by Nick Thorpe
‘I have disputed the thesis that Europe is in the throes of a “clash of civilisations”,’ wrote Jytte Klausen.16
Certainly there are strains and conflicts as states accommodate large numbers of Muslims, who are a relatively recent presence in Western Europe. However, the difficulty is not that Muslims are generally antidemocratic. The challenge is rather that they seek integration in European societies and claim a voice in European institutions, while insisting on equitable treatment for their communal organisations.
She speaks of a four-way conflict, between secular, sometimes anti-clerical Christians and Muslims on the one hand, and religious Christians and Muslims on the other. ‘European governments have the means to resolve these conflicts in a way that promotes integration,’ she writes, ‘but only if they act together with a broad spectrum of Muslim representatives.’
The next few years may be difficult ones in Europe. There is a danger of conflict: between the haves and have-nots, and between newcomers and native peoples. But the strengths of Europe which attracted so many immigrants here in the first place, the basic common sense of ordinary people, and the universal Christian heritage of the continent, point in a different direction. To a continent, and a union of peoples, able to respect one another’s differences and cooperate in defence of common values. The weeping of the road may yet console the men, women and children walking down it.
NOTES
Introduction
1. The Book of Sir Thomas More: Shakespeare’s only surviving literary manuscript, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/shakespeares-handwriting-inthe-book-of-sir-thomas-more; Ian McKellen performing St Thomas More’s Refugee Speech by Shakespeare, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afK_bXD7pMo; ‘The banned 400-year-old Shakespearean speech’, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shakespearean-speech-used-to-support-refugees_us_57e2b0b7e4b0e80b1b9f8ad7?
2. John Berger, Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance (Verso, 2007).
3. ‘Hungarian Folka Archive: The road before me weeps, the path is sorrowful’ (Népzenetár – ‘Sir az út elöttem bánkodik as osveny’), http://nepzenetar.hu/dalszoveg/4355/Sir-az-ut-elottem-bankodik-azosveny
4. Sándor Sára documentary, 1987, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SknxqpaF6zE
5. Vízöntö, ‘The Road Before Me Weeps’ (music video), 1998: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQxFPdTh3d0
6. Website on Lajtha László (1892–1963), http://lajtha.heritagehouse.hu
7. For a full account, see Michael R. Marrus, The Unwanted: European Refugees from the First World War Through the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 1985).
8. Adrian Edwards, ‘Forced displacement at record 68.5 million’, 19 June 2018, http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2018/6/5b222c494/forced-displacement-record-685-million.html
9. Henry Fountain, ‘Researchers link Syrian conflict to a drought made worse by climate change’, 2 March 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/earth/study-links-syria-conflict-to-drought-caused-by-climate-change.html. The role of climate change has also been challenged, see Jan Selby et al., ‘Climate change and the Syrian civil war revisited’, September 2017, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629816301822
10. Michael Ignatieff, The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World (Harvard University Press, 2017).
11. Alexander Betts and Paul Collier, Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System (Allen Lane, 2017).
12. Philip Faigle et al., ‘It really wasn’t Merkel’, 11 October 2016, http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2016-10/angela-merkel-influence-refugees-open-borders-balkan-route
13. Eurostat, ‘Asylum statistics’, 16 March 2018 and 18 April 2018, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_statistics. See also Phillip Connor, ‘Still in limbo . . .’, 20 September 2017, http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/09/20/a-million-asylum-seekers-await-word-on-whether-they-can-call-europe-home/; ‘EU asylum applications drop off drastically in 2017’, 30 December 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/eu-asylum-applications-drop-off-drastically-in-2017/a-41976192; Eurostat, 15 June 2018, ‘Asylum quarterly report’, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report; ‘202,834 Asylträge im Jahr 2014’, 14 January 2015, https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/DE/2015/01/asylzahlen_2014.html
14. For a useful overview of EU policy developments, see: European Parliament, Migration and Asylum: A Challenge for Europe (Fact Sheets on the EU), June 2018, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/PERI/2017/600414/IPOL_PERI(2017)600414_EN.pdf;
15. ‘Turkey–Syria border wall to be completed by spring’, 18 December 2017, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-syria-border-wall-to-be-completed-by-spring-124303
16. For analysis of the relative costs and benefits of asylum seekers in Europe, see, inter alia: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/refugee-law/europeanunion.php; https://www.oecd.org/els/mig/migration-policy-debates-13.pdf; https://www.economist.com/international/2018/04/21/european-countries-should-make-it-easier-for-refugees-to-work; https://voxeu.org/article/fiscal-cost-refugees-europe; https://www.politico.eu/article/refugee-crisis-cost-germany-over-e20-billion-in-2016/; http://www.amnesty.eu/content/assets/Reports/EUR_050012014 Fortress_Europe_complete_web_EN.pdf
17. Smugglers earnings in 2015, https://www.ft.com/content/9b00f2ce-e9d7-30c4-a490-532a59a35c55
18. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-and-immigration-the-changing-face-of-the-country-a-1203143.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Germany
19. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics
20. ‘Language of human rights often conflicts with local virtues, Ignatieff tells U of T audience’, University of Toronto News, 4 October 2016, https://www.utoronto.ca/news/human-rights-ignatieff
