To provide a portrait of the world we live in; countries and continents have had waves of prehistoric settles across the land borders of the world. Where the Old Testament forefathers found milk and honey, can we continue to find the milky way and build a new paradise in the wilderness of the universe?
We take a closer look on an introduction to refugees and the world, to introduce the theme of migration and its historical content, its relationship to the foundation of humanity being in constant movement and how to respond to the challenge of migration and refugees in today’s multi-cultural/multi-faith setting in Europe.
When we look up on the sky, after restless wandering, can we begin to think and feel as being trapped on earth? Think about it for a moment. Our planet Earth is perhaps more than ever set on a wild ride to voyage out to space delicately moving our own existential borders beyond what is even in our capacity today. If we think about it, being “trapped” on earth, are we as humans perhaps the new migrants of the universe? What will it take for humans to pass our voyage through space and settle? Who does it belong to and what is in our right and in our possession? What has history taught us about migration and movement across continents?
Promised lands?
In another life
We stand side by side
Laughing against faith
That we in a different life
Should one day stand alone
In another life
We laugh against each other
Thinking out loud
What if we in a different life
Should stand apart from each other
In this life
We stand side by side
Our gaze fixed towards the infinite
Frustrated over how easy
Faith from a different life
Places us in distance from another
In this life
We stand side by side
Our gaze fixed towards each other
In hopes that in a different life
Faith is on our side
The seeds we plant
I placed the package of seeds in a small bag that I had seen my mother sew together the days before I was to leave. "Flowers teach us that nothing is permanent: not even its beauty, not even the fact that they will eventually wither because they will continue to grow new seeds. Remember this when you experience joy, anger, or pain. Everything goes on, grows old, dies, and is reborn. The only guarantee in life is death."
How many storms do we have to go through before we understand this? At times the sound of my wounds is hollow; I was ready to leave the country in the evening, with its identical day and night. And still, today, as I write this, I understand that my mother was also talking about herself. "Even the tallest trees can grow from small seeds like this. Remember this and try not to rush with time."
"Everything in the world has two sides. People who the cruel God of love has abandoned are also capable because they look inside the past and wonder why they made so many plans. But if they search through the memories even more profound, they will remember the day when the seeds were planted, and how they took care of them, how they fertilised them, and let them grow until it became a tree that could never be uprooted."
Instinctively, I thought of my mother's package of Kurdish seeds she brought before I left. I always carried them with me. "When a woman or man is focused on their pain. No one stops to think about what has happened to the other person. Whether they also suffer or have left something behind their hearts to stay with the family because of society's claims or rumours? Every night they must sleep in their beds, sleepless nights, confused and lost, wondering if they made the wrong decision. Other times, they may feel confident that it was their responsibility to protect their families and descendants. But time is not on their side; the more the moment of separation grows in the distance, the more their memories are cleansed from the bad moments and return to a longing for a paradise that felt lost.
The other person can no longer help himself. He gets distant, he seems distracted during the weeks, and on Saturdays and Sundays, he goes to his God to pray. There is no wind stronger to make the boat change course; it stays in port among the still waters. Everyone suffers, those who leave, those who remain, and their families. No one can do anything - only time itself and the seeds we plant day by day, which with growth, faith, love, and heartbeat will create tides in even the most mirror-bright harbors...#
*Passages and quotes from the novel "The Spy" by Paolo Coelho
Looking for a home
The universe has a particular connection where anything from micro to atom size and quark sizes has a connection to the macro system.
From where we live in an ocean to the direction of the wind scattering the flower's seeds so that our lands can blossom. To what foundation do we need to harmonise our physical existence to the quantum and metaphysical. To what foundation isn't it only natural that we as physical beings move and are in movement. This is a fundamental truth we have has one specie on earth – the one absolute truth is that we, like everything else connected on earth, are in constant movement.
Gravity – is it the divine that drives everything down or a broader outer vacuum that presses us down? Who blows life into the earth soil? How is everything realised?
To introduce this articles terminology and theme, you as a reader may already have drifted off the unknown of the terminology's true heritage – this article is about migration.
The word migrate comes from Latin roots meaning 'move'. A migrant moves. To emigrate is to leave your country. To immigrate is to enter another. Long story short, immigration and immigrant are seen as unfavourable. Being a refugee means to flee (back) and to take refuge. To conclude, language is NOT neutral; it always conveys acceptance or hostility.
So, what are the implications of speaking about a 'European' 'refugee'' crisis'? This so-called crisis is a contested question. Displacement of people is due to, among other things, conflict, repression in the Middle East and Africa. Displaced people are dying on their way to and in Europe. Displaced people live in destitutions at the border of and in Europe. So, is it a European issue? Most forces migration takes place outside Europe. Most people fleeing the Middle East/Africa stay in the region. The longest and most dangerous part of people's journeys to Europe takes place outside of Europe. In short – Europe's borders are enacted outside of Europe.
The first things to be clear on, the borders are not a line to cross but a practice that affects different people differently. There is a problematic distinction between 'economic migrants' and 'refugees' – people move for various complex reasons. Then there is the politics of labelling: who is deserving and who is not?
So, what happens when we call issues of movement a 'crises? I beg to differ – it Is not a crisis of people moving but a crisis of people being prevented from moving to and across Europe – with a lack of legal routes to safety. Calling it a crisis has enabled various forms of violence against displaced people and made it more difficult for people to enter Europe legally and safely. Calling it a crisis has also inspired humanitarian responses. If it is a 'crisis', then it is a political crisis that requires a political response, such as enabling people seeking refuge to travel to Europe legally and safely.
In a quest of searching for a home, we know there is something rather than nothing out there. We know there is earth, which is our home. The universe is all of space and time and their contents including planets, stars, galaxies and all other forms of matter and energy. To conclude and to rephrase the question of promised lands, who really owns the world? Nobody. We are solitarily responsible towards each other. We as atoms on earth, become stardust the day the universe decides to and wants to. This is completely out of our control and our ownership,
My dear friend, I survive when you survive.
Seyran
Reference:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22796639@N05/4941635489/