MetaFilter posts tagged with Refugees

Darfuristan

andoatnp — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:26:56 -0800

How the world's campaign to stop a genocide created a quagmire. (Print version.)

The Flickr Page of the UN Refugee Agency

Kattullus — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:23:33 -0800

The United Nations Refugee Agency has a Flickr page with nearly 3000 photos neatly sorted into over 150 sets, most often by country, though sometimes by other themes, such as photos taken by refugee children, life in a refugee camp and mixed migration. There are also news sets, sorted by month. Some of the countries featured are ones that many associate with humanitarian disasters, Timor-Leste, Iraq and The Democratic Republic of Congo, but there are also photosets from countries that few associate with refugees, Panama, Hungary and France.

Cry havoc and let loose the Dogs of War.

adamvasco — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:21:23 -0800

Nearly 2.4 million displaced; mostly in refugee camps where it's about 45 degrees Celsius with no wind. Their economy is devastated."The numbers of people who have moved in that last three and half weeks is the highest rate of movement we have seen for more than 20 years anywhere in the world."
Your tax dollars at work?

“There’s culture shock, and then there’s the culture shock of moving to a country that started a war in your home.”

wander — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:49:47 -0800

"The war has uprooted 4.7 million people from their homes. So where are they?" With the election of Obama and the economic crisis, the topic of Iraq has fallen by the wayside. As hard as things may be right now, Iraqis have been going through far worse for years now. If you're curious about what they have to say, hear them tell it in their own words. Iraqi Refugee Stories. Lest we also forget the war's toll on soldiers: The Life and Lonely Death of Noah Pierce. If you're asking, "What can I do about any of this?" Go here. And if you feel you can't manage to do any of that, then be good to yourself, and your neighbors. Go out of your way to do one nice thing for someone, or challenge one of the preconceptions you might have about someone else. You don't have to save the world, but you can at try least make it just a little nicer than it was. If you know any Iraqis affected by the war (or have worked closely with them yourself), or even know of some through someone else, encourage them to share their stories here.

Burma: monks vs. junta

homunculus — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:20:44 -0800

Monks Succeed in Cyclone Relief as Junta Falters. In Burma (Myanmar) the Buddhist monks are doing more than anyone to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis. At the same time, Burmese officials are trying to stem the influence of the monks by forcing survivors who have sought refuge in monasteries to return to their shattered homes. [Via Barbara's Buddhism Blog.]

Tibetan Refugee

homunculus — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:00:12 -0800

"Tibetan Refugee" is a documentary by Richard Martini consisting of interviews with Tibetan refugees who have recently fled to Dharamsala, India. It's on YouTube in 5 parts: part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Britain: we discovered the queue

hadjiboy — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 03:01:06 -0800

Oh, I say old chap--do you mind not going all "immigrant" on me, and spitting all over the place? Thank you very much. (how Britain proposes to solve the problem of integrating its migrant population)

Internally displaced people tell their life stories in their own words

Kattullus — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:14:23 -0800

IDP Voices is a site that lets people who are refugess within their own countries tell their life stories – in their own words. "The narratives in these pages are valuable complements to the official information on conflicts which governments and international organisations offer. These stories deal with the real lives of real people. The narrators share their personal experiences, their sensations, hopes and dreams, and the impact for them of being forced from their homes. The first IDP Voices oral testimonies project took place in Colombia. IDP Voices from further countries will be added as the projects progress." The life stories are in English and Spanish and can either be read or listened to. You can download the whole book of life stories here.

Cats and War

homunculus — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:35:22 -0800

What Cats Know About War. A reporter adopts cats to reconnect with life amid unremitting death. [Via linkfilter.] Another War's Stray: An interview with John Laurence (.mp3), the author of “The Cat From Hue: A Vietnam War Story”.

Is soccer un-american?

wavespy — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:31:55 -0800

Georgia mayor bans soccer from local park. Georgia mayor bans soccer from local park. “There will be nothing but baseball and football down there as long as I am mayor,”

Iraqi refugees

homunculus — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:20:05 -0800

Iraq has become the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis. Life there is a living hell, but the exodus is threatening to destabalize its neighbors. The US accepts only 500 Iraqi refugees a year, but president Bush has the legal authority to admit 20,000 more. Perhaps he'll do it for Christmas. [Via No Quarter.]

indonesia mud eruption

thirteenkiller — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 13:26:14 -0800

Oops! A mud eruption probably triggered by oil exploration has been making thousands of Indonesians' lives miserable since May.

Speechless and saddened.

spiderwire — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:57:45 -0800

500,000 Lebanese citizens are now homeless. That's out of a population of 3.8 million, according to Juan Cole. People in Southern Lebanon have received leaflets warning them to leave, but are trapped in their villages under Israeli bombings. The IDF has opened a 60-km front on the border, using tanks to probe Hezbollah. Meanwhile, a ceasefire remains... elusive. I normally take the position that both sides are excessively violent, but this is a pretty sad picture of what's going on in Lebanon.

Photography by Simon Norfolk

carter — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 13:18:13 -0800

Et in Arcadia ego (flash). Photographs of the scars of war (Afghanistan/Iraq/Bosnia/genocide/Israel-Palestine/Liberia/refugee camps). Also: Afghanistan (no flash version), Thailand/tourism/raves.

