Vector Volume 11 Issue 1 - 2017

Just two weeks after Dukhan’s letter was
published by Al Jazeera, Trump signed an
executive order banning people from seven
predominantly Muslim countries, including Syria,
from entering the United States (US) for 90
days. The order also placed a blanket ban on
all refugees for 120 days, and Syrian refugees
indefinitely.
of the highest number of forcibly displaced
persons since World War II and unfathomable
atrocities occurring throughout the Middle
East, northern Africa and many other parts of
the world. For many people – most notably the
young and highly educated – these events were
taken to be a clear marker of racism and an
unwillingness to accept difference.
But they were also each the result of a free,
democratic vote. They reflected the view of the
majority. Further, to pass them off as simply
racist, or a blip in the global political agenda,
would be naive and counter-productive.
The ban is currently suspended thanks to a
federal judge temporarily blocking the executive
order, but Trump’s message can be heard loud
and clear. His response to the Syrian War and
the current refugee crisis is to look the other
way; to close the doors to those most in need
of help.
When I first watched the video of Abdulazez
Dukhan’s letter to Trump, I was brought to tears.
Dukhan’s poignant words brought the horrors he
had endured suddenly to life. For a moment, I felt
I was able to gain a tiny glimpse into the harsh
reality of life for the millions of Syrians living in
a conflict zone.
Perhaps this should not come as too much of
a surprise. Trump’s protectionism and stance on
immigration are neither novel nor unexpected.
Rather, they can be viewed as a symptom of
a broader rise in nationalism, in response to a
global refugee crisis that continues to worsen.
2016 was a year of many things, but
prominent among them were nationalism,
division, and an increasingly powerful global
Right. Brexit and the rise of an assortment of
right-wing parties defined politics in Europe.
Across the Atlantic, Trump was elected to the
Oval Office on a fervent anti-establishment and
pro-US, protectionist agenda. Back home in
Australia, we saw the re-emergence of Pauline
Hanson and her far-right, anti-immigration One
Nation party.
All these events occurred in the context
This visceral response is by no means
unusual or unexpected. It is the same as the
West’s response to the ‘boy in the ambulance’
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