The refugee crisis in Qatar doesn’t make many news headlines, though I guess that’s unsurprising. It’s hard to have a crisis when the proportional increase in population level amounts to a whopping 0.06%. Admittedly, this ‘influx’ has no stated cut-off point and, looking ahead, it could go up significantly. Imagine, for example, that the already soaring grain prices in poorer Arab countries leads to political insurrections, warfare, and then another mass exodus of refugees.
Then again, don’t bother. If Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons and Islamic State’s public beheadings have led to 189 refugees gaining asylum to date (no, the number hasn’t had any zeros lopped off) then the oil-rich emirate won’t take inter-Arab solidarity that far. What it will do, on the other hand, is call out other regions of the world for showing the virtue its government sorely lacks.
In an interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network, Serena Parekh of Northeastern University has done sterling work in this regard. Having contrasted Europe’s policies toward Syrian refugees with those toward Ukrainians, she knows the conclusion that is expected of her: “We can see this as a kind of racism. That because certain asylum seekers share our race, they are more deserving of help than others. It is the use of race to deny people the rights, aid and protection.”
You probably saw this coming. If not, be prepared to hear it again from sources closer to home, some of whom may follow Prof. Parekh’s lead in suggesting that we – ‘we’ being Europe and the UK, not Qatar and the other Gulf States – should offer future refugees of every provenance the same privileges as those that have been granted Ukrainians. Say what you will in response, the latter proposition will prove a worthwhile motion to debate and, more than that, an unavoidable one. After almost two years of stultifying coronavirus lockdowns, the general public will shortly be asked to shake the cobwebs away and decide where they stand on this point.
In the interests of fairness, therefore, it’s reassuring to know that Europe is a racist continent. Not that we aren’t doing our best. I mean, under the circumstances and everything. Nor should it bother anyone that Vladimir Putin indulged in precisely the same sort of language, urging his forces to de-Nazify a country that is led by a Jewish president, well before the Al Jazeera interview. After all, if we grant that Europeans are incorrigible racists, how much of a stretch would it be to accept the premise that Ukrainians are neo-Nazis? The timing of these accusations, though purely coincidental, was quite exquisite and, for all that, might have been just about excusable if Prof. Parekh had not unblushingly delivered her opinions through Al Jazeera.
On the question of Al Jazeera’s qualities, one need not dwell at length. Suffice to say that, as a platform for astute criticism of Arab politics (including those of its Qatari homeland), its reputation exceeds that of most other Middle Eastern media. Other networks of recent vintage, such as mainland China’s somnolent CGTN or the gasket-bursting RT, aka Russia Today, either haven’t been granted the same liberties or choose not to exercise them.
All of which is simply to say that there was nothing inevitable about the turn the interview took. Al Jazeera’s remit was carte blanche, if you’ll allow a slightly colour-inflected idiom (one has to be careful these days, being European and you-know-what). There might, for example, have been a full-throated declaration of support, particularly for Eastern Europe, though I suppose that’s asking a bit much. Never mind. For the sake of argument, let’s imagine that continental Europe and the UK have shown, now show, and may continue to show a positive bias toward European refugees over those from further afield. Presumably that would make these lands an outlier in international affairs, fit only for ridicule according to the better standards others have shown.
Very well, then. We may look forward to receiving just such a message, particularly when those 189 mostly Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Qatar are joined by significant numbers of non-Arab and, let’s be generous, a few non-Muslim refugees for good measure. These needn’t be Ukrainians, though swapping Mariupol for Doha would surely strike some as a good idea. But where, pray tell, are the refugees from Ethiopia’s Tigray War? Where are the Congolese from the ongoing Kivu conflict? Al Jazeera has lauded Qatar for the unprecedented assistance it provided to thousands of Afghan refugees, which sounds promising – until one realises that they are expected to move on to destinations elsewhere.
It’s tempting to cry foul and say that there’s no point in levelling accusations against Europe when the accuser is standing on such thin ice. But on second thought, that is entirely the point. It draws away unwanted attention and is especially reliable when the new object of attention has self-accused on so many past occasions that a repeat performance is all but guaranteed. Now, admittedly, once the debate over Europe’s future immigration policies kicks into high gear the Al Jazeera interview will recede into the past. Can one truly say, then, that it was poorly timed? Only by the standards of good taste. But as a ‘hit and run’ exercise? Actually, no. Not a bit of it.
Daniel McKay
