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Of course, refugees might live productively and with dignity in the countries and regions where they find themselves, were not the preferred way to deal with refugees to pen them in camps in subhuman conditions so they won't overwhelm the local population competing for food, space and jobs.

That there are anywhere in the world third-generation refugees is one of the most baffling things to me. But in fact there should be structures in place to render refugee camps unnecessary in the first place. Host nations should allow refugees to live and work freely, and the question is how much it would cost the international community to compensate the host countries for it.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:50:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And let's start by accepting refugees and being nice to them in Europe.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:52:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Europe was doing a lot better in that department up to a couple of decades ago.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:57:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You mean Europe was nice enough to accept the bourgeoisies of troubled countries fleeing communist revolts so as to make a point in the Cold War ?

Let's restart being nice, anyway...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 03:24:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I guess the general underlying assumption is that the refugee condition is only temporary, which more often than not becomes a cruel farce (and nowhere is this more crass than in the case of the Palestinians). Generally speaking, aid policies need to recognize a point where the focus must be shifted from relief to resettlement, but that is probably a very hot potato politically.

Just as an exercise, I wonder what it would cost to make the Gazans Egyptian citizens (and not just at the proletariat level)?

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 01:12:48 PM EST
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