The Al-Monitor article on the Yazidis in Germany and the Islamic State atrocities presents the same paradoxes as every other atrocity done in the name of religion. No line in the piece was more poignant than Tulay’s daughter whose torture was “‘punishment’ for Tulay’s failure to ‘properly’ recite the Quran.” Among Muslims in other parts of the world from Sri Lanka to the Balkans you don’t hear torture of people who don’t recite the Quran. But there are extremist elements everywhere: Christian extremism like the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa, Hindu extremism in India against Muslims, and perhaps Kahaneism in the Jewish ultra-right. So perhaps it’s not about religion but just about people. Because in political ideologies in both the extreme left (The Terror post French revolution) and the extreme right (Mussolini) we could cast blame on liberalism and conservatism. So perhaps at the end of the day economic, political and cultural factors are more at play in the terrorism.
The Kingsley reading is great because it offers perspectives crucial to this immigration discourse that gets lost in the airwaves. For one he tells us that “there is a crisis, but it’s one caused largely by our response to the refugees, rather than by the refugees themselves.” In all this rise of right wing anti-immigration rhetoric and the ensuing political meltdown we’re seeing not just in Germany but in all of Europe and America as well, the fact that refugees are only 500th of the population isn’t discussed. Kingsley also reveals that immigration is not simply a Western problem. People from war torn, repressive, and/or impoverished countries like Iraq. Syria and Libya, 86% of refugees are in the developing world. Europe is only just waking up to a “crisis” that’s been going on.
For me another interesting theme continues to come up again and again. The threat to “european” ideals that the crisis is creating. The threat to the European Union as we know it with free border movement is facing a litmus test. And the principle of sharing the burden of member states is being called into question. This has been clear since a week or two ago when we started talking about Germany and their suspension of asylum controls and reinstating of border controls. Now learning about Italy and Greece nudging boats towards other countries due to failed summits to get other states to help them with the influx reveals another contour to the threat the EU faces to its integrity and tradition.
