Insurmountable Adversity
Robert Hudson
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In 2015, due to several on-going wars in the Middle East there was a surge of refugees fleeing to Europe in 2015, arriving mainly by sea. The UN refugee agency recorded that just over one million Refugees arrived in Europe over the Mediterranean in 2015, and another 328 thousand arrived in 2016.
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After having taken possibly the most dangerous journey by sea in recent history- with nefarious smugglers and traveling on a boat which would most definitely fail any European health and safety regulation, as there is a high risk of certain death - most Refugees first step in Europe was on Hungarian, Greek or Italian soil. From that moment onwards, they would unknowingly become wrapped up in an ensuing and soon-to-be enduring cascade of realpolitik being tossed around amongst European countries; ‘how dare you fire water canons into my border, you are brutal and not European!’, said the Serbian Prime minister as the Hungarians fired them at refugees trying to cross their border; ‘you are colluding with other countries so we have to take more refugees!’, said Croatia and the more familiar and typical mantra of Nigel Farage- ‘the EU is opening it’s doors to “millions and millions” of refugees!’
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Whilst amidst all this, the only thing on many of the Refugees’ minds would be keeping safe the child sitting on their shoulders and following the herd of people sharing your plight, not knowing exactly where you’re going, as you traverse fields, successfully or not successfully pass through a border, maybe getting suffocated by tear gas, making sure to get from point A to B.
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There are now a vast account of the harrowing ordeals, tragedies and difficulties faced by the hundreds of thousands of people who have had to flee Syria; whether it is trying to get onto an already crammed to the brim moving train through a small passenger window or having to live in card board box house at the ‘Calais jungle’. No one will easily forget the haunting picture of the Syrian child laying face down on the beach who tragically didn’t make the journey. It’s important that we shouldn’t. These atrocities are inescapable proof that these people need help from those more fortunate.