AYS Special: Voices from the ground -the ‘NGO Dilemma’
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Refugees, Ngo, Special, Humanitarian Aid, Solidarity

◆ Why are we here?

◆ What are we actually doing here?

◆ Why do we assume these responsibilities and obligations, instead of those who should be accountable for them?

◆ How much longer can this ‘placeholder’ solution go on?

These are the sort of questions that occupy the thoughts of many, while at the same time they are managing what can be rather serious situations in highly volatile, and occasionally dangerous, circumstances. The ‘NGO dilemma’ describes exactly this ambivalent attitude which many volunteers, social workers, or ‘solidarians’ have experienced.

This is the dilemma of knowing that your work will cover for someone else’s responsibilities — someone with much more resources and authority — but knowing that, if you refuse, the first ones to get hurt will certainly be the most vulnerable. Because, at the end of the day, there has to be someone there to handle the situation — but who will this someone be?

The two of us have been working in Greece for two and three years, respectively. One of the first questions we asked ourselves was whether or not grassroots NGOs with their efforts are helping people or actually enabling the lack of an effective governmental response to the ongoing ‘crisis’.

We observed how easily, in this proclaimed ‘state of emergency‘, authorities defer their duties so that NGOs as well as the local communities find themselves more or less alone in a very precarious situation.

Back in January, when we met on the island of Samos while volunteering, we found ourselves sharing opinions with many people working on the ground. That is when we came up with the idea of reaching out to other, more experienced people to collect their thoughts about the ‘NGO Dilemma’. In this way, we got an insight into the feelings of the people involved, and a general picture of what people expect — or fear — will happen within this constantly changing situation.

When we left Samos at the end of January, the first cases of coronavirus were already being discussed in Europe. Then, on February 27th, Turkey decided to ‘open the gates’ to Europe and use innocent people as pawns in the ongoing political game between Brussels and Ankara. Greece and Bulgaria reacted immediately, and predictably it was a reaction marked by security and military priorities, rather than humanitarian ones.

On the Aegean islands, there was a huge increase of fascist and racist attacks against refugee communities, as well as against volunteers and locals offering their support. Such hate crimes were not limited to the Greek islands: people on the move and ‘solidarians’ were targeted and attacked in many parts of Europe and especially along the Balkans, where fear has always affected the societal perception of the refugee issue.

Even though the turbulent months at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 saw many changes concerning the work of grassroots NGOs, we kept asking people to participate in our small survey, sharing their experiences in the field and answering the following questions:

◆ If all NGOs were to leave tomorrow, what would happen? ◆ Who would step in and do something about the needs of refugees and who would witness what’s happening?

Below are some of the answers we received