Lot's Wife Edition 1 2016

OPINION
Flüchtlingskrise
By Ben Neve
Illustration by Ruby Kammoora
In Germany the so called ‘Flüchtlingskrise’
(refugee crisis) is well and truly still in full swing.
For a while in Australia, our screens were filled
every night with images of refugees on their way
to Germany, walking the majority of the marathon
journey from Lesbos, Greece to Munich. These kinds
of pictures appear far less frequently nowadays,
which might lead one to believe that things have
calmed down; but they most certainly have not.
Apart from the continuing mass influx of people,
there came on New Year’s Eve the shocking news
that 1016 women had allegedly been subjected to
sexual advances or even sexual assault in Cologne
at the hands of – by accounts – a large group of
Arab/North African migrants. Many politicians latch
on to such stories to demonstrate the danger of such
a large intake of refugees and the strain it places on
screening and application processes. Such events,
as portrayed in the media do not bode well for the
reputation of incoming refugees. To complicate
matters even further the governing party in the
German state of Bavaria, where most of the refugees
arrive, is the Christian Social Union (CSU), a relatively
conservative political group whose opinions on the
issue fly right in the face of Angela Merkel’s hitherto
‘open door’ policy.
For the past five weeks I have been staying
in the German village of Kaufugen, which is close
to a medium sized city called Kassel in the centre
of Germany. I’ve seen what most definitely were
recently arrived refugees, I’ve seen economic
migrants, and I’ve had the chance to talk to many
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