There’s a new underground railroad to Canada. Through a safe house network, the Canadian government has been spiriting away gay Chechen men who face honor killings at their hands of their family. In this conservative Russian republic, the government not only looks away from these heinous crimes, it encourages them.
refugees
Posted inArts & Culture, Crime, Nonfiction, Quotes, Uncategorized
Welcome Nowhere: The Plight of the Rohingya Refugees
Myanmar’s Rohingya people escape systematic discrimination at home only to suffer depredations in search of new homes.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Quotes
Can You Return To a Place That Was Never Your Home?
Grace Linden considers repatriation to Austria — a place she has never lived.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Canadians Adopted Refugee Families for a Year. Then Came ‘Month 13.’
It’s a year-long commitment to privately sponsor a Syrian refugee family in Canada, where sponsorship includes funding and helping the family navigate Canadian culture and society. Sponsors assist newcomers with daily tasks of living, including grocery shopping, banking, getting jobs, learning English, and ferrying families to appointments and activities. In the fourth and final installment […]
Posted inBlog Post, Quotes, Travel
‘We Love Europa But Europa No Love Us.’
“We just want a normal life. We are here for survival.”
Posted inBlog Post, Current Events
Death in the Desert
“The number of migrants crossing illegally from Mexico to the U.S. has declined dramatically. Yet the rugged borderlands of southern Arizona have become a death zone.”
Posted inCurrent Events, History, Nonfiction, Quotes
‘Wir Schaffen Das’: Angela Merkel, the Refugee Crisis, and the Complexity Behind a Simple Statement Like ‘We Will Do It’
In Lapham’s Quarterly, Renata Adler returns to her familial homeland to explore Germany’s present-day reaction to the millions of people now trying to get in rather than out.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Brontosaurs Whistling in the Dark
Reflections on Angela Merkel’s and Germany’s attitude toward refugees, from a daughter of refugees who themselves fled Germany in the 1930.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Leaving Aleppo
Pauls Toutonghi lovingly recalls his grandfather, Philippe Elias Tütünji, a writer, poet, and translator from Aleppo, Syria. Tütünji immigrated to America during World War II and never gave up his dream to achieve success as a poet in his adopted homeland. Working menial and low-paying jobs to support his family, and “full of immigrant ambition,” […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Phones Over Food: Why Mobile Phones Are More Important to Refugees
The Economist reports on how refugees prize mobile phone connection — even over food.