Croatia: Refugees Ante Portas

A Croatian friend from Las Vegas sends me an e-mail from our native Zagreb which she is visiting after several years of absence. She says she has shelved any plans for a possible retirement in the old country, and that even future visits are in question. Why? She finds the conversations too shallow, or "pouring from the hollow into the empty" as they say there, and people too grim-faced, xenophobic and generally mean-spirited, living beyond their means, pretending to be what they are not, and thinking they know everything - even if they have not stepped out of their backyard for the past quarter-century.

Of course she is exaggerating, but I know what she means. Over several past decades, I have made at least five or six - probably more - trips to Croatia. The conversations invariably revolved around local issues: prices and availability of goods and services, alleged incompetence of political leaders and local who-are-whos. Despite the popularity of American movies and TV shows, the distaste for the United States is widespread (it's the country that wants total control of the world, where danger lurks around every corner; goods are cheap and poor quality; high culture is non-existent, and the food is good enough only for the boat people). Washington is not worth a visit for these "intellectuals" in the country of "cultural traditions" dating back to King Tomislav. Only "refined" cities such as Paris, Rome, London or Vienna will do. As my Las Vegas friend notes, without ever visiting the United States, many of these people believe they know all they need to know about it, so the opportunity to learn first-hand from someone who actually lives there is passed up. During these many visits, I don't recall anyone asking me about my lifestyle, my career or my experience living in the United States. If I volunteer, the eyes glaze over and the subject is quickly changed.

Cafè in central Zagreb:  World News Not Discussed Here

Just recently, I attempted an e-mail discussion with an acquaintance in Zagreb about the averted train attack in Europe and the bravery of the Americans who subdued the heavily armed gunman. I thought surely that would be of interest to someone who lives on the continent and might travel on just such a train. The response was a total blank - the acquaintance had not heard about the incident. Neither had she heard of the Croatian worker who was kidnapped and beheaded by ISIS in Egypt. She does not read newspapers or watch TV news said this "educated" person with a published book or two behind her belt. Such news are of no use to her. She feels sorry for the poor Croatian guy, she said, but the information I gave her only upsets her and has no other purpose. I was speechless. Of course she has the right to block out the unwanted information and, yes, the news overall are mostly depressing. But can an intellectual, even a fiction writer as opposed to a journalist, live in a vacuum - in a personal bubble protected from the infections from the outside world? I guess so.

Today's news (September 17) is "dismal" for Croatia. Thousands of migrants poured in through the border with Serbia as they head for Western Europe. Unprepared for the crowds the size of a small Croatian town, the border authorities were overwhelmed and what they hoped would be an orderly passage turned into chaos. Even those willing to help the exhausted, desperate and angry people were taken aback. An estimated 14,000 migrants entered the country in just two days after being diverted from the Serbian border with Hungary, which is now sealed.

Refugees are not new to Croatia. The country hosted tens of thousands of people displaced by the 1990's ethnic conflict in the Balkans. But those refugees trickled in gradually, they were neighbors, some of them had relatives in Croatia and they spoke a language that can be understood. After the war, many returned to their homes and those who stayed were easily integrated.

Chaos on the Croatian Border with Serbia

The current waves comprise people from the Middle East and other remote foreign regions.  They don't plan to stay, but as a European Union member, Croatia will have to settle a certain number of the refugees that have reached Europe in the past few years. Many locals cringe at the idea of integrating people of such different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. 

During my school years in Zagreb, the handful of Middle-easterners and Africans in the town were young people from the so-called non-aligned countries, befriended by longtime Yugoslav leader Tito, and they came temporarily to study at the Zagreb University.  Only one of those students, a Kenyan,  became a permanent resident at the time.  But EU executives earlier this month said each member nation should accept 160,000 migrants. Even one third of that figure would create a huge impact on the Slavic country with few and not so diverse minorities.  Maybe that's a jolt that Croatia, Hungary and some other eastern European countries need to realize that they are part of an increasingly global world, despite barbed-wire fences they may put up.

The barbarity of the Balkan conflict stunned the world in the early 1990's. By the time observers recovered from their stupor, tens of thousands of people were massacred, tortured and displaced. The world is now equally stunned by (and therefore unprepared to accommodate or process) the number of people risking life and limb to escape the new places of conflict, popping up in the developing world. Why the surprise? Could it be because too many "intellectuals" block out distressing news and choose to live protected in their comfortable bubbles?

Muslim Communities: U.S. vs. Europe

Islamic State militants are waging a war of terror in an effort to create a state stretching from northern Syria into Iraq.  According to the latest CIA estimate there could now be more than 31,000 of them.  A growing number of foreign fighters from Europe, the United States and elsewhere are joining IS ranks. 

