Archive for the ‘Migrant Crisis’ Category

I dont know why the migrant crisis surprised us – The Indian Express

In an interview, youve said that the film Meel Patthar (Milestone, released on Netflix on May 7, premiered at last years Venice International Film Festival) tells you where you are and how much further you have to go. Could you explain?

That was about why Id named the film Meel Patthar (Milestones). Milestones tell you where you are and how far you have to go. But in the film, its a weird sort of milestone, because even after 500,000 km, Ghalib has absolutely no idea hes achieved that. Theres just uncertainty.

Your debut feature Soni (2018) came as a reflection on the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. How did the idea for your second feature come about?

I was always interested in writing about the world. There are people in my extended family who have been truck drivers at some point in their lives and then went on to become transporters. Growing up, I had heard stories and this whole idea fascinated me that there is this individual whos just travelling all his life, but still kind of stuck within this little box. So, travelling but not really, travelling. This idea was an interesting paradox. Living outside India, I got a chance to discover more about this world. A lot of the transportation in the trucking business, especially in the US, is dominated by the Indian community. Originally, the idea was that of an immigrant truck driver. When I moved here (to India) after Soni, the idea then was to work in north India, especially Delhi. Delhi has Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, which, I think, is the biggest transportation zone in all of Asia. The place is quite appealing just from the image perspective alone. So, the film eventually became a film about a Punjabi truck driver who was working in Delhi.

You named your protagonists after poets Ghalib (Suvinder Vicky) and Pash (Lakshvir Saran), and theres a cameo by the young poet Aamir Aziz, too. How important was poetry to the film?

Initially, I wanted the driver to be an aspiring poet. But then that train of thought ran a bit hollow. I chose to stick with the names because I wanted to explore this thought, what if nobody mentions their names in the poetic context in the film. The names by themselves are meaningless in the story. Chances are, for the majority of the young audiences, barring those into literature and poetry, these names dont mean much, they will not know who these names belong to or what they mean. I felt it would be an interesting experiment to see how many people actually notice. But, overall, it was a cynical, pessimistic thought at work that the names are meaningless in the story. As for Aziz, we wanted someone who could play a union leader, who came from Bihar or Jharkhand, because most people who do the loading-unloading work are from there. When we got his (Azizs) audition, we didnt register who he was even though his face seemed familiar. Then, people were not familiar with his poetry yet.

Why arent the trucks in your film colourful and quirky like the ones we see on the roads and in Bollywood films?

There are both kinds of trucks in the trade. I decided not to show ostentatiously decorated trucks in the film because Ghalib isnt a kind of truck driver whos interested in doing that. He lives with a sense of detachment, does his work, and thats all. Hes aloof, not interested in making places he inhabits attractive. We had a whole casting process for the truck. Bollywood sees things in a different way and a certain kind of truck driver and bright trucks are a part of their film experience. They choose to portray them in that way: happy, loud and gregarious.

You finished shooting the film right before the lockdown last year. How do you think the truck drivers community has been dealing with the situation?

The truckers suffered immensely last year, because everything stopped. I think there was a period of almost two weeks when they didnt even allow many of the truck drivers to come on to the highways. I dont know why the migrant crisis surprised so many of us. What were they (migrant workers) supposed to do? This is the kind of thing that happens when you do things just out of pure impulse, without even understanding the consequences for a large majority of the country. This showed that people are only interested in saving themselves, even if it comes at the cost of throwing the ball under the bus. That they (migrant labourers) dont matter.

With rural-urban migration and woes of the urban working class as the films dominant themes, are you critiquing capitalism through Meel Patthar?

Ive always felt that they (truck drivers) are the backbone of our economy. The transportation business is essentially what makes civil life possible. The whole capitalistic system is still very much dependent on this industry, and yet, the sector ends up being at the receiving end of the injustices of the system. It is ironic that people who are probably at its core, end up becoming probably its biggest victims. A lot of them dont even realise it until its too late. You see that in the film through the strike of the loader (porters) and a veteran truck driver friend of Ghalib being laid off.

