Category Archives: Religion

même pas peur

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Economics, Politics, Refugees, Religion, Travel

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It seemed like no one on my bus to Belgrade spoke English, but I picked up that the word refugee is not used much by the Serbians, ‘they’ are all ‘immigrants’,*said in an angry voice*, showing the power of language in labeling someone as undeserving. And it’s clear that as in Australia, many Europeans don’t believe refugees have a right to be here.

IMG_2355I am an immigrant. I left my wealthy, stable, safe country to live and work in another because I wanted to experience something different. I had no well-founded fear of persecution, I could have found a better paid and more secure job in Australia than I found here. But no one in Europe has ever questioned my right to be here. No one has ever accused me of taking someone else’s job. And as far as I know, no one has ever worried that I might be a threat to national security.

Every single refugee I spoke to loved their home. Every single one of them spoke of the beauty of their country and said they would go back if they had a future there. We are wired to want to return to where we are from. Every Christmas I go home, because it gets to November and I’m itching to be where I’m from again. For these people, going home is not an option.

I was sitting in my hotel in Belgrade when news of the terrorist attacks in Paris came through, and like everyone who calls that city home I felt sick to my stomach, and wracked with nerves until one by one everyone there who I loved turned out to be ok. There’s really nothing more terrifying than the thought of not feeling safe where you live, and the French have had a taste of that in the last few days. The difference is that for the majority of refugees, they do not have a government who will act to protect them, who will do whatever it takes to ensure their future safety. For some of them, it is the government targeting them. They are not running from an attack on a stadium, or a nightclub, or a restaurant, or a bar. Their villages, cities, and in some cases their countries, are on fire.

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We all empathise with the images coming out of France that show people terrified and fleeing. We can all understand that when you hear gun shots and comprehend the threat, you grab the people you love and you run. You run away from the danger, and you keep running until you find protection and feel secure. Refugees don’t get to just run out of the restaurant; they have to run further and faster and for longer until they feel safe. Why is it that we don’t look at the images of people running from war and make that correlation? There was not one story of someone slamming their door in the face of Parisians who ran on Friday. Why can we not now?

While I’ll acknowledge that I met some who weren’t running from obvious persecution, the idea that these people are to be feared is something that I understand less now than I did two weeks ago. That the man or woman who comes from a different background is someone you are justified in being afraid of because they are different to you makes no sense. We make these people the other because it allows us to feel safe in our bigotry and more comfortable in our ignorance. Obviously I didn’t talk to every refugee, but these people don’t want to blow up your homes and change your way of life. They don’t want to convert Europe or threaten your children. They don’t want to impose some deranged form of Sharia law. What they want is the same things you do. They want to send their kids to school, finish their own education, get a job, and be able to feed their families. They want to be free and to live without fear.

IMG_2356Almost immediately following the attacks in Paris, Poland announced that it would no longer be adhering to its commitment to accept a mediocre number of Syrian refugees under a previously negotiated EU deal. Hungary is likely to follow. Calls in the US and Australia to halt any intake were loud. As if the two issues were automatically linked. Despite the fact that the vast majority of these perpetrators were European citizens, born and bred here, in our schools, our suburbs and our communities.

What I’m afraid of now is what’s to come. How we will react as a community. If Paris will permanently feel like a city under military protection. If France will feel like a country at war. I’m afraid that people will become more racist. I’m afraid that Marine Le Pen will win the next election. I’m afraid Muslims will no longer feel safe on the streets. I’m afraid that hate speech will become something we accept, stand by and allow to happen.

But when it comes to the refugees, I am not afraid of them. I’ve helped these people out of leaky boats. I’ve comforted them while they’ve howled violently. I’ve walked to border crossings with them in the pitch black. I’ve sat in the dirt and talked with them in their camps. I’ve travelled across a country with them. I’ve shaken their hands and heard their stories and shared their food. I’ve been alone with them in the dark.

And if I’m not afraid of them after that than you don’t get to be either.

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Even among refugees there are first and economy class tickets

09 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Politics, Refugees, Religion

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IMG_2165-1The first thing that you notice about the north coast of Lesbos, after the life vests and the shipwrecks, is how incredibly close Turkey is. I reckon on a good day your ocean-trained Aussie could swim it, and a Syrian man has successfully done so, but for the people I met today the sea is anything but welcoming. I spend most of my time travelling along the beaches with an Israeli organisation called Israid. They spot the boats from kilometres out and drive to where they land. From here women and children are bused to the camps by the IRC, and able bodied men and youth walk.

IMG_2157The first landing point I come across has seen three boats that morning. People queue to receive a ticket that notes if they are in a family. The presumption is that they are Syrian, signs everywhere are in Arabic and volunteers know basic words. But at least 15-20% are Afghan. When the weather was bad last week smugglers dropped prices and there was a surge in Somali and Libyan arrivals. One of the most harrowing things I’m told is that a certain type of life jacket (blue) is stuffed with paper. Almost without fail the wearers are from Afghanistan or Somalia- fake life vests for the poorest. Even amongst refugees there are first and economy class tickets.