1 The Year of the Migrant
1. John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos (Pantheon Books, 1984).
2. ‘Welcome refugees and reject racism – Merkel says after rallies’, 31 December 2014, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-merkel-idUSKBN0K90GL20141231
3. ‘Anti-Islam “Pegida” march in German city of Dresden’, 16 December 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30478321.
4. Yaşar Aydın, The Germany–Turkey Migration Corridor: Refitting Policies for a Transnational Age (Migration Policy Institute, 2016); M. Bartsch et al., ‘Turkish immigration to Germany: a sorry history of self-deception and wasted opportunities’, 7 September 2010, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/turkish-immigration-to-germany-a-sorry-history-of-self-deception-and-wasted-opportunities-a-716067.html.
5. ‘Immigration to France’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_France, last edited 21 June 2018; K. Hamilton et al., ‘The challenge of French diversity’, 1 November 2004, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/challenge-french-diversity.
6. ‘History of the Jews in France’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_France, last updated 22 June 2018; ‘Attacks in France on Muslims, Jews and churches soar’, 20 January 2016, http://www.thelocal.fr/20160120/france-sees-scores-of-attacksagainst-jews-muslims-and-churches.
7. ‘Policeman Ahmed Merabet mourned after death in Charlie Hebdo attack’, 8 January 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/08/ahmed-merabet-mourned-charlie-hebdo-paris-attack; ‘Ahmed Merabet, “français, policier, musulman”, tué par les frères Kouachi’, 13 Janaury 2015, http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/01/13/ahmed-merabet-francais-policier-musulman-tue-par-les-freres-kouachi_1179546.
8. ‘Orbán: ‘We will not give asylum to economic migrants’, 11 January 2015, https://index.hu/belfold/2015/01/11/orban_gazdasagi_bevandorloknak_nem_adunk_menedeket/
9. ‘Worldwide displacement hits all-time high as war and persecution increase’, 18 June 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/6/558193896/worldwide-displacement-hits-all-time-high-war-persecution-increase.html.
10. ‘Orbán to the BBC: “It’s
part of life”’, 30 January 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v–UQfRhiTDrY.
11. ‘Immigrants are flooding our country: 90 percent are Muslims’, 14 January 2015, http://valasz.hu/itthon/ozonlenek-a-bevandorlok-magyarorszagra-a-90-szazalekuk-muszlim-108474.
12. Al Jazeera Balkans, Avni Ahmetaj report, ‘Migration crisis in Kosovo’, 3 February 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPAhKEDTZf0.
13. ‘UNHCR saddened by death of baby Kosovar asylum-seeker in Hungary’, 26 February 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/ceu/8646-unhcr-saddened-by-death-of-baby-kosovar-asylum-seeker-in-hungary.html.
14. ‘UNHCR calls on Hungary to protect, not persecute, refugees’, 8 May 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2015/5/554cc16e9/unhcr-calls-hungary-protect-persecute-refugees.html.
