'How will we survive?': Syrian refugees trapped in poverty in Thailand

[rwdrwdrwd]

14 minutes ago, dageurreotype said:

The only reason I can see for asylum seekers are individuals, such as Chinese dissidents, in fear of being strung up for their dissent. A mass of persons is an exodus, not seeking asylum. They should all have been helped to stay in their home countries and they, in turn, help rebuild it. You didn't get crowds of Jews flooding the rest of Europe during the Nazi occupation. Stay home. They are either chancers (go to Europe), or cowards (come here). If you took it to it's logical conclusion, Syria wouldn't have any citizens left to help rebuild it. What do they expect? The US who'd bombed it to bits to send in a team of builders and then go back? Somewhat alike that reality show I remember seeing where some po' folks were lifted from their humble shack and at the end of a month a curtain was lifted on their brand spanking new mansion? Wonder how long the refit held up. They're Syrian they should stay in Syria. 

More utter ignorance.

 

Plenty (58%) of Jews fled Germany, many of whom were REFUSED asylum, any many of these ended up murdered as a result. Thankfully the world has moved on from these dark times, despite some knuckledragging idiots trying to drag us back.

 

Do some research before making such incorrect and offensive statements.

 

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/mobile/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005139

Edited January 24, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[dageurreotype]

1 minute ago, rwdrwdrwd said:

More utter ignorance.

 

Plenty of Jews fled Germany, plenty more were REFUSED asylum, many of whom ended up murdered as a result. Thankfully the world has moved on from these dark times, despite some knuckledragging idiots trying to drag us back.

 

Do some research before making such incorrect and offensive statements.

 

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/mobile/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005139

My grandparents were slaughtered in Buchenwald. Do NOT call me ignorant. Blood bleeding hearts.

[rwdrwdrwd]

3 minutes ago, dageurreotype said:

My grandparents were slaughtered in Buchenwald. Do NOT call me ignorant. Blood bleeding hearts.

Don't say ignorant things then, and be aware of the past!

 

Given that your grandparents died, for you to then make the claim you did is even more abhorrent!

 

What you stated it's the very epitome of ignorance.

Edited January 24, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[Jonmarleesco]

One has to wonder why they headed for Thailand instead of Europe (and the U.K.), along with the rest of them.

[rwdrwdrwd]

12 minutes ago, Jonmarleesco said:

One has to wonder why they headed for Thailand instead of Europe (and the U.K.), along with the rest of them.

One has to wonder why people don't take the time to read articles, but then opt to comment upon them.

 

Your answer is in it.

 

P.S, the UK has agreed to take 20,000 total over the next few years. There are 4,000,000 refugees in total. If the UK had taken all of that 20k already (which is hasn't by a huge margin) that would be 0.5%. The whole of Europe has around 4%. The vast majority of that 4 million are in other middle eastern countries.

Edited January 24, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[optad]

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

Muslim Refugees with iphones? Better send them back.why not help starving people in aftica who cant buy plane tickets?lets only help people in their own region..

So much rubbish is accommodated on Thai Visa. 

 

This seems to be the axiomatic median  pov here. Gross. Pure ignorance and bigotry behind these sentiments. 

[Thorgal]

Muslim Refugees with iphones? Better send them back.why not help starving people in aftica who cant buy plane tickets?lets only help people in their own region..

Steve Jobs was actually a Syrian immigrant...


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[optad]

24 minutes ago, Thorgal said:

 

Steve Jobs was actually a Syrian immigrant...


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

 

Nice reply in a singular context Thor.

 

The xenophobia here speaks to TV subscriber base.  Will TV punters listen to those stories? Almost certainly not because it is about fear, aged povs and inability to see new world problems positively. Bridesheads period values are what they always were. Romantic and unreal.

 

Movement of people will not cease with Brexit. Too many wars and disruption which no one wants, is where the responsibility lies for this. Where these probing questions?. 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

6 hours ago, optad said:

Jesus, forget the cigarettes. The focus on the penny ante on TV is tremendous.