The Soufan group, an international security consulting firm, estimates that about 700 are from France, 800 from Russia, almost 300 from Britain and about 100 from the United States.  According to these figures, the number of American Muslims answering the call to jihad seems relatively small.  Some analysts say this is because American Muslims are generally more integrated in local society than their counterparts in Europe.

Two recent studies, one funded by the German government, found that the majority of Muslims believe that Islamic Sharia law should take precedence over the secular constitutions and laws of their European host countries.

“There is a new wall rising in the city of Berlin,” wrote German author and sociologist Peter Schneider a few years ago in reaction to the murder of a young Turkish girl by her own brother. The girl had "shamed" her family by leaving a husband they forced her to marry. Schneider said that the majority of Berliners have not crossed the invisible barrier separating the affluent central and northern districts of the city from the suburbs housing some 300-thousand Muslims.

Germany has more than three-and-a-half million Muslims, 70 percent of whom are Turks and Kurds. They started arriving in the 1950s and helped fuel the country’s post-war economic boom. They were called “Gastarbeiter”, or guest workers, because they were expected to eventually return to their home countries. But most of them stayed and were joined by their families. Their children and often grandchildren were born in Germany. France, Italy and Scandinavian countries also have growing Muslim populations. 

James Zogby

James Zogby, President of the Arab-American Institute in Washington, says Germany and many other European societies still consider generations of immigrants as temporary laborers.

“They may have come as guest workers, but today they are stake holders, " said Zogby. "They are fundamentally tied to the countries they are in. There is no way that they are not going to be there. The host countries need them. They have sunk roots deep into the country, but they have been alienated.”

Since World War II, Muslims have settled in many parts of Western Europe -- some in search of a better living, others to flee the post-colonial disorder or ethnic violence in their home countries. Although circumstances vary from country to country, European societies for years have been reluctant to embrace newcomers from different cultures.

According to Zogby, it is much easier for Muslims to become Americans.

“The process of naturalization is much more accessible to immigrants, but also the process of becoming American means more than just getting citizenship. It means that you also get a new identity. You also get an attachment to a new culture. You also get a new sense of who you are and, in the process, the idea of being American changes because all of us become different. We are today a different America than we were a hundred years ago.”

An American today can be portrayed as Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, or a woman wearing a head scarf. "This was not a case a century ago," noted Zogby. "But images of French, German or Italian citizens have changed little to reflect growing immigrant populations."

Leena El-Ali, program director for the non-profit conflict resolution group Search for Common Ground, said many Muslim immigrants have come to the United States in search of higher education. And many of them came independently, she said.

“In other words, a son would come and soon afterwards perhaps a sister would follow, then a father, than a mother, etc. But the point of entry, to a large extent, was education. [They came] in a search of higher education, a better education. And then they would stay. In Europe, perhaps because it’s a lot closer to the Middle East in particular, they [i.e., the Muslims] tend to be entire families who emigrated. So you find in France that you have entire North African families. You have in the UK entire families, Middle Eastern, but particularly Indian subcontinent Asians: Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis. In Germany you find entire Turkish families, and so on.”

Observers note that most American Muslims, especially those born in the United States, are successful businessmen, scholars, professionals or highly skilled workers. And most are integrated into mainstream society. In contrast, few Turks in Germany, Moroccans in France or Pakistanis in Britain, for example, have progressed beyond low-skilled jobs. When unemployment rises, it does so at a higher rate for immigrants and their children who often live in, what many observers call, immigrant ghettos.

Young Muslims without prospects for the future are easy pray to radicals offering a religious explanation for their misery and jihad as a way out of it.  Some of them end up performing atrocities for Islamic State. 

Islam is the third largest religion in the United States. The exact number of adherents is a matter of debate because the U.S. Census does not include a question about religious affiliation.  Estimated figures range between about 4 million and 8 million.  About half a million of these Muslims are of foreign origin.  

Sulayman Nyang, Professor of Islam and African studies at Howard University in Washington, warns that new waves of poor and uneducated Muslim refugees in some U.S. cities are beginning to live in similar circumstances as their counterparts in Europe. 

 “One thing that is happening to the American-Muslim community is that the gradual increase in the number of refugees from Afghanistan, Somalia and other places, is beginning to dilute the solidity of the Muslim economic presence in America,” said Nyang.

Sociologists warn that poor education, poverty, unemployment and a sense of alienation could turn some Muslims in the United States away from mainstream society, and efforts must be made to prevent that from happening. 

