Paris Bombings: Affecting More than Just the Parisians
The latest international tragedy has left in its wake the inchoate beginnings of countless other tragedies. Terrorism begets the fear its name suggests, and fear begets selfishness. While it is clearly important that the Paris bombings are not repeated, the backlash spurred by the attacks suggests massive implications for the refugee population. Once again, it seems that the weakest and most vulnerable bear the brunt of the suffering from a disaster wholly unrelated to them.
The unfortunate discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one of the perpetrators of the Paris bombings led to a series of fallacy-ridden assumptions, and a subsequent public uproar. This passport is meaningless; a Syrian citizenship does not denote migrant status, merely that the passport’s owner is Syrian, an unsurprising conclusion; furthermore, the passport may not have belonged to this man, Syrian passports are commonly forged, and so forth. Still, much of the Western populace reacted with newfound malice for the Syrian refugees. Citizens blindly peg all migrants as potential terrorists, begging access to their homeland not for safety but in the name of jihadism. Poland is a prime example of a nation turned overprotective; the nation seems to regret their lofty offer made in September to accept 4500 asylum-seekers. Minister of European Affairs in Poland backpedals on this statement, asserting, “We will accept refugees only if we have a security guarantee”, and another Polish Minister admits that “we were wrong, too naïve and idealistic”. Poland is not the only country retreating from its past bravado; Obama claimed America would accept no less than 10,000 displaced migrants this year, yet this number turns dubious in light of the popular GOP demand to close the US border to incoming asylum-seekers. Infamous Republican frontrunner Donald Trump went so far as to advocate a nation-wide ban on immigrating Muslims, accompanied by the recall of any military-bound rogues back to the United States. The Democratic leaders remain silent on the matter, while Republican candidates pontificate on their views unreservedly.
Other nations face similar divisions. Despite much controversy over whether Canada should deny refuge to the migrants, Justin Trudeau remains steadfast in his promise to resettle a whopping 25,000 refugees by 2016; however, he promises asylum only to families and children, barring single men. Angela Merkel is under pressure to shut the German borders, yet she ignores these fervent demands in favour of upholding humanitarian practises. The fear is felt most keenly in France; Marine Le Pen, leader of the French National Front party, is stressing the importance of strictly controlling the border and ridding the nation of all “illegal immigrants”. France has already implemented border controls in a brazen defiance of the EU’s policies; many other countries are similarly disregarding these border control policies, creating additional challenges for potential migrants. Human Rights organizations worldwide lift their voices in unanimous fear at the severe anti-terror tactics these attacks have elicited, and the potential repercussions for the refugee population. They lament the further stagnation of the migrant crisis, which still cannot hope for any happy resolution in the foreseeable future.
Image Credit: The BBC
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