But Ive also tried to highlight other things, like how we expect too much from the urban working class. The scene where Ghalib is trying to walk up the stairs as the lift is out of use, he encounters the lift repairman, and the gas-cylinder-delivery man, I wanted to expose the world that exists outside of Transport Nagar, and how that world is also infested with the same injustices and tension. Its hard to pin down whose fault it is. Its the whole complexity of our modern Indian society. These are just observations that Im just trying to share with the audiences.

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I dont know why the migrant crisis surprised us - The Indian Express

Sunday Long Reads: Elderly in the pandemic, migrant crisis, seduction in the plant kingdom, and more – The Indian Express

How the elderly, among the most vulnerable victims of COVID-19, are braving the pandemic

After 57 years of marriage, she is newly single. Her husband died of COVID-19 in the last week of April. Her son, who was in the ICU at the time, is better now. The Pune-based senior citizen (who does not wish to be named) is aware that several members of her yoga club have also passed away. Nobody knows who will be next, so I have started calling up everybody, whose number I have, to talk. I dont know if I will get the chance to meet them again, she says.

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I dont know why the migrant crisis surprised us

In an interview, youve said that the film Meel Patthar (Milestone, released on Netflix on May 7, premiered at last years Venice International Film Festival) tells you where you are and how much further you have to go. Could you explain?

That was about why Id named the film Meel Patthar (Milestones). Milestones tell you where you are and how far you have to go. But in the film, its a weird sort of milestone, because even after 500,000 km, Ghalib has absolutely no idea hes achieved that. Theres just uncertainty.

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Three books to remember childrens author Subhadra Sen Gupta by

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Why it is timely to read Bhaswati Mukherjees fresh look into how Bengal negotiated Partition in Bengal and its Partition: An Untold Story

An impassioned and deeply-researched work, Bhaswati Mukherjees Bengal and Partition: An Untold Story is an invaluable contribution to the particular issues that animated politics in Bengal, a marginally Muslim-majority province, that distinguished it from the freedom movement in much of the rest of the country. It was not only, or indeed most significantly, the Hindu-Muslim demography of the province that gave it a unique perspective, but, overlaying these religious differences was the proud linguistic unity and syncretic cultural heritage that made Bengal different. (I would rate Chapter 6, The Struggle for identity: Language and Religion, as the most outstanding in the book).

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How seduction works in the world of flora

In the animal kingdom, its usually the male of the species that struts its stuff and tries to seduce the ladies, who will pick the most handsome, rugged and tough as her mate, checking out his looks and fitness and fighting capabilities. In the botanical world, a plant, rooted to the ground cannot wander around showing off, singing and dancing to seduce a mate. So, it employs the services of, what one could roughly say is, a marriage bureau to get itself a mate. This bureau has a host of mammals, insects and birds (and even the wind) on its rolls. And as there are no free lunches, these services have to be paid for in sweet nectar (sugar water, really), produced in glands called nectarines, and nourishing pollen.

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How Hindustani classical singer Aditya Modak trained to play the lead in The Disciple

Chaitanya Tamhanes film The Disciple opens with Pt Vinayak Pradhan (essayed deftly by Jaipur-Atrauli gharana classical singer Pt Arun Dravid) on the stage. The ageing vocalist, from Alwar gharana, is immersed in the glorious Jaunpuri (Jhanana bichhua baje), a raga that evokes wonder and bhakti bhaav. His accompanying disciple looks on in reverence, with eager nods and eyes that capture his desire to perform like his guru one day. Moments later, the setting shifts to the gurus room, who, with a teacup in hand, breaks down the raga to his promising shishya as Sharad Nerulkar (played by Hindustani classical artiste Aditya Modak), tanpura in hand, rote-learns and sings.

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How Raza Mirs Murder at the Mushaira looks back at the rebellious days of 1857

On a dark night in May 1857, a solitary man on horseback makes his way towards Shahjahanabad. Unrest had been fomenting in the countryside, bitter resentment spilling over from years of humiliation and abuse by the British, who had, since an obscure battle in Plassey, come to control greater parts of the country. Sarfaraz Laskar, the rider, knew that the time was ripe to flame that seething animosity into a full-blown rebellion if he could make his way to the seat of the etiolated Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, that is.

