Jewish refugees aboard MS St. Louis, 1939. Wikicommons/ PD-US. Public domain.Empathy can be defined as standing in the shoes of another person, of walking a few miles in those shoes. It is an imaginative activity aimed at understanding the perspectives and feelings of others in order to guide one’s own actions.
Entering into empathy with others is often cited as a source of peacebuilding, integration, an aid to bridging social divides, increased understanding and compassion. Widely understood to be a beneficial process for cohesive and just societies, and recognised as a fundamental part of being human, it is hard to see much evidence of this kind of empathy in European politics towards the current refugee crisis.
Seizure of assets and painting doors red
In a move which has raised chilling historical comparisons, the governments of Denmark and Switzerland recently passed legislation permitting the seizure of refugees’ assets of value. Along with Germany, Austria, France, Hungary and others, Sweden has closed its borders and restricted freedom of movement between Sweden and Denmark. In the UK asylum seekers have been made to wear wristbands at all times with the threat of not being fed if they fail to do so. In the UK asylum seekers have been made to wear wristbands at all times with the threat of not being fed if they fail to do so, and to live in accommodation with doors painted red; measures intended to clearly identify them which have resulted in expressions of violence and racism. At the same time, the UK government resists its obligations to unite refugees in Calais with family members already in Britain. Moreover, in the face of contrary expert advice, the British government recently declared Eritrea safe to return to, thus facilitating the rejection of Eritrean asylum applications. Both the 2016 Shaw Report commissioned by the Home Office on the ‘Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Peoples’ and the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Refugees and Migration Inquiry into the ‘Use of Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom’ reported callous and unacceptable conditions in UK detention centres. Meanwhile, the French government permits refugees to live in conditions in Calais and Dunkirk which lack even basic sanitation and shelter.
