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?

Mediterranean Sea: Hedonism vs. Tragedy

We had a very interesting discussion on hedonism in my French class this week.  The chapter titled "Plaisirs" in our textbook contains a segment introducing French philosopher Michel Onfray, who is described as a hedonist, atheist and anarchist.  It's been a long time since I last heard the word hedonism in any context and I could not immediately define it if I had to, but I would certainly link it to pleasure.  The revelation of what the word means in different cultures was intriguing and thought-provoking.

The American students in the class commented that "hedonism" has a negative connotation in the United States because it describes the tendency to put one's own enjoyment before duty and responsibility, in the extreme cases doing it at the expense of others. 

The French teacher was incredulous. She said the word is very positive in France where it describes people who pay attention to beauty and generally want to make the world a joyful place.

Onfray, quoted in the textbook from a radio interview, said that a pessimist sees the world worse than it is, an optimist sees it better than it is, and a hedonist sees it as it really is, which is tragic.  Therefore, Onfray said, a hedonist is better equipped to offer antidote for the tragic.

After this lively discussion, I proceeded to my office where a plethora of bad news awaited: bombings, killings, water shortages, and the ongoing tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea, where on that particular day 400 migrants drowned while the luckier ones just barely made it to the Greek and Italian shores.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YASfrgnSfOU

No sooner did I finish my story, than 700 more drowned off the coast of Libya in an attempt to cross the sea to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

"Vergogna" wrote my Italian friend Antonio Guizzetti on his Facebook page. "Shame! The Mediterranean Sea which was once a cradle of civility, where the Greeks and the Muslims came to trade with others, today is a deplorable cemetery with thousands of dead at its bottom," he said.  "Meanwhile, the Italian government is spending billions of Euros to buy U.S. F-15 war planes and EU leaders are blackmailing Greece for a few billion in debt." 

I used to think of the Mediterranean as an ultimate hedonist paradise - a place where one sits under a palm tree with a cool drink, breathing in the pine-scented air, while Zephyrus sends gentle breezes from the sea.  The region is now increasingly linked to the images of death and suffering.  What is a hedonist's antidote?  Surely not blotting out the dark side of the region's dual reality?  Is it possible to enjoy a pricy cocktail at a French Riviera bistro, knowing that not too far away people are dying of thirst in some rickety boat.  And how enjoyable is dipping in the sea with thousands of dead bodies at its bottom?  

Quoting 18th-century moralist Nicolas Chamfort, Onfray said the imperative of hedonism is to have pleasure and give pleasure to others, without hurting anyone.  Our goal should be to maximize the pleasure and minimize the pain for ourselves as well as for the others.  It seems that many would-be hedonists today conveniently forget this important stipulation - "as well as for the others."  

Yet, when you come back home, exhausted from work and burdened with your own problems, how much mental and physical energy do you still have to dwell on the troubles of others? Don't you need to blot out the negative and seek at least a little peace if not outright pleasure? Many Greeks and Italians rightfully ask who is going to take care of the immigrants in the countries that have their own problems to worry about.

European Union leaders are planning an ad hoc summit to discuss what can be done.  Angela Merkel said the bloc should go after the smugglers who put people's lives in danger, and work to alleviate the problems that cause mass migrations from some parts of the world.  

Most urgently of all, she said, Europe has to stop the dreadful deaths on its own thresholds. Her plan is good, although it reminds me of a quote from the Bible saying "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."  It would take a lot of flesh to stem the widespread poverty and violence that cause people to flee their homes and risk life and limb on a journey into the unknown that can take more than a year.  

Around the world, more money and effort is spent on wars and the production of arms, including improvised explosive devices, than on education.  Philosophy, which is still taught at high-school level in many European countries, is an unlikely subject in the countries beset by violence.  Onfrey's and Chamfort's ideas have little chance of taking root in sub-Saharan Africa or in the Middle East.  But Plautus's "homo homini lupus" seems to be widespread, especially among those who have never heard the phrase.  

To end on an encouraging note, hedonism in its real sense is not completely dead.  Here is a heartwarming example:

http://www.voanews.com/content/german-program-helps-migrants-overcome-traumatic-experience-at-sea/2728275.html

When next I enjoy a cocktail under a pine tree on the Dalmatian coast, it will be in the hope of getting inspired to do more to alleviate the pain of others.