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Why Sanjaya Baru looks at the dismantling of an old order of power elites for a new ideological hegemony in Indias Power Elite: Caste, Class and Cultural Revolution

Debate on the constantly evolving power elite in India is not a new concept. The strength of Sanjaya Barus latest book, however, is its topicality. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the term power elite has acquired a new, thought-provoking, somewhat sinister inference. Modi, as Baru sees it, has dismantled the old order of power elites in Delhi and seeks to impose an unquestioning hegemonic domination on an ideological basis. Globalised upper-class intellectuals and liberals are suspect and to be replaced by middle-class Hindu nationalists who serve, ostensibly, the larger cause of Bharat as opposed to that of India. Any negation of the new faith is viewed with unconcealed hostility.

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Sunday Long Reads: Elderly in the pandemic, migrant crisis, seduction in the plant kingdom, and more - The Indian Express

US and Mexico vow to cooperate on border crisis – DW (English)

US Vice President Kamala Harrisheld a virtualmeeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel LopezObradoron Friday to discuss immigration policies.It was their second meeting in a month.

During the meeting, Harris and Lopez Obrador pledged to cooperate on resolving the roots ofillegal migration into the US.

Harrissaid the US and Mexicomust combat violence and corruption together, to help cut back migration from Central America.

"Most people don't want to leave home and when they do it is often because they are fleeing some harm or they are forced to leave because there are no opportunities," she said.

The two countries saidthey should work together on helping"Northern Triangle" countries El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras improve conditions and persuade migrants to stay home.

"It is in our countries' mutual interest to provide immediate relief to the Northern Triangle and to address the root causes of migration,"Harrissaid.

Lopez Obrador referred to the long-running issues of US-Mexican tensions over migration and said "we need to understand one another and avoid fighting."

"We are in agreement when it comes to the policies that you are undertaking when it comes to migration and we will help. That is what I can say as of now. You can count on us," he added.

The meeting comes at a time the Biden administration grapples with a surge in people crossing into the US at the southern border.

In March, President JoeBidentasked Harris with leading diplomatic efforts to decrease immigration from Mexico and Central America.

Biden raised the US's annual refugee cap on Monday to 62,500. It followedpressure from the Democratic party and refugee agencies after initially sticking by the historically-low Trump-era figure of 15,000.

Shortly before the scheduled call with Harris, Lopez Obrador sent a diplomatic note asking Washington to explain funding for Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a group critical of the Mexican government.

"It's promoting a form of coup," LopezObrador said,adding that the funding, which includes money from USAID, undermines Mexico's government and sovereignty.

"It is an interventionist act that violated our sovereignty That's why we're asking that (the U.S. government) clarifies this for us. A foreign government can't provide money to political groups," he said.

Later asked if he believed Washington was seeking to remove him from office, he said he did not think that was the case.

A large wall stretches into the Pacific Ocean at the beaches of San Diego and Tijuana, two populous cities separated by the US-Mexico border. It is one of the most secure areas of the frontier and is part of the 1100 kilometers (700 miles) of fencing that have been completed thus far.

The fight over how to secure the border has divided Republicans, who support more fencing, and Democrats, who argue that using technology is more effective. Experts estimate it would cost $15-25 billion (13-22 billion) to fully wall off the entire southern frontier.

Large swaths of the border are covered in desert, desolate and uninhabited. Many migrants try to cross these areas, where they fall victim to disorientation, dehydration and where the risk of death is high. Activists often leave water (pictured) and other supplies to help migrants survive the dangerous trek.

Roughly half of the 3,000-kilometer border falls along the snaking Rio Grande. Migrants regularly attempt to cross the river, either by swimming or on rafts. The calm appearance of the Rio Grande is deceitful, as it is a fast-moving river with dangerous currents.

The US-Mexico border is considered the most transited frontier in the world. Most of the movement takes place at the various points of entry, where lawful back-and-forth traffic and asylum-seekers meet. The Matamoros-Brownsville International Bridge (pictured) is one of 44 official points of entry and the last one before the border ends at the Gulf of Mexico.

