(un)selective humanity

Of course we support the Ukrainians!?In a world where nations are increasingly polarized, this is finally a cause that most everyone in the West can agree on and unite behind. We know who the good guys are. ?And that, in itself, is a great relief.

The Ukrainians are going through hell on earth. They are incredibly brave and resilient in the face of sudden and completely unprovoked oppression and tyranny. We are watching these people who "look like us” live a national tragedy in real time. They represent a “best self” that we all aspire to, while we knock on wood that nothing like this ever happens to us. They are our bulwark against Putin’s ruthless and arbitrary willingness to stop at nothing- including the use of nuclear weapons. And Zelenksy is a leader in the great sense, a role model for his people, an all-too-rare head of state who seems to have no feet of clay, a man who has the courage to choose to stay in his besieged city at the risk of his life and that of his family.

Yet this upsurge of generosity and fellowship, however unifying the outreach, may also seem disturbingly selective in its beneficiaries. We Europeans have opened our homes, our wallets and our hearts to the Ukrainians - and rightly so- but what about the others, the previous waves of people still fleeing war, torture, and innumerable forms of oppression?

This is not the first time that Putin has done this. He has flattened the beautiful, ancient city of Aleppo in Syria and is continuing to destroy that country, without international outcry.

?For example, while I was heartened to read in one article that in this week’s press that Calais has offered hotel rooms and youth hostel beds to Ukrainian refugees, this same week, the local French press announced that Nathalie Bouchart, mayor of Calais, has signed a decree forbidding the distribution of meals to migrants for fear of attracting an influx.These rough-sleeping migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from other countries further to the south and the east of Europe have long been daily evicted and systematically pursued and persecuted by police in Calais by order of the French government in collaboration with the British Home office.

Not everyone who wants to apply for asylum in the UK would qualify for it. But the Home Office’s Catch 22 is that to enter the UK one must already have a visa or passport but to request asylum, one must already be in the UK.

In this period of Lent, we who consider ourselves cultural Christians may heed the words from Matthew:

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

A REFUGEE is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. An ASYLUM SEEKER is a person who has left their home country as a political refugee and is seeking asylum in another. There is no reference to race, creed or colour in either of these two key definitions.