Hungary — scenes reminiscent of early fascist Europe
By Father Tim Curtis, Senior Lecturer in Faith and Community Work
I have just been watching, with growing concern, at the live images of the crowds of refugees at the Hungarian border being tear gassed and beaten up. I have also seen film of the Serbian border, where police are trying to help and contain the situation but are being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people acting out of desperation and determination.
I started, in the late summer, to respond to the needs of the asylum seekers and economic migrants in Calais and Greece. I know, I didn’t do anything about it before, but since I started, there has been an explosion of people in and through the borders into Europe. As I write, I get an email from the Remembering Srebrenica charity whom I visited earlier in the year- the Balkans, decades later is the scene of heart-rending images of distress. The situation is now so bad that it is unlikely that the majority of people travelling are now simply refugees fleeing direct conflict areas. Instead, it is very likely that thousands are just leaving a destroyed and defunct region where cities are in ruins, the existing camps operated by the UN and funded by the British government are full.
The flood gates are now opened but there is still no consistent and determined action by any EU member or the EU itself. Trains are being diverted, those travelling are ending up in what are effectively internment camps in various locations across the Balkans. Hungarian officials are splitting children from their families as they cross the border. The scenes are so reminiscent of the early stages of fascist Europe between the two world wars.
Thousands of communities and families across the UK are collecting and sending supplies (anything including stiletto shoes and bras) to the ‘Jungle’ at Calais, populated by mostly men, that it is now becoming a rubbish tip. Community action is vastly important in the beginning of a crisis, but it has to be organised, it has to understand the whole problem, and it needs to be sustained. Most refugee locations now have a glut of items being sent to them, but they know that, come Christmas time when we have forgotten them and the cameras and newspapers are gone, that these camps will remain. I was reminded that the displaced persons camps, for this is who we are now dealing with, from the second world war were not closed until 1959. This is a complex problem, and simplistic closing of borders will not end it.
