Zimbabwe: Behind the Dehumanization of African Asylum Seekers

2 September 2015

Asylum quests have become toxic issues in just about every affluent country. Even saving lives along the Mediterranean worries some as a lure that will encourage and facilitate more migrant arrivals.

An empathetic story in the NY Times by Suzanne Daley titled "Refugee Crisis on the Beach in Greece" drew a mere 10 comments as compared to 173 comments reacting to Ross Douthat's opinion piece. Douthat's sensationalized framing of the issue as "Africa's Scramble for Europe" only serves to induce fear of refugees. It really is farfetched to draw parallels between the European scramble for Africa and the current desperate effort by poor Africans fleeing to the shores of Europe. Most refugees arriving in Europe, far from scrambling for European resources as Europeans did in conquering Africa will, if successful, be engaged in hard work most Europeans would not want to do such as cleaning toilets, performing arduous farm labor, the service industry and taking care of the elderly. What is more, in reality only a small fraction of asylum seekers is knocking on the gates of Europe with 86% languishing in camps in poor neighboring states.

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