Islamophobia Prevents the West from Helping Desperate Refugees
Half of Syria’s pre-war population has either been killed or displaced.
Over4.5 million refugees have fled war zones in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan for safety in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and some secure areas of Iraq.
Highly developed nations with far greater capacity to shelter refugees, on the other hand, have turned their backs and closed their borders.
"Think about some of the candidates today: Trump, Carson, Rick Santorum. Mr. Trump basically says we should stop all Muslims coming in temporarily,” said John L. Esposito, professor of international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University, in a lecture at UCSB last month.
"Mr. Trump says that after 9/11 Palestinians in New Jersey were dancing in the street, something that has been proven time and again to never have occurred,” said Esposito.
Media Tenor, an international media research institute, looked at 2.6 million pieces of news from the United States and Europe since 9/11. They found that coverage of Islam has continuously worsened; Muslims are almost always portrayed as violent threats. These portrayals spiked when ISIL got into mainstream news, despite only 1 in 10 victims of extremism being non-Muslim.
"When Christian and Jewish radical fundamentalists commit acts of violence, we immediately say, ‘They’re extremists,’ or ‘ultra-nationalists,’” Esposito said.
Muslims are rarely awarded the same credence.
In the European Union, with the exception of Germany, Sweden and a few other states, countries are engaged in a contest of who can make their home the least appealing to potential, mostly Muslim refugees.
Denmark, for example—long seen as a beacon of tolerance and understanding—recently passed new laws that force tired and helpless refugees to forfeit their most valuable possessions.
The situation isn’t any better in the United States.
Congress and presidential candidates are fighting over the White House’s promise to give refuge to a measly 10,000 Syrians.
The White House hasn’t applied enough pressure on regional allies like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and other Persian Gulf States to make them share the burden either.
The fact that many of the world’s major powers can’t get behind a resettlement policy to confront the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II is surprising.
The highly developed west and company are leaving millions of weary, war torn refugees to an unstable and unsafe future because of a made up fear of Muslims.
Source: The Channels
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