2 A Time of Fear
1. Written answers from former inmate to the author’s questions, June 2015
2. ‘Charlie Hebdo: Bulgaria extradites terror suspect’, 29 January 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31047020
3. Turkey National Intelligence Organization website, https://www.mit.gov.tr/eng/
4. ‘British jihadist Imran Khawaja jailed for 12 years’, 6 February 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31166062
5. Prime Minister’s Office, ‘National consultation on immigration to begin’, 24 April 2015, http://www.kormany.hu/en/prime-minister-s-office/news/national-consultation-on-immigration-to-begin
6. ‘UNHCR calls on Hungary to protect, not persecute, refugees’, 8 May 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2015/5/554cc16e9/unhcr-calls-hungary-protect-persecute-refugees.html?query—ontserrat%20Feixas%20Vihé
7. Hungarian government portal on Riga statement, 4 February 2015, http://www.kormany.hu/hu/igazsagugyi-miniszterium/europai-unios-es-nemzetkozi-igazsagugyi-egyuttmukodesert-felelos-allamtitkarsag/hirek/berke-barna-kepviselte-magyarorszagot-a-bel-es-igazsagugyi-tanacs-rigai-ulesen-2015-02-04
8. EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) 2016, https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/european-union-terrorism-situation-and-trend-report-te-sat-2016
9. Number of migrants caught, by date, March 2015, http://www.police.hu/hu/hirek-es-informaciok/hatarinfo/elfogott-migransok-szama-lekerdezes?created%5Bmin%5D=2018-06-01&created%5Bmax%5D=2018-07-01&created%5Bmin_year%5D=2015&created%5Bmin_month%5D=03; ‘Number of migrants caught, by date’, April 2015, http://www.police.hu/hu/hirek-es-informaciok/hatarinfo/elfogott-migransok-szama-lekerdezes?created%5Bmin%5D=2018-06-01&created%5Bmax%5D=2018-07-01&created%5Bmin_year%5D=2015&created%5Bmin_month%5D=04 (April)
10. ‘Pope Francis and his Hungarian critics’, 13 August 2016, http://hungarianspectrum.org/tag/laszlo-rigo-kiss/
11. ‘UNHCR billboards in Hungary celebrate contributions by refugees’, 19 June 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/6/5583d1466/unhcr-billboards-hungary-celebrate-contributions-refugees.html
12. A Traveller’s Guide to East Macedonia and Thrace: www.jti-rhodope.eu
13. Giovanni Cocco, ‘Moving Walls’ photos, December 2014; http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2014-12-03-cocco-en.html
14. N. Nielsen, ‘Fortress Europe: a Greek wall close up’, 21 December 2012, https://euobserver.com/fortress-eu/118565;
15. ‘Evros – Long way to Europe’, October 2014: http://stopevroswall.blogspot.hu/2014_10_01_archive.html
16. Greece as a Country of Asylum: UNHCR Observations on the Current Situation of Asylum in Greece, December 2014, http://www.refworld.org/docid/54cb3af34.html
17. B. Cheshirkov, ‘Bulgarians urged to “see refugees through new eyes” in media campaign’, 24 November 2014, http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2014/11/547355546/bulgarians-urged-refugees-new-eyes-media-campaign.html
18. Facebook group of Harmanli Playschool, established November 2014: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HarmanliRefugeeCampPlaySchool/
19. ‘Battle of al-Hasakah (2015)’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_al-Hasakah_(2015), last updated 28 March 2018.
