Refugees

REFUGEES ARE AN ASSET

By Stephen Wilson

           

            In recent days President Putin made a speech ridiculing Germany as

            mad for accepting one million refugees. He also explicitly supported

            Trump's plan to build a wall to keep out migrants from Mexico. Like

            several Russians his view of refugees may well be colored by crude,

            primitive and negative stereotypes of refugees being potential

            terrorists, spongers, criminals or invaders. In short, they are seen as

            a disruptive, destructive and subversive force. They are viewed

            as another 'threat to national security'. They are a 'provocation'. It

            should come as no surprise to discover according to the Russian

            Federal State Statistics Service, only 30 people in Russia were

            recognized as refugees in 2018! As the Civic Assistance Committee

            Report of 2018 states: 'This is even lower than in 2017, when 33

            people were granted such status ....... This is a new

            worst record. The number of issued certificates of temporary asylum

            decreased from 10,500 in 2017 to 6,000 in 2018'. {For a full account

            of the Civic Assistance Committee Report 2018 you can read it in

            digital form on the Internet.}

            But are the Germans so mad? Recent research in Germany has found

            that refugees to Germany have proven to be a priceless asset rather

            than sucking away state funds. A poll by the German Association

            for the Integration of Refugees questioned as many as 500 companies

            where an estimated 5122 refugees work. and found that they boosted

            the performance of the companies. A 2016 survey found as many as

            a third of companies were employing refugees. Over the last two years

            the number of specialists and managers from refugees grew by 22 %.

            The German Minister of the Economy and Energy Peter Altmaier

            stated "From the integration of refugees into business both sides win;

            This is a classical no-lose situation!" Contrast this with the situation

            where Russia is suffering from a demographic disaster where they are

            short of highly skilled labor. Perhaps if they radically accepted many

            refugees they would find one new untapped source of prosperity. And  

            the Russian economy has been stagnating for the past decade.

           

            A second reason why refugees can be viewed as guests from God is

            that they offer the host culture a unique chance to learn first hand about

            a new culture and country. It should make life in certain dull, drab and

            stagnant villages more diverse and hence interesting. We can learn a

            little about their language, customs, and wonderful folk stories. They can

            even teach us how to dance better. So refugees rather than being

            bringers of disintegration can even revitalize a community by injecting a

            new spirit. They are the friends of folklorists and storytellers.

            A third reason to welcome refugees is that they have a profound experience

            of alienation, loneliness and extreme trauma. So some of them might well

            be able to understand and assist local youth who also feel traumatized by

            say being bullied as school. After all, they have spent their lives fleeing from

            some of the biggest bullies of the World.

            But even if refugees did not confer those benefits on people we must accept

            them. This is because the normal and natural thing to do is to help anyone

            in trouble. You don't help people because you want rewards, a reputation

            or for economic benefits such as attaining a supply of cheap labor.

            However, try telling this to some politicians and officials.

            The way some people speak about refugees you might be mislead into

            believing they are one of the  four  horses of the Apocalypse. But anyone

            can become a refugee. Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Paulo Freire

            who wrote 'The Pedagogy of Hope ' was also a refugee who wrote this

            work partly to console many refugees who could not return home not to

            fall into despair. There is no doubt that his novel alternative pedagogy

            was partly influenced if not forged from his experience with migrants

            and refugees.His other work 'The Pedagogy of the Oppressed' remains

            a classic work for educators involved in teaching literacy.

            Many people seem to be endowed with a short-sighted and myopic

            view of history forgetting that World history is full of huge migrations

            and flights of people. The Old Testament where Moses led his people

            out of Egypt can be seen as a flight of refugees. And when the refugees

            settled in their new homeland we read "Don't forget you were once an

            alien {refugee} , so you must love the alien".  Let us love the alien.