justifiable opposition to such groups into opposition to all immigrants.

Map showing origin countries of refugees /asylum seekers (= people fleeing abroad) in 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Street in Sadr City formerly known as الثورة and Saddam City, a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq

With rapid population and slow economic growth in much of the world, more asylum seekers try to escape poverty, not persecution as the United Nations defines it. Today it is important that the governments really carefully look into this matter. Though we can understand it is not always easy to find out if somebody is an economical or a political or a social refugee. The many Iraqi who come to Belgium probably have the ones from the largest city in Iraq, Baghdad or Sadr City being economical refugees, whilst the faith-people from minority groups are probably more people who sincerely have reason to believe their life is in danger in Iraq.

Already in the 1990s, the European Parliament pulled at the alarm bell and enunciated its “safe country of origin principle”.  It was and still is important to have a harmonized EU policy toward asylum seekers. Therefore all EU members should hold hands and keep to the returned narrow UN definition the European Parliament decided to keep to in 1997 to exclude many “unfounded applications”. This worked at first at the end of the 20th century making that in the Netherlands, for instance, the number of asylum seekers declined from 53,000 in 1994 to about 21,000 in 1996 (Muus 1996/7).

People may have dreamt of a huge thriving State like the United States of America, but forget that there all over the country we got a mixture of people from everywhere from Europe. Even though many Americans today have forgotten that they are really a “melting pot” they themselves are by generations a mixture of all sorts of origins. For them there are not such ‘biological connotations’ as here for the European locals who still feel a strong regional connection.

With the recent refugee crisis people are reminded at what happened with the many workers which were lured to come and work here. They know that the hopes that they would go back to their home country failed and are afraid they will see a copy cat in the present situation, having many refugees coming here to stay here. Many view the new minorities as not belonging here and there  agitation with the second and third generation immigrants is also put to the test.

“Enschede has found a place for 600 refugees. If we know when they come, we will welcome them with a warm welcome.
Join us, like our page already, give the refugees feel that they are welcome.”

Sweden and the Netherlands may well have been “the most welcoming for immigrants”(Waldrauch & Hofinger 1997, p. 278), we may wonder how long this position shall be able to be held. In the late night show Pauw on NPO 1 last week we could hear the diverse reactions, mostly showing people who feared people they did not really know. Supporters and opponents of the arrival of 600 asylum seekers to the adjoining villages of Enschede went in discussion with each other with Jeroen Pauw, Benno Wilmink, Jan van Lijf and Jeroen and Annabel Kumeling to talk about the reception centre on the outskirts of the city.

Already in December we could see a discussion in that show with the residents of the village Oranje in Drenthe which has only 115 inhabitants and did not want 1400 refugees to be housed in a holiday village.

Tahmina Akefi

In several of the shows we could hear experienced people who warned for the mixture of the different religious groups of asylum seekers. They told what they experienced in such camps as refugees themselves or as helpers and gave good reason to listen to the German Police Union which believes that asylum seekers in centres should be separated on the basis of religion and ethnicity. According to the association, that way, mass brawls and confrontations could be prevented. The Dutch will not go that far yet, unless there is a threat. What is wise? Former asylum seekers Julia and Tahmina Akefi on 29 September went already in debate with Peacock.

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For a report of the Evangelical television company EO journalist Danny Ghosen, born in Libanon and also having been a refugee, went undercover in a Croatian refugee camp.* He crossed illegally the border with Croatia to be able to see with his own eyes the conditions in those camps. Soon he joined a group of refugees and undocumented came into the camp. The scenes Ghosen found there were degrading, he testifies. Social workers were nowhere in sight. What he saw there was unbelievable and intolerable. We would not yet treat animals like that.

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The moment when the VVD are going to say that there are no more refugees to be, is not so far away anymore.

Halbe Zijlstra, Dutch Parliamentary leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives since 1 November 2012 and new Chairman of the VVD from 2015 October 1.

That said  faction leader Halbe Zijlstra of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in Peacock.

“As the numbers increase as now, they will come at some point by the thousands every day and that is no longer to do”,

said Zijlstra. Concrete numbers did the VVD faction however not mention .

Zijlstra indicated that according to him, two things must happen. So it should be ensured that there is enough food and amenities in the camps in the region where refugees come from and it must be ensured that the refugees stay there. In addition, refugees have no right to asylum in Europe as there are more safe and could receive more quality care in their own region.

An other problem our world is facing is that almost half of the world’s forcibly displaced people are children and many spend their entire childhood far from home. Whether they are refugees, internally displaced, asylum-seekers or stateless, children are at a greater risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, trafficking or forced military recruitment. They may also have witnessed or experienced violent acts and/or been separated from their families.

Some refugees also see a way to get more people into Europe by their marriage even with a minor. all over the world we can see natural and humanitarian disasters lead to a dramatic increase in child marriages as families struggle to cope.

“Emergency situations are often the last straw for many families who are already living on the brink,”

Lakshmi Sundaram writer and executive story editor for Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Lakshmi Sundaram, executive director of Girls Not Brides, said in a statement.

Each year more than 15 million girls worldwide are married before they turn 18, Girls not Brides said.

“Governments must draw up and enforce policies that end child marriage, and create alternatives for girls and their families,”

Sundaram said.

It is good to notice the Belgian government shall take away the minor brides from their partner when they come in Belgium and place them in protective care.

Only by trying to bring the refugees their way of life and attitude in balance with our way of life the government shall be able to keep both parties happy in these regions and take away the ground for far right political parties to give them any reason of right to bring fear over the natives of West Europe.

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Notes:

• http://www.npoplus.nl/play/pauw/2015-09-25/VARA_101375530/205467 {From my geo-location I am not allowed to view the show on internet, so if the link does not work in your country too, I am sorry}
• Other links did work: Terugkijken: Danny Ghosen ging undercover in een vluchtelingenkamp http://pauw.vara.nl/media/346415  #pauw
• Hungarian camps owned by the Immigration Office (OIN)
• Hungarian asylum policy
• Migszol company/blog

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Preceding articles:

Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?

Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #3 Of the earth or of God

Europe’s refugees just follow the ancient routes for the peopling of Europe in the Neolithic

Forms of slavery, human trafficking and disrespectful attitude to creation to be changed

Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #3 Right to Human dignity

Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #8 Work

Are people willing to take the responsibility for others

If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for

State of Europe 2015 – Addressing Europe’s crises

Economic crisis danger for the rise of political extremism

Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before

Why Russia backs Assad: a view from Russia’s anti-imperialist left

Disintegrating Syria whilst diplomatic talks and poker-play continues

Complaining and fighting asylum seekers not giving signs of thankfulness

bORDER-Gastrofest

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Additional reading:

1. Less for more
2. Our stance against certain religions and immigrating people
3. Religion, fundamentalism and murder
4. Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
5. Consequences of Breivik’s mass murder
6. Anti-Semitism ‘on the rise’ in Europe
7. Daring to speak in multicultural environment
8. A last note concerning civil rights
9. Stand Up
10. List of far-right political parties

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Further reading:

• Literaire ontmoeting met Tahmina Akefi
• Halbe Zijlstra nieuwe fractievoorzitter VVD

• Toenemend racisme in Duitsland baart Raad van Europa zorgen

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