“As of December 21, around 972,000 had crossed the Mediterranean Sea, according to UNHCR figures. Additionally, the IOM estimates that more than 34,000 had traveled to Bulgaria and Greece after crossing Turkey.” A tragedy that seems to evoke at least as much fear as compassion.
However, the public debate largely rests on ignorance and numerous myths. People easily confuse immigrants with foreigners, terms stemming from a state-centric thought that obscures the logic of emigration.
While people have always migrated, today there is a tendency to reduce the phenomenon to its international form.
In France, the history of immigration is subject to persistent ignorance. The current situation is reminiscent of the strong local resistance when Polish and Italian immigrants were considered incapable of assimilating.
This xenophobia, largely fueled by certain political and media elites of the time (doesn’t history repeat itself?), sometimes led to pogroms, such as on August 17, 1893, in Aigues-Mortes, where eight Italian workers were killed and more than fifty injured.
Nevertheless, immigrants are far from representing “all the world’s misery”: the journey of some of them and their descendants shows that they have been capable of achieving success, both economically and culturally and socially.
When reading certain surnames, one might say that memory is often somewhat short.
The latest tally, established on Tuesday, December 22, by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), reports 1,005,504 migrant entries into Europe by sea and land. “The total represents the highest migratory flow since the Second World War,” mentions the IOM in its statement.
Faced with this situation, Europeans have still not found a real solution to the migrant crisis, and they seem even more divided than ever, despite a European Council meeting held in mid-December.
Thus, concerning the “relocation” plan for 160,000 refugees adopted in October, only 184 people were involved by December 16.
Another mini-summit is scheduled for February.
