So, here in Europe we love to point fingers at how incredibly racist America is. But the thing is that even though America is currently experiencing a new golden age for white supremacy, we Europeans must remember that the ideas of white supremacy were invented over here and are still alive and well here. I have not absorbed this thread in enough detail to pass any judgment on who said what and exactly how crazy that is, but I think we are past the point where no intellectually honest person can still claim that different groups of refugees are not being treated differently. So it would seem the only relevant question that remains would be
why it is so.
For example, during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis Denmark was at the forefront of making nasty laws to encourage refugees to choose some other destination instead. Why then is Denmark sending buses to Poland to round up Ukrainians and drive them to Denmark? Is the difference due to Denmark being Europe's Alabama and they have a problem with brown people, or is it because the closeness to the war in Ukraine has brought forth memories of the Danish experience during WW2? I have contemplated this and come to the conclusion that the only reasonable answer to that question is "a little bit of both".
Oh, and isn't it fascinating how easy it is for a Ukrainian to get into Poland in the first place, even if they didn't have time to bring their passport? The attitudes to refugees in Eastern Europe have already been discussed in this thread. I have a colleague who thinks it is appropriate to use Pepe the Frog as his profile picture in his Microsoft Teams work account, and I know none of you will be surprised to hear that he is from Poland. But Poland also has an extremely vivid memory specifically of Russian imperialism. They have an understanding of what is going on right now that is qualitatively different from how most of us in this forum perceive this war. My conclusion is that also in the Polish case the answer is "a little bit of both".
And don't think I am going to end this rant before I have roasted myself as well. My prejudices against Danes, Poles and Alabamans are here for all to see, but is there also something more I can learn from the way I have reacted to this invasion myself? For example why is it that already one week into this new war I had already donated more to the relief effort than I did in total throughout the entire Syrian refugee crisis? Is it only because of the geographical distance is shorter now? Just because I have visited Ukraine and the war is hurting people I have actually met? Because I have seen pictures of volunteers stacking sand bags in the street outside my hotel in Kyiv? Or is it because I for some less than noble reason can identify more with Ukrainians than Syrians? Do I hold some kind of cynical view that war is somehow more normal in certain parts of the world than others? And as filthy as it makes me feel to say it, I can't really say I am sure it is not "a little bit of both" once again.
That being said, the war is starting to feel closer now here in Sweden. Russia violates our airspace about 20 times per year, but most of the time it is just an incursion of convenience such as a patrol of fighters taking a shortcut through a corner of our airspace for a short while. Last week's incursion was a classic cold-war-style incursion where bombers with a fighter escort turned sharply into Swedish airspace to measure our response time, not turning away from their target until they were intercepted by Swedish fighters. We are not in NATO and we are also a much softer target compared to Finland, and there is a lot of talk about the strategic importance of Gotland island for any further Russian aggression in the Baltic region. Also, some of our supermarket shelves are starting to look a bit empty, like a smaller version of the great toilet paper frenzy of 2020. And on my way home from the supermarket I saw something I have never seen before in this street.
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The dashcam on my bike sits a bit low so you can't see all of it, but the line of Ukrainian refugees outside the Migration Agency service center stretches to the end of the block and around the corner down the crossing street. Ukrainian citizens with a valid passport can stay in Sweden for 90 days for any or no reason without applying for any permits or refugee status, so the visit to this office is not a legal requirement. The people in this line are mostly those who need assistance because they don't know where they are going to sleep tonight or don't have anything to eat. The picture is taken 50 minutes before the service center opens in the morning and the ones in the beginning of the line have a good chance of being processed, but not everyone will get their turn the same day. Some will try again the next day, and some will go on to other cities where the service centers may be less overloaded.
. Maybe Turkey will take them in; they seem to understand those people “over there.” And “ethnoreligious groups few people have ever heard about” is nonsense. Many people know all about those groups… just not many people in EUROPE know about them. Most people in Syria probably don’t know the difference between Polish or German or French people… or religious sects such as Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran either. And yet, wars were fought over such arbitrary divisions.
