The Refugee Drama: In No Man’s Land

There was an attack. A mother holds her child’s hand. That’s how he took his last breath, in the arms of the same person who saw him born. Today, another boy is also separated from his family, he doesn’t know when he will meet her again. He says goodbye with tears that hold hope for a better future. It’s the refugee drama.

This drama speaks of the pain of thousands of people. People who dream and want the same as you. Children who no longer know how to laugh after suffering so much.

Who are the refugees?

They can be called forced immigrants because in their country of origin they are persecuted for being of a certain ethnicity or following a certain ideology. Or because their country does not provide them with enough supplies or guarantees of security to have a decent life.

Refugees don’t come to steal our jobs. They don’t come on a whim. They are not terrorists.

What are the psychological consequences of living as a refugee?

The refugee drama is living in no man’s land. The impossibility of having a normal life in the place that used to be his home, and at the same time encountering stiff opposition from many of the possible countries of asylum, causes exorbitant levels of anxiety or depression… while inflaming feelings of revenge.

To all this we must add the constant bombing. Thus, a state of hypervigilance, of chronic stress develops, which often represents the trigger for disorders of other, more serious natures, such as schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress disorder.

It is not surprising, then, that a person with social and psychological instability performs acts that deviate from the legal and ethical or that they join a group that offers security, salvation and justice for their loved ones. Who wouldn’t look for an ally when everything falls apart?

However, we found it strange. How quickly we see the fault of others, but we don’t see our own, right?! The latest news shows an increase in the far right, especially in Europe. Aren’t they also people in a social and psychological context of uncertainty who seek security?

The refugee drama: what is our role?

When the slim chance of winning a hellish voyage on a boat, across the desert or at the end of years of pilgrimage in the hands of mafias is better than staying in your own territory… not the fences, not the borders, not the decrees, the police , barbed wires, not even the Mediterranean Sea will be enough to stop a family that seeks a better life, a dignified life.

Looking the other way won’t solve the problem. Financing the conflict will not solve the problem either. We don’t have money to shelter, but do we have to supply weapons? This double standard is a problem.

Why? Because it’s a round trip. The farther we launch the boomerang, the greater the force of its return. We deny the cruel reality of the existence of this massive exodus, or, when we don’t deny its existence, we deny the welcome in our countries, as is the case in the USA. Or even, we accept the existence and acceptance, but we do not include these people in our society.

If one, just one of these possibilities happens, we will be building walking time bombs. What would you do if your home had been destroyed, your child abducted, or your family bombed? What would you do if you had lost everything and had no chance of getting better? What would you do if all you have is helplessness and the feeling that all this happens with the consent of people who could have avoided this situation?

The answer is quite simple. When it gets to the point where your life is meaningless, you destroy yourself, seek revenge or salvation. This is where our intervention is extremely important.

It has been proven that most of the attacks were not committed by “terrible Syrians who came to kill everyone”, but by native inhabitants. The second generations who did not feel welcomed by their adopted country. Doubly rejected for not being recognized as French or Germans in their own right, but neither are Syrians or Iraqis.

We are no more than anyone… and sometimes we forget that

We don’t seem to remember anymore. Just 75 years ago, 465,000 Spaniards crossed the French border seeking asylum as they fled the Spanish Civil War. Of these, 220,000 never returned.

That phrase by Neruda also characterizes the drama of refugees today: “Love is so short and forgetting so long.”

But it’s even more striking if we stop to look at the general context for a moment. Our young people leave. They go to the US, China, France, Ireland… they go in search of a better future. The fragments at the beginning of this article could be about them, about you, or about any of us.

It is up to us to raise our voices for those who muffled their cries in tears. For the more than 10,000 missing children in European lands, hoping to find their families one day. In addition to many others who sell their bodies in refugee camps in exchange for their lives.

In 2015, UNICEF recognized nearly 1,500 serious abuses against minors, including murder, mutilation, grooming or kidnapping, among other crimes. Of these, 400 cases were of dead children and almost 500 of mutilated children. It’s been two years. Are they also terrorists? Allow me the benefit of the doubt.