Would Coming Face To Face With The Stark Reality Of A Refugee Crisis Make Your Holiday "awkward"?

[sandyRoe]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/migrants-in-kos-photos-show-real-tragedy-after-british-tourists-complain-of-awkward-holidays/ar-BBkof8f

Should tourists avoid the Greek Islands for the time being?

[mikey4444]

Umm....I will agree that many are economic refugees but not all. The stories that the ones coming from Syria are dreadful. All the men having their heads cut off in full view of the women and children by ISIS, as soon as their village is taken. That tyrant Assad using chemical weapons and barrel bombs on his own people.

[ummmm]

I really don't know what the solution is.

Sticking to Sandy's question any form of poverty and suffering would make me feel awkward while I was suppose to be relaxing and enjoying myself on my expensive holiday...

[mikey4444]

I confess to not knowing what the solution is either Ummm. But I do know that this problem isn't going to go away anytime soon. The international community needs to sit down and find out what to do, and pretty quick. Places like the Greek and Italian islands are going to be completely overwhelmed, if that has not already happened.

[naomi24]

//Where did compassion disappear to ?//

Compassion is very commendable but it’s not practical. How far can we sensibly allow it to go? Kos has now experienced an influx of destitute people who have no chance of gaining employment. That will impact upon the economy (tourism being its main source of income), the schools, the medical and social services, etc., etc., ultimately delivering a lesser quality of life to the indigenous population, a scenario that will be replicated wherever the boat people turn up. We have to bear in mind that this isn’t just a few people who can, with a bit of effort, be absorbed into European societies – there are millions – and unless we do something positive to stop it now, millions more will come and Europe will ultimately pay dearly. Quite simply, we cannot cure the problem. We have to say 'No'.

[Peter Pedant]

// The stories that the ones coming from Syria are dreadful. All the men having their heads cut off in full view of the women and children by ISIS, as soon as their village is taken.//

blimey which company runs tourist holidays THERE ?

[ I am shocked, deeply shocked etc etc ]

[mikey4444]

Naomi...saying "no" isn't going to stop them coming. What do you suggest we do ? Some people on here have opined that we should send them back...back to where ? More will continue to come and they won't stop until the world does something about the crisis in the countries they are coming from, and Syria is a major supplier of these boat people.

[Peter Pedant]

// and Syria is a major supplier of these boat people.//

um I dont they are you know

These are economic migrants which is one the difficulties in that they are NOT fleeing political repression. Bit like the Boat poeple from Vietnam thirty y ago - those people just wanted a better life than that available in the newly liberated unified Vietnam

[Broseph]

/Would Coming Face To Face With The Stark Reality Of A Refugee Crisis Make Your Holiday "awkward"/

Well we seem to have lost the sensation of awkwardness whenever we visit India,Africa and all the other parts of the world we've stuck our beaks into and destroyed. Oh that's it, it isn't awkward because we don't associate ourselves with guilt and have managed to sweep our guilty sins under the proverbial carpet.

Let's tell those who have seen to "Shush" and pay them to look the other way and to have never seen it shall we.

[naomi24]

Mikey, Australia simply doesn’t let them land.

[mikey4444]

So if the Ozzies don't let them land, what happens to the boat people then ?
Do the Ozzie authorities actually push the boats back out to sea ? Presumably they all drown at sea .....is that a humanitarian way to behave ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarianism

[naomi24]

They turn the boats back - and they repatriate people they don't want in Australia.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/28/australia-confirms-15-boats-carrying-429-asylum-seekers-have-been-turned-back

While we're accepting them, they will come. When we stop accepting them they will stop coming.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...you last sentence doesn't ring true. It might for economic refugees but it won't work for people fleeing what is going on in places like Syria. These people are desperate. many of them die on the journey but they still come. Just ignoring the problem won't make it go away.

This is a job for the UN...if it wasn't created to deal with this sort of thing, then I fail to see the point of its existence.

[Svejk]

The ones that come from Syria have to cross a vast peaceful (muslim) country to reach Europe. But don't let reality interfere with your emoting.

[naomi24]

Mikey, //you last sentence doesn't ring true. It might for economic refugees but it won't work for people fleeing what is going on in places like Syria.

People will attempt to get into Europe whatever we do, but those coming in by the back door are not openly accepted as those coming by the boatload are at the moment. If we stop the boats, the boats will stop coming. There is no money in it for the traffickers and no future in it for the passengers. The only people who are ignoring the problem are those who allow emotion to supersede common sense. Continuing to accommodate this influx is simply economically and logistically unsustainable. You make me laugh really. You complain about council houses surrounding yours having a detrimental effect on the value of your property but just imagine what would happen to that value if the area were flooded with homeless and destitute refugees – which is what is happening in some parts of Europe.

[Svejk]

Here are some previous escapees now living a peaceful, happy life in England;
http://media.breitbart.com/media/2015/05/Leeds-Bangladeshi-Community-Centre-.mp4?_=1

[Svejk]

Try this one;

[retrocop]

Crikey Svejk
If that is how the Bangla's Brotherhood behave in a their community centre what are they like when they wish to display disharmony? I notice the thin blue line is getting thinner. Slightly outnumbered but heaven forbid they use some CS to stop the disagreement.That's what Blunkett's policing on the cheap does.
Uniform carriers with no powers.
If we are to show compassion,as suggested on another thread, and allow loads of Boat people in then this problem will be a regular occurrence and police not attending "theft of petrol reports" will be a minor worry to our oh so compassionate Abers.

[Svejk]

It's a far cry from the 'Kindertransport' Mikey likes to compare it with.

[Baldric]

I wonder how many Mikey would be willing to take in to help ease the situation?