Time to wake up

Following deadly attacks such as the ones that struck Paris in November 2015, western leaders and the media largely focus on increasing security measures and closing borders in order to keep ‘terrorists’ – which to some is synonymous with keeping refugees – at bay. This policy of closing borders is not new, however, and is often used to scapegoat refugees for the very crimes they themselves are fleeing from. Since the huge influx of refugees to Europe over the summer, several high level European Union summits have been held in order to discuss how to respond to the ‘migration crisis’. Responses have centered largely on how to tighten borders, build more fences and find ways to stop refugees from leaving the first countries they fled to, known as the host countries. Many western European leaders responded to the huge flows of refugees trying to reach Europe’s shores by promising more