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Our Treatment of Asylum Seekers Dehumanizes Every Single One of Us
Australia, Britain and The United States on my mind.
Novak Djokovic’s travails have filled quite a few column inches around the world in the last week. I had written an article about this and many others have done the same. The tale of a wealthy athlete made to wait in a hotel to have his visa appeal heard, has captured the imagination of millions around the world.
But there’s been a story in the same space, that almost no one has paid attention to in this unfolding saga — the treatment of asylum seekers — who have been waiting in limbo for several years, as to whether their application to be granted refuge has been successful.
No surprises there at all.
Why?
Those fleeing dictatorships, state sanctioned violence and seeking sanctuary in the west, have always been invisible to us. They can die in their thousands crossing the channel and the vast majority of westerners will remain as unmoved as ever.
To us, they have no names, no identity, no lives, no stories worth listening to or anything else for that matter.
The only time that they matter is when unscrupulous politicians use them as pawn in the battle for votes, demonizing them, characterizing them as scroungers, who do nothing…