IMG_2219The morning has been relatively quiet, the president was supposed to be in town and there are rumours that the coast guards on both sides of the Aegean were told to slow the boats until after he left. There is huge suspicion here towards the authorities, whom people are convinced don’t want to help. Whenever VIPs show up they block traffic on the already poor road and slow down rescue efforts. The first boat I see come in has little trouble. It is a packed rubber dingy, but the people seem relatively calm and even clap as they are escorted in by fishermen. It appears as though there are as many volunteers as refugees on the beach, and the whole process is relatively ordered. Babies and children are handed over first, one little boy hops off and starts walking up to everyone holding his hand out to shake. A pretty Syrian teenager who is one uniform away from looking like she belongs in a private Sydney high school asks me in perfect English what time the first bus will arrive, tells me my shirt is dirty, and then flounces away leaving me very confused. These people are clearly middle class. They unwrap phones that are much more high tech than mine from plastic bags and start taking photos. They are well prepared and seem to know what’s in store for them.

IMG_2202This boat was clearly an exception. That afternoon I see about five more, and the sound that characterises them all is of children screaming. One is stuck 200m or so from shore and is waving for help. They are not sinking, but cannot go anywhere, so Frontex (the EU border agency) sends a ship to push them to where the lifeguards are waiting. They have landed at an awkward spot and have to climb up the steep, muddy hill to get to the road.
Smugglers in Turkey herd the people onto the boats, start the engine, and point in the direction of Greece. This is what 500+Euro gets you. If your engine dies or your boat leaks, or you go the wrong way, or the sea is rough, tough shit. Last week several larger wooden boats arrived. The tickets for these are more expensive because the smugglers brand them as safer, but when refugees show up to board they find they have been packed beyond capacity, and in reality these are the boats that most often sink. There are stories of people having guns put to their head and told that they are now the captain. As astonishing as the number of people on Lesbos is, the refugees consistently say that it is nothing compared to the masses waiting to make the journey on the other side. This problem is not going anywhere. The Mediterranean is clearly not deterring anyone, and people are dying because there is no safe passage.

imageThe coastline from Molyvos to Skala is crawling with people. Some look relieved and some look shell-shocked, all look shattered. The thing that is impossible to ignore is just how much these people are like us. Little girls are dressed head to toe in Disney princess get up, parents are trying to get their children to listen to them, a middle aged woman reaches over to give her husband a kiss, an elderly couple wring out their clothes and then grip each other’s hands for the entire walk into town. I see a young girl walking down the street holding her little brothers hand, while their parents trail after them with their belongings in plastic bags, squabbling about the best way to hold their luggage and telling the kids not to go too far ahead. It’s a surreal scene. Anyone who thinks these people are somehow intrinsically different is so wrong. The things that make us human; fear for our children, concern for the people we love, gratitude towards a stranger that helps, curiosity for something new and someone different- these commonalities are so much stronger than the choice to wear a head scarf, praying by putting your head to the ground, or not eating pork.

IMG_2212The last boat I saw today was the most harrowing. It was getting dark, the wind was strong, the water starting to get rough, and I was freezing with three layers on. I stay out of the way and leave the rescuing to the people who know what they’re doing. But once people are out of the water there are traumatised individuals everywhere. I start taking off soaking life jackets and try to comfort people who are in distress, but I really didn’t know what to do. One woman is wailing and shaking, I grab her by the arms and try to steady her and sit her down. But as soon as I touch her she bursts into tears and falls to the ground. Another is sobbing uncontrollably and convulsing with shivers. I rub her arms and wrap her in one of those foil blankets you see on TV that feel as light and useless as they look. But it is only when I manage to sustain eye contact with her that she seems to register she’s no longer in the ocean and stops hyperventilating and starts saying thank you over and over again. It’s a very short moment, but it’s the closest I come to tears all day.

A Canadian who quit his job and with his girlfriend now lives off less than 8K a year so they can be full time volunteers tells me that last week he was helping a Libyan man with a broken leg and a severed arm, when he suddenly started bashing his head against the wall. There are so many traumatised people and so few volunteers here with the relevant training. They do the best they can, but with so few resources and basic supplies, what they can do is often limited to my contribution today, human touch and empathy. It matters, but these people need so much more than that.

IMG_2209The final story for today is of a volunteer who was driving a young woman and her daughter from the beach up to one of the camps when he heard pained screaming. He pulled over to find a little boy wailing next to the body of his father, whose eyes had rolled into the back of his head and was having an epileptic fit in a ditch. The volunteer had to unload the mother and child and ask them to watch the little boy while the man was put in the back seat and hurried to the camp. He then drove back to pick up the son, who hadn’t stopped sobbing and screaming out for his dad. The man survived, but only because someone drove by at the right time. This frustration is something I hear time and time again, why aren’t the camps on the beach, why aren’t there enough buses, why should people who have just been through hell have to walk two kilometres uphill? The guy telling me this story sounds pretty traumatised himself, and his face is etched with exasperation. We were able to save that man’s life he says, but why should his life be entirely up to chance?

