Ukrainian refugees welcomed with open arms; not so with people fleeing other war-torn countries

As a scholar of refugees and forcible displacement, I find the European Union’s response to Ukrainian refugees a stark contrast with the treatment of the international students, African and Asian migrants and the untold number of refugees and asylum-seekers of color from Syria, Afghanistan and Bangladesh also fleeing Ukraine.

As scholars of race and racism in Europe have explained, and reports on race relations confirm, the European response is also consistent with the racism,Afrophobia and Islamophobia that have historically defined EU’s immigration system.

For years, these dynamics have led to the suffering and deaths of people from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

Agree 100% with this and the rest of this amazing article

I didnt even read the article.

Let me guess, its because Ukranians are "white"?

BlacklabelToday  10:14 am JST

I didnt even read the article.

Let me guess, its because Ukranians are "white"?

It's a Trumpian attitude. Some of these nations in Europe have built hate walls to keep away Turks, Arabs, Africans, etc. fleeing the crazy Middle Eastern, ISIS related and ethnic wars in Africa.

It's a Trumpian attitude.

Don’t think so. We are not taking in refugees, this administration is letting in people by the millions and if you’re rich, why would you care. You can afford to live away from those people. The average person cannot. So yes, we should welcome people in need, but not the entire world. Japan and most countries wouldn’t and we shouldn’t either.

Some of these nations in Europe have built hate walls to keep away Turks, Arabs, Africans, etc. fleeing the crazy Middle Eastern, ISIS related and ethnic wars in Africa.

There are many reasons for that. The biggest problem is assimilation, don’t believe me, go to Germany, France, Sweden etc and you will see. Again, Japan wouldn’t allow disorder why should any other country allow it? Every country has a right to be selective, every one. Nothing racist or xenophobic about it.

Why is it that every other part of the world gets to maintain their culture, language, religion and general way of life free of questioning, but Europe and the West generally MUST be open to all?

Nobody has ever explained that to me. Why is it that the countries of the West are the only ones obligated to help refugees? Not saying others dont, because they absolutely do. Check Turkey for instance, but the obligation is always, ALWAYS on the West.

It really is LONG past time that other affluents regions, like North Asia and increasingly certain parts of South East Asia do more. Certain countries in Latin America could do more. Middle Eastern countries could do more. Many of which are very wealthy indeed.

It is a strength of the West that people can come from all over the world and have a good life, but that in no way means there is an obligation to take people come what may. Europeans increasingly reject that view.

Dr Tazreena Sajjad currently serves as professorial lecturer in the Global Governance, Politics and Security (GGPS) Program in the American University School of International Service.

Of course.

The difference could be perhaps the stark differences between Ukrainian refugees, that are actually women and children primarily, Europeans with Christian values (therefore not encouraged to violate women and children or kill, as dictated by other religions) and the primarily male "refugees" between 15-35y.o. that Europe welcomed all these years. I hear Sweden became the rape capital of the world after that, I wonder why.

Ukrainians are Europeans. Europe is their home.

It is part of human nature that we are more welcoming to those who are culturally and socially similar to us.

For instance, it is easier for a citizen of Tokyo to be comfortable with a stranger from another city in Japan, than with a stranger from thousands of kms away.

However, the extreme xenophobia demonstrated by some to the recent diaspora from Syria is distasteful to me.

By the way, total number of murders in Sweden in 2010, 91.

Number of murders in 2020, 124.

One murder is too many, but the influx of refugees did not affect the murder rate much, if at all.