AYS Daily Digest: 5/9/19: Political rhetoric killing solidarity
By: Caroline Brogden
Tags: Digest, Turkey, Europe, Greece, Refugees

FEATURED

“…A bit in ruins”

A statement by the new Danish Social Democratic Integration minister Mattias Tesfaye from an interview with the national public service has sparked a public debate.

In connection to the issue formerly described in our previous News Digest editions on voluntary return from Denmark to Syria, in the interview the minister claimed to understand well that some of the Syrian refugees would have a wish to return to their home country with the following words:

“If they believe that the peace has returned and that they do not risk persecution, then I can understand that they would like to return home and rebuild the land that in some places is a bit in ruins.”

The statement and the wording “some places a bit in ruins” has been attacked by among others the Danish-Syrian doctor Haifaa Awad, who, illustrated by a series of photos from Ghouta in Syria before and after the war writes:

All of our homeland, memories and lives are very much in ruins.

He expounds further:

“As a Danish-Syrian doctor who has worked in Syria and whose former working places are now insanely VERY in ruins, along with colleagues that have been killed, I am quite upset by the minister’s choice of words!

I am upset that the biggest humanitarian disaster of recent times is being referred to by our minister as Syria ‘(…) is in some places a bit in ruins.’

This is the disaster that taught me how to tie the ribbon on body bags as a doctor, and how to tell parents that their children have died of chlorine gas or cardiac arrest, the disaster that on a DAILY basis still inflicts genocide on civilians and where we see international humanitarian law being violated by the Russians and Assad regime in their CONSCIOUS bombings of hospitals, health facilities, and doctors. It is the disaster that has killed countless journalists, activists and human rights defenders. It’s the carnage that doesn’t stop!

…I would like to ask the Minister to familiarize himself with Syria’s horrific situation and use his words wisely. “A bit in ruins,” does not describe the death of almost 1 million people, the complete collapse of a country or the countless war crimes, that we do not react to in Denmark and as a world community.”

Also reacting is the well-known Danish author and pundit Carsten Jensen, who on his Facebook page states:

“In an interview with Denmark’s Radio (TV DR), he calls Syria a country that is ‘in a bit of ruins.’”

…But he did not say that here are only a few ruins in Syria. Because then the lie would become too obvious, as we have all seen the images of Aleppo and Raqqua that appear completely bombarded from the air.

Jensen alleges that Tesfayes aims with the choice of the word “a bit” for a psychological effect, just as when you say to children that a vaccination sting in the arm will only hurt “a little bit.” He trivializes the devastation in Syria, and he does so with a language like we were children. The meaning is not, as it was for (the former right-wing Integration minister) Inger Støjberg to enrage us when it comes to those damned refugees.

We just have to fail to empathize with them so that we can respond to their suffering with a shrug.

This kind of rhetoric has unfortunately become a common place in every day communication, both public and private, in all of our towns, cities, and communities across the continent. We all must react, whether it comes from a person in a place of power or someone we know, whether it concerns people on the move or those helping them, or someone is simply undermining our common human tragedy and responsibility, as is the case with the Danish politician.

In solidarity!