The Syrian Crisis Has Not Ended
For several years the news outlets of the world have reported seemingly endless conflict and humanitarian crises in the Middle East. The world has taken note as long-standing dictatorships were, for better or worse, shaken by a mass uprising. Moments in time were uploaded online as amateur sources photographed from their position on devastated streets. Countless pieces of rubble from the bombed-out buildings were scattered along the ground amidst the dead and dying. Seen here is a revolution; a generation sacrificing their lives for the minimal opportunity to extricate their children from the hands of military rule. Since 2011, over four million Syrians have successfully managed to escape the horrific bloodshed of the Arab Spring in an attempt to find solace in Europe. Despite their survival, the overwhelming influx has created a state of emergency in Eastern Europe, where families remain in camps incapable of sheltering the many. While the finite resources of states such as Hungary and Serbia are relentlessly consumed, Europe’s other nations, perhaps wealthier but not directly affected, are receiving migrants unwillingly and leaving the impoverished and the ostensibly unimportant to survive with little governmental help.
Perhaps you remember Bishop Allen’s recent fundraiser, contributing to the Archdiocesan PROJECT HOPE for the refugees. Archbishop Thomas Collins invited Catholics throughout Toronto to donate. The Bishop Allen community accumulated $2743.92, which will, combined with the efforts of other schools, contribute to the $30,000 required for one refugee family to begin anew in Canada. Pope Francis has called upon the nations of Europe to embrace and be welcoming, though the consensus remains that Europe is outwardly opposed to any immigration and would happily avoid the issue if possible. Clearly, any hope of the situation’s self-resolution is misplaced. Canada’s laws cannot directly repair the issue overseas, but as a society we are obligated to contribute with humanitarian aid.
Western society has retained the assumption, perhaps due to the anxiety regarding jihad combined with general xenophobia, that Muslims as a whole are a threat to the preservation of Christianity as a majority. The incident involving Charlie Hebdo has eliminated any gap in our collective consciousness unfilled by memories of the September 11 attacks. Granted, it is justified to view the Middle East as a historically unstable area accustomed to civil war that would be further neglected without petroleum. But it is absurd to view the Arabic exodus as some sort of pre-planned invasion. It is, in truth, the lengthy struggle of the downtrodden, unaccepted and caged where salvation was thought to be. Similar to the Syrian refugees, there are many in the Muslim community who exist in poverty and fear further conflict. They escaped to thrive where opportunity is abundant. Jihad to them is meaningless; had they stayed in Syria, they would struggle to feed their family no matter which religion reigns. They remain at the mercy of the powers that be, realizing that, on the world stage, those without money are always considered last.
Image credit: CNN