AS A STUDENT of history, I have always been fascinated by the incredible survival stories of the stateless people. The Jews, the Palestinians, the Kurds and the Tibetans have all struggled for a life of dignity, often against insurmountable odds. I remember reading a few years ago an intriguingly titled memoir, A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin, which took me back to the days of the last great migration from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1989. Being a history buff and a journalist, the unravelling of the mighty Soviet empire affected me in more ways than one.
Lev was just nine and he lived with his family in Kharkiv, a city in present-day Ukraine which is now in the news because of the ongoing conflict. For centuries, it was among the most anti-Semitic regions of the Soviet Union, and young Lev routinely endured beatings at his elementary school—only because he was a Jew. And the official policy was to ruthlessly expunge all symbols of Judaism, almost similar to what China now tries with its Muslim population in Xinjiang. Finally, six weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lev’s family fled to the United States, without any money or documents. Lev took his backpack and his teddy, and his father carried a few bottles of vodka, hoping to bribe their way past the border guards.
While Lev managed to escape to liberty, the latest issue of your favourite newsmagazine brings to you the story of a group of people who are not so lucky, as they remain trapped in the world’s largest refugee camp. Senior Subeditor Sumitra Nair and Deputy Photo Editor Salil Bera travelled to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh where nearly 12 lakh Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live in squalid conditions. The Rohingyas are Muslims from the Rakhine state of Myanmar, who were forced to flee their homeland following a wave of ethnoreligious violence unleashed by the security forces in response to insurgent attacks. Even a Nobel Peace Prize laureate like Aung San Suu Kyi could not help them. The tragedy turned Suu Kyi into an international pariah, with several organisations and cities withdrawing the accolades they once bestowed upon her.
Most Rohingyas are unhappy about their life in the camps. As Fatima Khatun, a young refugee, says, they live in “seasons of fear—of being raped, of fire, of cold during winter, of floods during the monsoon”. The Bangladesh government and the UN agencies are keen to send them back. In fact, Mohammed Enamur Rahaman, Bangladesh’s minister for disaster management, told THE WEEK that despite the fire hazard in the camps, they had no plans to build more durable shelters.
Also in this issue is an interview with Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. Adams, who was brought up by a single mother who cleaned homes to make a living, embodies the spirit of New York, which is all about survival and success. I love visiting New York, and among my favourite spots is the Ellis Island, home to the Statue of Liberty.
Over the years, the statue has come to symbolise America welcoming refugees to her shores. Between 1886 and 1924, almost 14 million immigrants and refugees entered the United States through the New York harbour. It inspired Emma Lazarus, an elite Jewish New Yorker who was devoted to the cause of Russian-Jewish refugees like Lev, to call it the ‘Mother of Exiles’ and conjure a welcoming image for the “huddled masses”. Whenever I visit the island, I make it a point to read and reflect on Emma’s words displayed on the statue’s pedestal:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
It is the kind of message that the Rohingyan refugees are waiting to hear from the world.