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Further reading:

Peter Morici: Terrorism is inspired and financed by the failings of the global economy

http://www.theglobalist.com/isis-blame-germany-and-china/

Christians are Leaving the Middle East

January 2006

The Cradle of Christianity Is Losing Its Christians

There are between 12- and 15-million Christians in the Middle East, almost half of them living in Egypt. The exact figures are hard to establish because of the lack of official records and continued migration. Lebanon, with slightly more than one-million Christians, has the highest ratio: about 30 percent of its population is Christian. Most other Middle Eastern countries are less then 10 percent Christian.

Church of Nativity, Bethlehem

Demographers say the Christian population has declined noticeably in most Middle Eastern countries since the beginning of the 20th century. Fred Strickert, professor of religion at Wartburg College in Iowa, says Christians became a minority in the Middle East after the spread of Islam during the 7th Century, but they continued to play an important role, until the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
 
"In 1908, there was an internal revolution. They called it the Young Turks' revolt. A new group of people came into power and many of them were very biased against the Christians," says Strickert. "They were attempting to draft them into the army and things like that. There was a mass migration from all places in the Middle East - Lebanon, Syria, and Jerusalem - and, by then, many of the Christians, partly because of Christian missionaries, had benefited from schools and hospitals, and sought better conditions in the West for economics. And so, there was a large migration at the very beginning of the 20th Century."
 
Strickert says emigration of Christians continued in the second half of the 20th century, due to armed conflicts, economic hardship or persecution. He says many Christians emigrated to the west, because it has been relatively easy for them. Most of them are educated, and, therefore, employable, and they have enjoyed support from Christians in the west. Low birth rates are another important cause of the Christian population decline in the region, says Strickert. For example, he says, Lebanon was more than half Christian in the 1920's and 1930's. Today, Christians account for less than one third of its population.
 
"In 1930, census was taken in Lebanon, and on the basis of that census, the government was arranged to have a certain percent of Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shi'ite Muslims, etc. and Christians had a significant number there. The Shi'ite Muslims, who were basically in the southern part of Lebanon, grew at a very rapid rate, simply because they had very high birth rate, while the Christians were dropping slowly."

Strickert says there also appears to be a decline in Christian populations in
Iraq and territories under Palestinian control.  A 2003 Israeli study shows that about 12.000 Christians fled historically Christian Palestinian towns, such as Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala, since the Palestinian uprising began in 2000.  Some Palestinians blame the Israeli government's security measures, such as building a security barrier between parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank.
 
"Bethlehem is especially hard hit by the wall," says Philip Farah, a Washington area Palestinian-American who left the region in 1975. "The wall cuts through a lot of people's properties. And if the property is cut by the separation wall, then they stand to lose the part of the property that is on the other side." Philip Farah says the security barrier, as well as Israeli checkpoints make it very hard for Christians from the West Bank and Gaza to maintain business, family and social ties with Christians in Israel. He says many who were able to leave, have done so.
 
Israelis say the number of Christians in Israel has not declined. There has actually been a slight increase, bringing the total number of Christians close to 120-thousand. "In Israel they [the Christians] have a small percentage of increase, that is 1.4 pecent of increase per year, which is about the same as that of the Jews in Israel," says Daphne Tsimhoni, a professor of modern Middle East History at Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology.
 
Leon Hadar, a Middle East analyst and author of the book, Sandstorm: Policy Failure in the Middle East, says attitudes toward Christians in Israel may be changing. "There is an interesting development, in which some of the Russian immigrants who came to Israel, probably around 300-thousand to half-a-million are not Jewish, says Mr. Hadar. "They are Christians. And it is quite possible that, if that community - we are not talking about an Arab-Christian community, but an Israeli Hebrew-speaking community - becomes integrated into Israeli society, Israel will become less and less of an exclusive Jewish state, and will become more open to integrating Christians into Israeli society."
 
Some observers say Christians in the Middle East have fared better under secular governments. Jonathan Adelman, professor of political science at the University of Denver, Colorado, says the rise of fundamentalist Islam is a concern.
 

Church Burning, Egypt 2013

"When they hear that Sharia law needs to be introduced, which basically means that Christians cannot testify in court as equals, that they are inferior - this is something that is very hard for any minority in the world, does not matter if they are Christians or not - very hard to understand or to accept in the 21st century, which is about tolerance and is about modernity. That's why we've had millions of them get up and flee to other parts of the world, where they don't feel threatened."
 
Jonathan Adelman and other analysts say the world should pay attention to the exodus of Christians from the Middle East, because many of those leaving belong to the educated middle class, and tend to be more open to the western democratic ideals. More importantly, adds Tsimhoni, the exodus of Christians represents a loss for Middle Eastern societies and they should make more effort to embrace them in their midst.