“My experience as a migrant was not easy, but it was nothing compared to the odysseys endured by the millions of refugees who have been moving by foot, train, boat, and car, first to neighboring countries and more recently into Europe, to flee unremitting brutality.
“The differences between refugees such as Syrians, whose lives have been torn apart by war, and economic migrants like me are enormous.”
Kim’s essay outlined the psychological and social realities of migration, ones which the Lebanese experienced during their 15 years of civil war. Some Lebanese emigrated, others were expelled, though many met their end before either scenario could materialize. Death came by indiscriminate rocket fire and deliberate killings; the massacres resembled sheep slaughters.
When we see the deep misery the Syrians are living in today, we remember the past. We have all migrated from one area to another, displaced, in one form or another. We can feel the Syrians’ pain and injury, and we must be the first to protect their right to live and move to safer areas.
Most people of the Middle East and Africa, and many Latin Americans, aspire to attain residency and then nationality in Europe or the United States, where they can feel that they are human beings to whom rights belong and not slaves to the whims of dictators and hereditary rulers.
It is true that Europe is not a free inn for all those who seek refuge, but its member states have an obligation to contribute solutions to the refugee crisis if they can do so. Their participation can be to end the war, to create safe zones for those who have been internally displaced, or to welcome refugees into their own lands and support them. This third option is hardly detrimental: Europe is an aging society and needs young labor.