Re:What Refugees Bring When They Run for Their Lives
by erkkie on Wednesday September 16, 2015 @05:24AM
(#10225508)
It's not purely a compassion thing by any means, don't get me wrong, Eastern European countries by large are racist, but they're also still dealing with the aftermath of previous (forced) migration during the Soviet times.
Families still remember their property being taken away and re-purposed, the (huge, up to one third of population) Russian minorities in the Baltic States by large have not integrated well over many generations now.
Fresh memories of the past and issues still present (understandably) spawn distrust and xenophobia among the locals.
Unfortunately, the unspoken truth is that Eastern European countries have a huge unaddressed problem of deep racism. They have not gone through the experience of being target for economic mass-migration from other continents yet, unlike most Western European countries have been for more than 50 years now (and still struggle with the issue occasionally, but with much softer undertones). Countries like Hungary will do the bare minimum required to keep their EU funding and will likely not even try to really help these people, which means the quota system might end up being an exercise in futility. We still have to try though, it's the only solution. We must hope our Eastern fellows will eventually find the compassion to change their ways.