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Stories of migrants – Tunisian & Afgan refugees

By Pekka Kamarainen, on April 25th, 2011

Place:  The struggle of ‘outsiders’ from Tunisia and Afganistan to find themselves new perspectives

by Pekka Kämäräinen

The heated debates on the treatment of refugees and illegal immigrants are based on many prejudices, quick  assumptions and sweeping generalisations. Mostly the newcomers are considered as squatters (who want to benefit of European social welfare ) or illegal workforce (who pave the way for wage dumping and irregularities in the labour market). Therefore, there is a lot of negativity in the recent debates.

For this reason it is essential to have a closer look at cases in which the refugee stories have led to a new start in Europe. Below, the news report and the video of the German TV channel ZDF give a picture of the struggle of refugees to overcome the fate of “being outsider” and to manage a new start in Europe.

  • The ZDF news report (in Germen) “Für die Taliban bin ich ein Verräter” (For Taliban I am a traitor) tells the refugee story of  the Afghan car repair technician Parviz Esmail from Kabul via Iran, Turkey and Greece to Germany (Bad Kreuznach). Parviz managed to have the support from German NGOs at the right time and got his apprentice training placement (due to which he could stay). This story gives a picture of a person who had to leave his country because of threats and who sees his only possibility to Integrate into german society.
  • The ZDF video (in German with interviews in French) “Der lange Weg von Lampedusa nach Paris” (The long way from Lampedusa to Paris) tells the story of Abdel and how he managed to get through from lLmpedusa via the mainland over the French border and finally to Paris. The video gives a picture of a person who wants to work hard to be able to return to Tunisia as soon as possible (to make a new start in his home country).

These are two random examples – there are thousands of more stories to be told. What do we learn of these stories? What do they tell of the refugees? What do they tell of our European societies?


The next station of the story is available here.

Back to the start of the story.

 

 

One comment   Domestic Policy, European Policy, Foreign Policy, Social Policy, Tunisian & Afgan refugees   , , , ,  

Stories of migrants – French-Italian border

By Pekka Kamarainen, on April 25th, 2011

Place: top level debates on the Schengen agreement and the border controls on French-Italian border

by Pekka Kämäräinen

The decision of the Italian government (to issue tourist visas for a large number of refugees) and the reaction of the French government (to introduce border controls and turn holders of such visa back) have led to a heated European-level debate. There are several issues that are now discussed by the European ministers of Internal affairs:

  • How to introduce a fair distribution refugees across Europe instead of leaving the problems to border regions?
  • Are the government decisions in Italy and France compatible with the Schengen agreement on free mobility across (without border controls) in Europe?
  • How can EU establish an effective border control in the Mediterranean area?

Below, some news reports and videos that present the contrary positions and throw some light on the role of different EU member states as receivers or as transit countries:

BBC news report (in English): France had right to halt migrant trains from Italy

ZDF new report (in German): Friedrich: “Italien muss Problem selbst regeln” (Minister Friedrich says that Italy should manage the problem)

ZDF video (in German): Italiens fragwürdige Flüchtlingspolitik (The controversial refugee policy of Italy)

Thenews  reports and the video make it transparent that the European Union is far from being united and that there are huge differences between the  readiness of member states to receive migrants.  This calls for closer attention to the problems and possible solutions. Also, we should learn more of the capability of the refugees to  find new perspectives for themselves.

 

The next station of the story is available here.

Back to the start of the story.


One comment   Domestic Policy, European Policy, Foreign Policy, French-Italian border   , , , ,  

Stories of migrants – Lampedusa (part II)

By Pekka Kamarainen, on April 25th, 2011

Place: Continuation of the journey from Lampedusa to Ventimiglia or …?

by Pekka Kämäräinen

In an earlier episode of this story the three observers started examining the outnumbering of original population by migrants (=refugees) in the island of Lampedusa. The immediate observation was that the situation on that island can not be treated as a ‘local’ problem or as a national problem. The pressing questions are: What can be done to the masses that have landed there? What can be the realistic perspectives for the people who are already there?

The immediate  response of the Italian government was to issue limited tourist visa to those who wanted to find work in the Schengen area (possibly outside Italy). Since a major part of the newest refugees come from Tunisia and are French-speaking, it was obvious that the most of the visa-holders try to get to France. The reaction of the French government was to introduce border control on the Italian border and to turn back the holders of such visa.

Here  a link to a video of the German TV channel ZDF on the situation of the refugees in the border town Ventimiglia (in German with interviews in French).

Here a link to the BBC news report on the situation on the French-Italian border (in English).

Here another video of the magazine Focus Online (in German) on the protests against the French measures  in Ventimiglia (supporting  the refugees).

Here, the videos give a clear picture what is going on the trail from Lampedusa to the Italian-French border. The news reports give a clear picture that the problems have now become intergovernmental and European  issues. We need to follow this up.

 

The next station of the story is available here.

Back to the start of the story.


One comment   Domestic Policy, European Policy, Foreign Policy, Lampedusa (part II)   , , ,