To distribute people, the most sensitive dimension of solidarity, is firstly about sharing norms; the rights of the asylum seekers must be guaranteed in reality, not just in law.
"One is reminded of the beautiful summer days of 1944, when tens of thousands of Jews were forcibly marched to their deaths through the streets of Budapest." Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian and Czech.
The Hungarian reaction to the refugee crisis has caused a media storm. But before we join in the castigation, let's try and understand the reasons behind Hungary's actions.
The chloropicrin agent used as a popular pesticide belongs historically to the same family of toxic irritants used in tear gas attacks against refugees.This is not an innocent coincidence.
As the humanitarian crisis in Calais grows, the media is increasingly dominated with tales of savagery and menace in the refugee camps. But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
These justifications seem to be logically weak: the problem, however, is that they capture the imagination of large masses of people in Europe.
We tend to think that the external limits of the European Union define the 'real' borders of Europe, which is a mistake.
The issue of making refugees walk 20 or 25 kms in the blazing heat is just one example amongst many that demonstrates the casual cruelties which are routinely inflicted on the refugees who arrive on Samos.
The refugee crisis is symbolic of the political crisis in Europe. To avoid systemic collapse, Europe must return to solidarity and protecting those fleeing war and persecution.
Migrant women are vulnerable to violence at all stages of their journey due to gendered inequalities and relations of domination. Current EU policies restricting migration exacerbate their vulnerability.
For sustainable peace, the UN must refuse to sanction militarism as the default response to unwanted migration and invest in grassroots women and youth human rights defenders.