10 Stories

ND¢ — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:21:59 -0800

Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About.

Modern Wars and the Civilian Experience

PenguinBukkake — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 15:43:03 -0800

What is the difference between refugees and expelled persons? Refugees leave home and land for fear of what would happen to them, or they were driven out. Expellees are told to leave their home country, often immediately. Their added and deep trauma is broken trust
"Modern Wars and the Civilian Experience as shown in my experience in World War II", by Greta Zybon

Proud To Be An Okie From Muskogee

mischief — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 03:29:22 -0800

Over 2000 Katrina refugees bused to Muskogee, Oklahoma will "be met by approximately 300-400 National Guardsmen" who will check them for weapons and interview them before allowing them into barracks and tents at Camp Gruber, a World War II training facility deactivated in 1947 and located 14 miles southeast of Muskogee near the village of Braggs (population 301). This after 250 were arrested during a riot as the buses were loading. A 9 pm curfew was passed by Braggs councilmen in anticipation of the refugees' arrival. However as of Friday night, "there is no food or water on site". Further, Braggs High School enrolls 60 students and Braggs Elementary School enrolls 168. For those (few) wondering why Camp Gruber sounds familiar!

Calamaties transform more than landscape

spock — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:14:48 -0800

More than 30 feet of water stood over land inhabited by nearly one million people. Almost 300,000 African Americans were forced to live in refugee camps for months. Many people, both black and white, left the land and never returned. "When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But . . . some calamities transform much more than the landscape." No, not Katrina. The Great Mississippi flood of 1927. Author John M. Barry in his definitive work on the subject, "shows how a heretofore anti-socialist America was forced by unprecedented circumstance to embrace an enormous, Washington-based big-government solution to the greatest natural catastrophe in our history, preparing the way (psychologically and otherwise) for the New Deal." The author is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research of Tulane and Xavier universities (whose web site is *understandably* not answering right now). <Heading for the library to find this book>

Fazel Sheikh's Refugees

matteo — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 12:43:40 -0800

Fazal Sheikh's photographs have documented the plight of refugees in camps across Central and East Africa and the Middle East. However, his photographs are distinctly different from the images of refugees we commonly see in printed news articles. Sheikh's photographs implicitly assert that the individual refugees share humanity with their oppressive rulers. He does so by depicting the individuals in portraits rather than as victims of a social and political drama. Sheikh, an American citizen, was just awarded the Grand Prix International Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Southeast Asian refugees

etaoin — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 06:52:15 -0800

Southeast Asian refugees, like other immigrant populations, have had a mix of experiences and successes since they began arriving in the U.S. in the 1970s. Among the refugees, two groups, the Mien and the Hmong, tribes who populate the mountains of Laos and Thailand, fled when the Communists took over. Today, some Mien, also known to some Asians as the Yao, continue to live in China, where they are a recognized minority group and elsewhere. Large numbers of the Mien people have settled in Portland, Ore., and California, and appear to be doing pretty well. The Hmong settled primarily in Minneapolis and St. Paul because their military leader, Gen. Vang Pao settled there. You may have read about the Hmong man who killed six white hunters, claiming racial animosity, but before that occurred, the Hmong themselves have experienced one tragedy after another.

Lost Boys of Sudan

scarabic — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 13:58:42 -0800

Lost Boys of Sudan is an amazing documentary about refugees from Sudan's Darfur conflict finding haven in the US. It's premiering on PBS tomorrow. Their website has local PBS listings as well as locations and times of upcoming screenings in the US. From sleeping on the ground in a UN refugee camp to working at WalMart in Dallas, the men in the film undertake an enormously difficult, but ultimately life-saving journey.

Ker-azy Policies!

Pretty_Generic — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 06:09:14 -0800

The USA is sending the refugees from Monserrat back home. Why? Because the threat from their volcano is no longer regarded as "temporary", but "permanent".

Get Hollywood on the phone, quick.....

troutfishing — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 10:55:02 -0800

Coast Guard pulls over floating, propeller equipped '59 Buick driving to Miami - manned by Cuban refugees. "For four of the 11 people on board, it was not the first thwarted attempt to leave the communist island in a bizarrely converted vintage vehicle." (from ABC news) Last year, they tried to do the same thing in a converted '51 Chevy Truck: "The crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter could not believe their eyes...Chugging along at a steady 13 kilometres per hour in the Straits of Florida was a bright-green 1951 Chevrolet truck...." (link to story, as reprinted in Free Republic, alas ) Sadly, the Coast Guard sunk the Buick - which looked a bit like a WW2 amphibious landing craft. Here's a picture, on the blog of a Christian Evangelical (scroll down for story) who argues that the refugees are worthy of a special exception to US immigration laws, for their pluck and innovative brilliance.

Saranda's Story

plep — Wed, 25 Jun 2003 10:47:06 -0800

Saranda's Story. 'My name is Saranda and I am 13 years old. I moved to Liverpool from Kosovo three years ago ... '

Coming to America!

Plunge — Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:55:19 -0800

Coming to America! Rejected by several countries, this relatively small tribe that has been living in slavery and in violent refugee camps is coming to the US. NY Times reg. req.