20. A. Ammirati, ‘What is the Dublin Regulation’, 8 December 2015, http://openmigration.org/en/analyses/what-is-the-dublin-regulation/
21. Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Statistics Bulgaria, http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/bulgaria/statistics
3 Viktor Orbán’s Jihad
1. ‘Jihad: a misunderstood concept from Islam’, http://islamicsupremecouncil.org/understanding-islam/legal-rulings/5-jihad-a-misunderstood-concept-from-islam.html?start=9
2. ‘Worldwide displacement hits all-time high as war and persecution increase’, 18 June 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/6/558193896/worldwide-displacement-hits-all-time-high-war-persecution-increase.html
3. Viktor Orbán ‘We are considering every possibility’ 12 June 2015: http://www.kormany.hu/hu/a-miniszterelnok/beszedek-publikaciok-interjuk/minden-lehetoseget-szamba-kell-venni-a-bevandorlok-kerdeseben
4. Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Building a Legal Fence: Changes to Hungarian Asylum Law Jeopardise Access to Protection in Hungary, 7 August 2015, https://helsinki.hu/wp-content/uploads/HHC-HU-asylum-law-amendment-2015-August-info-note.pdf
5. ‘New UNHCR report warns against returning asylum-seekers to Greece’, 30 January 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2015/1/54cb698d9/new-unhcr-report-warns-against-returning-asylum-seekers-greece.html
6. Bulgaria as a Country of Asylum: UNHCR Observations on the Current Situation of Asylum in Bulgaria, April 2014, http://www.unhcr.org/protection/operations/53198b489/unhcr-observations-situation-asylum-bulgaria.html
7. Amnesty International, Europe’s Borderlands: Violations against Refugees and Migrants in Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, 2015, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur70/1579/2015/en/
8. ‘Worldwide displacement hits all-time high as war and persecution increase’, 18 June 2015, http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/6/558193896/worldwide-displacement-hits-all-time-high-war-persecution-increase.html
9. ‘Every day 40–60 buses full of migrants arrivee in Kanizsa from Belgrade’, Délmagyarország (South Hungary) Daily, 28 August 2015 http://www.delmagyar.hu/szeged_hirek/naponta_40–60_migranssal_teli_busz_erkezik_belgradbol_magyarkanizsara/2443278/
10. ‘Mauritania: water crisis in Nouakchott’, 22 July 2014, http://www.euronews.com/2014/07/22/mauritania-water-crisis-in-nouakchott
11. László Magyar, African explorer: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_László_(Afrika-kutató)
4 The Dog’s Breakfast
1. Financial Times, leader, 31 December 2015.
2. ‘Calais migrant crisis: Cameron warns UK is “no safe haven”’, 30 July 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33713268
3. Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Building a Legal Fence: Changes to Hunharian Asylum Law Jeopardise Access to Protection in Hungary, 7 August 2015, https://helsinki.hu/wp-content/uploads/HHC-HU-asylum-law-amendment-2015-August-info-note.pdf
4. Article on Gyálarét, Hungarian wikipedia: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyálarét
5. For a useful overview of arrivals in Hungary from 2014–2018, and the low rate of asylum or protection granted, see: IOM, ‘Migration issues in Hungary’, http://www.iom.hu/migration-issues-hungary, last updated 29 June 2018.
6. Wall Street Journal, ‘Obscure German tweet helped spur migrant march from Hungary’, 6 July 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/obscure-german-tweet-help-spur-migrant-march-from-hungary-1441901563; A. Dernbach, ‘Germany suspends Dublin agreement for Syrian refugees’, 26 August 2015, http://www.euractiv.com/section/migrations/news/germanysuspends-dublin-agreement-for-syrian-refugees/
7. On 20 July 2015, the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU agreed on the ‘temporary and exceptional’ relocation of persons ‘in clear need of international protection’ from Greece and Turkey. This would later be expanded into the relocation quota system: Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, 20 July 2015, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/jha/2015/07/20/
8. Asylum Information Database, Dublin procedures, Germany, http://www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/ger
many/asylum-procedure/procedures/dublin
9. I. Coles and S. Nasralia, ‘The migrant truck tragedy: “I feel really bad about what happened”’, 12 November 2015, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/europe-migrants-truck/
10. ‘Hungarian police arrest driver of lorry that had 71 dead migrants inside’, 28 August 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/28/more-than-70-dead-austria-migrant-truck-tragedy
11. ‘Migrant crisis: Merkel warns of EU failure’, 31 August 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34108224
12. ‘11 charged in migrant death truck incident’, BAON Bács-Kiskun news portal, 4 May 2017: https://www.baon.hu/bacs-kiskun/kek-hirek-bulvar-bacs-kiskun/11-embercsempesz-ellen-emeltek-vadat-a-halalkamion-ugyeben-724004/
13. UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm; International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, http://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-on-Maritime-Search-and-Rescue-(SAR).aspx; SOLAS Convention (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOLAS_Convention
14. Hungarian Helsinki Committee, https://www.helsinki.hu/en/
15. Menedék, Hungarian Association for Migrants, https://menedek.hu/en
16. Kalunba charity, http://kalunba.org
17. Migration Aid, http://www.migrationaid.net/csoport/