Author: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez

Washington has expressed concern over record number of undocumented immigrants arriving at the southern border. An influx is expected to increase as the weather warms.

Border authorities stopped around 170,000 people trying to enter the US illegally in March, a 20-year high.

The number of unaccompanied children in particular have surged, with photos of migrant shelters showing children crammed together in poor conditions circulating on media platforms.

In February, the White House said it would start phasing out Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The program had forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their asylum cases to be heard.

The US border remains closed to most asylum seekers under the Trump administration's COVID-19-related order. Biden has not revoked the order.

About two-thirds of US adults said the Biden administration was doing a very bad or somewhat bad job of dealing with the increased number of people seeking asylum, according to a May survey from the Pew Research Center.

Harrishas said she will visit Mexico and Guatemala on June 7-8 for her first trip abroad as vice president.

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US and Mexico vow to cooperate on border crisis - DW (English)

Border Patrol agent hospitalized with COVID-19 after responding to border crisis in March – Fox News

A Maine man and U.S. Border Patrol agent who was assigned to work along the southern border in Texas earlier this year has been hospitalized for weeks after contracting the novel coronavirus, his loved ones have said.

Kostas Papadopoulos was deployed to Texas on March 1 "to assist with the current migrant crisis" and, that same monthwas hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a GoFundMe page created to benefit him and his family. The page does not specify how long he was in Texas before he got sick.

DHS CHIEF MAYORKAS TOURS BORDER FACILITY, SAYS HUNDREDS OF MIGRANT KIDS STILL COMING OVER EVERY DAY

Papadopoulos was admitted to the hospital in March and was later moved to the intensive care unit for more than a month, the page states.

"Being hospitalized for so long and far from family/friends has placed a tremendous burden on this family. Their family, friends, co-workers of the U.S. Border Patrol, and church family agree that Kostas & Jackie would offer the utmost support to another family in need," organizer Dayna Lincoln wrote on the GoFundMe page. "Thus, we feel it is time to ask that our community offer support to them during this difficult time."

Lincoln created the fundraising page earlier this week, to "help offset costs for an out-of-pocket medical evacuation flight from Texas to Boston, where Kostas will be further evaluated," she wrote. She did not respond to Fox News requests seeking comment.

BIG BEND SECTOR IS UTILIZING NEW TECHNOLOGY TO FIGHT ILLEGAL BORDER ACTIVITY

As of Friday, the page had raised nearly $39,000 for the Papadopoulos family, far surpassing their $25,000 goal that had been originally set.

In an update provided Thursday on the page, Lincoln wrote that arrangements had been made to transfer Papadopoulos, a father of three, to the Boston hospital for further treatment closer to home.

Lincoln thanked Papadopoulos "brothers and sisters" of the Border Patrol for "looking after him" when his wife, Jaclyn, could not be there.

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"Since Kostas was first admitted to the hospital in March, his family and coworkers have been working toward a single goal: bring him home," the update states. "There remains a long road ahead for his full recovery and the continued support and encouragement from everyone will be a BIG part of it. We hope and pray his time in Boston will be a short stop on his way back to Maine."

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Border Patrol agent hospitalized with COVID-19 after responding to border crisis in March - Fox News

A scene out of the middle ages: Dead refugee found surrounded by rats at Greek camp – The Guardian

At a desolate refugee camp on the Greek island of Chios earlier this week, a young man died alone in a tent. By the time the guards arrived on the scene, about 12 hours after the Somali refugees death, the body was surrounded by rodents.

Asylum seekers who had initially alerted staff spoke in horror at seeing rats and mice swarming about.

It was Orthodox Easter Monday, a national holiday in Greece. The 28-year-old, who has not been named by Greek authorities, is thought to have died of natural causes.

In a short statement, the Greek migration ministry ruled out foul play and said the unfortunate man was found by a military doctor to have bites on his ear and hand. The precise cause of death will become known from the autopsy that is to be conducted.

Although a registered refugee, the Somali man had been required to remain in Chioss Vial hilltop holding centre because of Covid-19 restrictions. Island detention centres have been subjected to draconian lockdown measures since just after the start of the pandemic last year.

