One of my recent doings is work on a body of literature and poetry regarding asylum seekers all over the world. This is not a new thing under the sun, of course. If you are not familiar with such poetry,Wystan Hugh Auden's Refugee Blues is a great poem to start with.
But it appears that the developed world has forgotten what WH saw when he wrote this song (and we should remember that Refugee Blues, powerful as it is, was written on 1939, long before the great atrocities of the second World War came to be). Nowadays, asylum seekers are receiving a very indifferent welcome in the best of places. Usually the welcome is hostile, and in many places, the asylum seeking process begins with interrogations regarding the reason the seekers chose that specific country, in the hope that there was another developed or non-dangerous country on their way, to which they can be deported without becoming a burden in the current state. This state of affairs is not only performed despite the clear obligations of the international convention relating to the status of Refugees, but it serves another purpose. If you ask refugees why they came, their replies will sound very similar to the reasons why foreign workers come to the country (legally or otherwise). Thus, the clerks handling the questioning of asylum seekers are able to present many of them as people who came seeking a profitable job instead of an asylum. Therefore, the first question one should ask a person who claims to seek asylum, is what is he running from. I hope I expressed this message (and others) more eloquently in this poem:
But it appears that the developed world has forgotten what WH saw when he wrote this song (and we should remember that Refugee Blues, powerful as it is, was written on 1939, long before the great atrocities of the second World War came to be). Nowadays, asylum seekers are receiving a very indifferent welcome in the best of places. Usually the welcome is hostile, and in many places, the asylum seeking process begins with interrogations regarding the reason the seekers chose that specific country, in the hope that there was another developed or non-dangerous country on their way, to which they can be deported without becoming a burden in the current state. This state of affairs is not only performed despite the clear obligations of the international convention relating to the status of Refugees, but it serves another purpose. If you ask refugees why they came, their replies will sound very similar to the reasons why foreign workers come to the country (legally or otherwise). Thus, the clerks handling the questioning of asylum seekers are able to present many of them as people who came seeking a profitable job instead of an asylum. Therefore, the first question one should ask a person who claims to seek asylum, is what is he running from. I hope I expressed this message (and others) more eloquently in this poem:
When another
asks you for shelter and protection,
do not reply
by asking the question:
"why
did you come here?"
It is not moral
It is not moral
and it is
not wise.
Ask first:
"What
are you running from?"
(Common sense
but not policy,
for the developed
world does not wish to see.
The pain of
the other you deliberately avoid,
leaving asylum
seekers to hang in a void.
One day,
when tables
turn
and the tide
is nigh
you shall
remember these words with a sigh.)
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