Grandstand. The "refugee crisis" is back. Aggravated. From the Greek islands to the banks of the Evros river, the hands of Europe are now red with the blood of children, women and men fleeing war and violence. Faced with a surge of distress, border guards fire live ammunition, coast guards assault boats to try to sink them, the exasperated population violently attacks refugees and their supporters (humanitarian workers, associations) and families run aground on our barbed wire. Beyond the ready-to-think indignation for social networks, it is time to measure our collective responsibility.
Of course Erdogan’s Turkey cynically uses these human flows to force the EU to provide political support in the Syrian and Libyan conflicts where it has ventured. Of course, Putin's Russia seeks to divide us, and feeds this interminable war by supporting Assad, militarily and politically. Of course, Trump's early unilateral withdrawal from the United States has precipitated intensified fighting on the ground. Of course.
But in a tragedy there are neither good nor bad, there are those who assume their role and those who refuse. In the Syrian conflict, European states have accumulated moral and political resignations in the name of stemming migratory flows and fear of the far right. Closure of borders, outsourcing of migration management, violation of human rights, these denials have solved nothing: xenophobic parties thrive on popular anxieties and local exasperation, while asylum seekers, refugees and migrants fall under the shots from guns and batons.
Organize the arrival of refugees
The cowardly relief of the Faustian pact with Turkey in March 2016 could have been the occasion for a respite to prepare for a real European migration policy. But no, in the complacent shelter of this straw house, we let our governments convince us without difficulty that we were protected from the winds of history. March 2020: 4 years lost.
By reducing the pressure these refugees represent, we will also reduce the scope of the actions of Erdogan, Putin and all those who have an interest in seeing the EU and Europeans lose themselves in fear and hatred.
What to do now? In the humanitarian emergency, there is no procrastination, we must welcome these refugees. In other words, organize their arrival in an orderly and united manner and offer them shelter, food and care. If necessary with the help of the army which, if it is no longer really used to wage war there, can help organize peace here. By reducing the pressure these refugees represent, we will also reduce the scope of the actions of Erdogan, Putin and all those who have an interest in seeing the EU and Europeans lose themselves in fear and hatred.
