U.S., European authorities clamp down on refugees

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VOL. 34, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. / CANADA $1 A huge number of refugees have been flowing across European borders in the last year, and this great mi­ gration crisis has had reverberations in the United States as well, where over 100,000 migrants fleeing violence in Central America arrived in 2015.

As of Dec. 21, more than a million refugees have crossed into Europe; three to four times the number who arrived in Europe during 2014. They come via Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Malta, and Cyprus, the vast majority making their desperate journey over sea in rubber dinghies or other flimsy boats.

Conditions along the journey are extremely danger­ ous. In April, a boat carrying over 800 migrants cap­ sized in the sea off of Libya. In late December, Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian child, drowned in Tur­ key, sparking a global outcry. In all, over 3695 people have died this year while trying to cross into Europe.

So where is this flood of desperate humanity coming from? What would cause them to leave their families and their lives behind to risk everything on such a dangerous journey?

The top 10 countries of origin for the refugees arriv­ ing in Europe today are: Syria, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Albania, Pakistan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Serbia, and Ukraine. They are fleeing war, poverty, and political strife in their countries of origin—conflicts in large part fueled by the greedy reach of capitalism and im­ perialism.

The number of Syrian refugees fleeing their wartorn country has surged in 2015, fueling the largest wave of refugees to hit Europe since World War II. “I have no choice. Its either here or the hell of there,” said Mohammed, a resident of a refugee camp in a recent interview with the London Independent. “I couldn’t stay in Syria.”

So, where are the refugees going once they arrive in Europe? So far, Germany has received the highest amount of asylum applications—315,000 by Octo­ ber 2015—but their records show that over 1 mil­ lion people have arrived so far. Hungary is in second place for asylum applications, and Sweden has taken in more refugees per capita than any other European nation. But this is meeting just a small portion of the growing need. So far, only 184,665 asylum applica­ Boston climate march — 2 Mumia’s medical fight — 4 Indonesia / Venezuela — 3 Syria & imperialism — 5 Labor Briefing — 3 China’s environment — 6

CHINA’s

struggles See page 6 Laszlo Balogh / Reuters (Above) Macedonian cops try to stop migrants from entering the country from Greece.

tions out of a total of 570,000 have been approved in Moreover, all this is starting to change. As the flood of migrants shows no sign of slowing down, Europe­ an leaders are beginning to crack down on refugees (especially those they deem “illegal”), putting yearly caps in place and increasing border security. EU min­ isters voted in September 2015 to relocate 120,000 refugees EU wide, which applies for now to 66,000 refugees in Italy and Greece.

Sweden is now deploying more border patrols and slashing benefits for refugees. Dozens of migrants are bedding down in a tent camp in frigid temperatures, while many others are being turned back at the train station as they arrive. Hungary has lined its borders with razor wire, while Macedonia has implemented strict controls to keep out migrants from countries other than Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria—a measure (continued on page 4, in “Mumia’s fight for medical treatment”)

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