Refugees and the Refugees

By Turkan Ghafori

During the last decades, many countries have suffered from dreadful wars that have cost many lives and displaced families. The war in Ukraine is not unique in nature; similar ones are found in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Like Ukrainians are now fleeing, many Afghans, Syrians, Libyans, and more have fled their countries to find peace and a life worth living. Most have fled to neighbouring countries, and only a small proportion of the refugees have made it to Europe. I was one of them.

I was 11 years old when I arrived in Sweden with my family. I was told that this would be my new home, but it didn’t feel like home at the time. I remember how people would stare at us, and wherever we went, I could feel their stares in the back of my neck. Even though I didn’t know a word of Swedish, I felt that we were being judged. During my years as a refugee, waiting to get my permanent residency and “becoming a Swede,” I felt excluded and shamed by society. I felt as if I didn’t belong. I experienced many situations of discrimination, and one memory that still makes me sad when thinking about it is a situation my mother faced. That’s when I felt almost as if I was nothing, she was nothing, and we were nothing but a burden to this country. At that moment, I remember promising myself that no one would ever treat us the way those people did. Whenever I hear stories of racism and discrimination against refugees, I feel it. I feel their pain because I was in their shoes once. During the refugee crisis in 2015 in Europe, there was a small moment of hope when people opened their homes and showed collective sympathy towards people who had left everything and everyone behind for a better future as they deserve. Even though that sympathy and generosity only lasted for a short moment, it gave a glimpse of hope that people could see beyond colour. However, the empathy and positivity shifted so fast that I can barely believe that the “refugees welcome” mantra was ever uttered in the streets of Europe. “Refugees welcome” got overshadowed by western media and right-wing politicians who blamed the economic challenges of their countries and the terrorist attacks in Europe on the influx of refugees. And in a blink of an eye, the enormous support for the refugees from Syria disappeared, and Europe was “closed.” Headlines describing refugees as “a catastrophe” to Europe were furiously published. Border controls were reintroduced, and one of the worst and brutal treatments of refugees took place in eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary. Both countries had built border walls to prevent Syrian and Afghan refugees from entering the EU through Belarus. Today, the exact borders are open; Poland has even opened reception centers along its over 500-kilometre border with Ukraine for Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter from Russia’s illegal occupation of their country.

Putin’s dreadful invasion of Ukraine has not only cost many lives from both sides but has led millions of Ukrainians to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. Today we see the same generosity towards Ukrainians as we saw during the 2015 refugee crisis when people opened up their homes to Syrian refugees. However, what is different in this case is the volume and intensity of the generosity, and more so the double standards of the western media in their portrayals of Ukrainian refugees contra Syrian refugees. Today the influx of Ukrainian refugees is not portrayed as a crisis or catastrophe by western media and European politicians. Today Europe is “open,” not only referring to its borders but to society as a whole. It seems Europe has adapted to this drastic change more than it did in 2015. For example, immediate residence and work permits in the EU are provided for Ukrainian refugees, the Guardian reported shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian refugee children were even granted free entrance in amusement parks in Sweden, according to an article in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, which was not the case for children who had fled Syria, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world. Even right-wing parties who have fiercely condemned refugee intake for years, referring to refugees as a burden to the society and in some cases encouraging violence against refugees, are now suddenly very open to the receiving of refugees, but only if they are Ukrainians. Far-right politicians such as French Front Nationale leader Marine Le Pen, known for her extremely racist remarks towards minorities and Muslims, publicly affirmed her support for taking in Ukrainian refugees, Anadolu Agency reported. Despite the fact that her party has petitioned against taking in refugees from Afghanistan. Similarly, Remix news reported that Swedish far-right politician and party leader Jimmie Åkesson, who in 2020 travelled to Greece to give refugees leaflets that said “Sweden is full- don’t come!”. Åkesson has also recently stated that “ solidarity is required because Ukrainians are European and in many respects culturally closely related citizens of the extremely serious conditions that have befallen our continent”, according to the article.

Europe and “the west world” are known for being the most progressive, democratic and liberal examples. Yet, when faced with difficult situations that require dramatic adjustment, its democratic values get easily overshadowed. One of the essential purposes of democracy is that it leads to peace, and I will continue to believe that, especially during hard times like these. ♦