Redefining the Norm

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in All, Politics, Religion

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I’m not one to espouse the virtues of matrimony. I never dreamt of a big wedding or a white dress or a frosted cake. (Although I do love cake) There was a moment when I liked the idea of marriage, but I think that in our world we should be able to love and commit without a piece of paper, and I think that over time the piece of paper has come to mean less and less. And frankly, I want something more than that. Of course not everyone one is as lucky as me. Despite the fact that I have zero desire to marry, and no one with whom I would want to, if I so wished tomorrow I could pick some random off the street, and if he was willing we could be married in a matter of hours. Yet a girl exactly like me, who has been in a loving relationship with another woman for years, is not able to choose not to marry the person that she loves. We tell this girl that her relationship is not as valid, or meaningful, or sacred, because the person that she loves happens to share the same genitalia. We tell her that because she is attracted to women and not men, she is not allowed to access one of the most fundamental and ancient rights known to mankind. And we tell her that she shouldn’t complain about this, because we’ve created a different institution for her to be a part of.

‘Calm down’, we say ‘Don’t you know that you can get a civil union? It’s pretty much exactly the same thing- just for people like you’. Or in the words of our esteemed Prime Minister, rest assured that you don’t need to get married, because she doesn’t believe it’s necessary, you shouldn’t either. Despite sharing a very similar view of the institution as our Prime Minister, I don’t see the automatic causation to denying people the right to participate in something I don’t value.

Following Barack Obama’s rather unsurprising revelation that his position on gay marriage has ‘evolved’ to one of support, the after effects are reverberating around the world. From predictable admiration and support out of tinsel town, to the inevitable conservative fear mongering from those terrified of change; reaction has been far reaching and varied.

As expected, one group who has had plenty to say on the topic, are Christians. While there are without question plenty of practising Christians who support the right of a man to love a man and a woman to love a woman, sadly these individuals do not speak loudly or often enough. On the other hand, the deafening cries of the Church in defence of ‘traditional’ marriage and supposed family values can scarcely be avoided.

Mainstream Christianity and its representatives seem to want to have it both ways. In their panicked rhetoric against gay marriage they simultaneously argue that removing further barriers to equal rights will endanger future generations by normalising same sex relationships, as well as feigning concern over how children growing up with two parents of the same sex will handle school yard bullying. God watch over the child with gay parents who is bound to be picked on for coming from a different family background, but heaven forbid that gay relations be normalised by society and shield that child in the first place. Not to mention that this argument completely ignores and even devalues the diverse array of families that exist in today’s society. In a world where the nuclear family structure has long been outnumbered by single guardians, remarried parents and situations where other family members act as the main caregiver, can we really still entertain the notion that any type of structure differing from mum and dad and the kids is a threat to our community? 

As is often the case, surely the best answer is the most simple. Kids are not born with prejudice and judgement; these are things that they learn, from their parents, their teachers, from role models in society. Teach your children not to discriminate and judge. Or why not take a leaf out of your own book and just tell them to love their neighbour? The golden rule writes as simple as that, with no qualifying clause excluding individuals based on who they love. If you teach your children that every family is different and that the most important thing is that we respect each other and those differences, the worst result is that we end up with a more tolerant world, a more accepting future and people less inclined to hate and fear each other.

Of course such an argument won’t appease those who believe that any physical love between two people of the same sex is inherently wrong. On the contrary, the idea that people will not automatically judge minority groups in society will be abhorrent to many who claim to exemplify the virtues of Christianity. But on what basis do religious groups feel they can claim a monopoly over the institution of marriage? Marriage has existed in various shapes and forms since the dawn of time, originally as a union for largely economic purposes. Christianity’s cries to be protecting the historical sacredness of the institution are just not sustained by fact. Once again we are witness to human being’s inability to learn from the past. As every single example in history shows; separate but equal doesn’t work; because separate is never equal. And as most examples of discrimination in history show, just as we look back with shame on a time where black people couldn’t marry white, so too we will look back on the present day and hang our heads with embarrassment that we didn’t recognise the love between a man and a man and a woman and a woman. That we entertained ludicrous comparisons with polygamy or buggery; ignoring the fact that none of these circumstances are simply about two human beings who love each other and wish to celebrate that love.

Because surely this is all that it should come down to; surely in a world with so much hatred and so many problems we should embrace at every opportunity that we can, two individuals who want to celebrate their love. Whether they choose to do it by signing a piece of paper or not. Wouldn’t it be great if the Church was so vocal against real evils?  One might question why we rarely see groups of Christians handing out material against child abuse, or paedophilia, or campaigning for women’s rights, or sprouting wisdom on how Christianity can work in a modern context with reproductive health. Instead we have church leaders like the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney claiming that same sex marriage is detrimental to society, lamenting that should it become legal, “it would be impossible to teach in the classroom that marriage is exclusively for male and female”. A travesty indeed.

An extract of this piece can be found on; http://www.dailydissident.com/author/kate/