We host them and feed them because they are humans, we cant kick them out, the camps governor, Panagiotis Kimourtzis, told the Guardian. Its only logical that rodents would appear when someone has been dead for so many hours. The camp was built very quickly in 2016. The [camp] is in nature, surrounded by fields. We do everything possible, we use pesticides, but there is only so much we can do.

The young Somali, like the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who preceded him, left a country notorious for violence and poverty. Nearly six years after the onset of Europes refugee crisis, the tragic end of what would have been a long and risky journey has again highlighted the deplorable conditions of island reception centres in Greece.

For aid workers in Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos the five Aegean islands on the frontline of migrant flows the incident offers further proof of failings of the containment policies EU leaders have pursued on the borders of a continent seemingly desperate to keep asylum seekers out.

There is only one truth and that is that Greek island camps are synonymous with overcrowding and inhuman conditions, said Dr Apostolos Veizis, executive director in Greece of the international humanitarian organisation Intersos. People are exposed on a daily basis to rats, rubbish and violence. In clinics across the islands children are often admitted with signs of rat bites. Its shameful and appalling that they have to live in such disgraceful conditions when it really neednt be the case.

Arrivals of asylum seekers into Europe have dropped dramatically in the past year. An estimated 11,472 men, woman and children are now registered on the Aegean outposts, according to Greeces ministry of citizen protection. Vial, which hosted 5,000 people in December 2019, now accommodates about a fifth of that number, the result of tough migration polices which include decongesting the islands.

Since the EUs controversial agreement with Turkey to stem the flow of people, the islands have become an buffer in the EUs battle to keep migrants out.

Yes, there are fewer people and camp conditions have improved but they are not good, said Leda Lakka, who heads the UN refugee agencys office on Chios. There are rats, around Vial and in Vial. Thats a fact. There are also makeshift shelters. Thats a fact too.

Athens received about 3bn (2.6bn) in EU funds to manage the migration crisis between 2015 and 2020, but critics claim evidence of spending cannot be seen on the ground, where conditions have been deplored by one of Europes top human rights watchdogs.

If it had been used properly we would not be talking so many years later about a scene out of the middle ages where a dead man is attacked by rats, said Veizis, who has worked on the islands for more than a decade. All the camps are horrible. Every day people fall sick, mentally and physically. You have to wonder if treating them like this, not as humans but as numbers, is a deliberate policy choice of the European Union so that more dont come.

With the support of the EU, Athens centre-right administration has pledged to replace island facilities with state-of the-art closed installations.

Last week the governments transparency portal confirmed that close to 270m in EU funds had been allocated to complete new camps by 31 March next year. Of that amount, 155m had been earmarked for new reception centres in Lesbos and Chios.

Greece, like other EU states, stands accused of pushbacks of migrants and refugees. But in triumphant mode the countrys migration minister, Notis Mitarachi, recently said that with tightened border controls after Turkeys threat to flood Europe with asylum seekers, more people had left Greece than had arrived since March last year.

The number of migrants and refugees in accommodation facilities had also dropped from 92,000 a year ago to 56,000, he said.

In the last 12 months, more people have left the country legally, with deportations, voluntary departures, or relocations, he was quoted as telling EU counterparts. There are about 60,000 recognised refugees in our country, fewer than what the country believes.

With thousands of asylum seekers in Turkey hoping to make the dangerous Aegean crossing, just as the 28-year-old Somali did, migration experts believe that could change. And while Greeces refugee population has decreased significantly, the prospect of any return to normality for those trapped on the islands remains elusive despite an accelerated vaccination drive and the possibility of tourism resuming in the coming weeks.

For a long time the UNHCR has been expressing concerns about the precarious conditions in island camps, said Stella Nanou, an agency spokesperson in Athens. Beyond the material difficulties and challenges, there has been the uncertainty of the pandemic, which has added to the frustration of people who so often can see no light at the end of the tunnel.

A postmortem examination was due to be carried out on the dead man in Lesbos later today.

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A scene out of the middle ages: Dead refugee found surrounded by rats at Greek camp - The Guardian