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> As for refugees, someone who says they have no right to be in Europe should -- in my opinion -- stop calling him- or herself a human being. This kind of mora

> As for refugees, someone who says they have no right to be in Europe should -- in my opinion -- stop calling him- or herself a human being. This kind of moralistic stance is part of what people drives towards populist parties: being denied even the right to hold an opinion makes people angry. We totally have the right to chose who can come in our country and under which conditions. And that applies to refugees as well. This is not a problem of begin "human" or not, it is about making decisions that will have impact for decades on the European societies.

mamon 9y ago
Additionally, they are not refugees at all. By international law's definition they stop being refugees when they reach the first safe country, which for most of them is Turkey, or Saudi Arabia, or other Middle East/African country.By the time they decide to go to Europe they are just plain old immigrants, seeking for better life standard, and we should treat them as such. So far the most reasonable approach to the refugee issue was proposed by Hungarian Prime Minister, who wants EU to help them right there, in the Middle East, instead of letting them in.
- matt4077 9y ago
  You'll be happy to know that, by and large, your wish is actually truth: Of the ten million or so refugees from Syria, 8+ million are in Turkey, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_W...
pjc50 9y ago
There were plenty of refugees turned away prior to WW2 who ended up in the extermination camps. This is where the 1951 international convention on refugees comes from. Also, nobody's saying you don't have the right to hold that opinion, it's just that if you do we're going to have an extremely negative opinion of you.
netsharc 9y ago
Well, I'm not a law-making politician, I'm not denying anyone of anything. But it seems like a convenient deflection from self-reflection (what if what I said is right?); just be outraged and say it's my fault that people are joining populist parties. I do agree about the impact, and at least for Germany, the half-assed way the government is handling the crisis will lead to a lot of pain and grief, on both sides (the refugees and the native population) As the mods say, let's just stay out of the politics.

mamon 9y ago

Additionally, they are not refugees at all. By international law's definition they stop being refugees when they reach the first safe country, which for most of them is Turkey, or Saudi Arabia, or other Middle East/African country.By the time they decide to go to Europe they are just plain old immigrants, seeking for better life standard, and we should treat them as such. So far the most reasonable approach to the refugee issue was proposed by Hungarian Prime Minister, who wants EU to help them right there, in the Middle East, instead of letting them in.

matt4077 9y ago
You'll be happy to know that, by and large, your wish is actually truth: Of the ten million or so refugees from Syria, 8+ million are in Turkey, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_W...

pjc50 9y ago

There were plenty of refugees turned away prior to WW2 who ended up in the extermination camps. This is where the 1951 international convention on refugees comes from. Also, nobody's saying you don't have the right to hold that opinion, it's just that if you do we're going to have an extremely negative opinion of you.

netsharc 9y ago

Well, I'm not a law-making politician, I'm not denying anyone of anything. But it seems like a convenient deflection from self-reflection (what if what I said is right?); just be outraged and say it's my fault that people are joining populist parties. I do agree about the impact, and at least for Germany, the half-assed way the government is handling the crisis will lead to a lot of pain and grief, on both sides (the refugees and the native population) As the mods say, let's just stay out of the politics.