 

If you were in that situation, would you and have a frank discussion with your family about legalities or just go where you could? It is absurd. And what merit you you derive from your judgements? Thaivisa likes?

 

I don't understand the breadth of heartlessness on TV re others/

Is there any chance, Optad, that you could take them in?

[Destiny1990]

2 hours ago, hanuman2543 said:

It is a humanitarian gesture and courtesy of the government and the people of Germany to give a hand to people who lost nearly everything thanks to the intervention of the US  ( Irak, Afghanistan where they happily bomb everything) and with Syria with whom they had a fantastic torture relationship during their "WAR ON TERROR". Let me guess, you are one of the hypocrites from the " Land of the free". 

Yes then 800 german girls got sexually assaulted on new years eve.others got murdered with a truck on a market and others got killed and raped...i done with any refugees all go back its just a scam

[optad]

Just now, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Is there any chance, Optad, that you could take them in?

Quota wise we, Austraila, has scope. If your question more about me sharing my throne, I have got three dumpers and anyone is allowed to pass their problems threw my septic, if invited. I have had candidates like this before for short stays. Is that too exact an answer for your question? 

[F4UCorsair]

Smoking 60 fags a day?? He won't need resettling soon!!

[hanuman2543]

2 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Yes then 800 german girls got sexually assaulted on new years eve.others got murdered with a truck on a market and others got killed and raped...i done with any refugees all go back its just a scam

Please get your facts right and stop repeating xenophobic propaganda. The refugees in Germany are not more criminal than Germans and that Anis Amri was captured and handed over to the German police by fellow Tunesian country men you don't seem to know. In 2015 Germany took in more than 800,000 refugees and for sure some of them cheated their way into the EU and Germany, but the vast majority were real refugees in need of our help.

[Morch]

I can't speak about the people mentioned in the article, don't know them. Did, however, meet several answering to the same profile in Bangkok. From what I could gather, pretty much a similar story - not too bad a life back in Syria, got on a plane on account of someone's advice without a whole lot of clue as to how things will pan out.

 

With regard to the money thing some are fixated on - I think most had more than the shirt on their backs when they got here. But what with having to get around a new country, often with a family - not too easy and not too cheap. They weren't much world citizens or savvy at managing abroad like many forum members. So whatever they could have taken (and there were limitations on that), slowly faded  away as they waited. That's without adding shakedown by police (mentioned in the article) and greedy landlords. Didn't get the sense that they were as financially destitute as portrayed - quite a bit of goodwill around, some from religious institutes some from ordinary folks. 

 

The main theme was more to do with how their world turned upside down. First a lot of rumors about options, then a whole lot of waiting and disappointment. None thought there's a chance of going back or anything of the sort. None wanted to stay here long term. I know one family was legally settled in Australia, no idea about the others.

 

Generally speaking, there wasn't a feeling that someone was selling a sob story, or trying a con. Most had proper jobs in their previous lives (well, they couldn't afford the trip otherwise), and just wanted a fresh start for the family. US, Canada and Australia seemed more popular options than Europe, seen as more receptive and with less "bad elements" among their respective future immigrant communities.

[The Old Bull]

Why isn't he home fighting the bad guys. He expects the Russians and Yanks to do it for him. I feel no sorrow for him.

[localczar]

picked the WRONG country for refugee claim! Stay in the IDC until you can pay your way out.

[plachon]

10 hours ago, 8OA8 said:

There are many different nationalities of asylum seekers in Thailand. Pakistani Christians and Pakistani Ahmadiyya, Sri Lankans, North Korean (they are usually resettled very quickly by South Korea), Somalian and Vietnamese.

Thailand's government isn't perfect, however the current government has been on the right track with regards to their attitude towards over 100,000 refugees living in the camps along the border areas.

Yes there have been cases of refoulement, most recently the case of the Uighurs to China, but bear in mind that was done under heavy political pressure from the Chinese government 

I'd heard that the Pakistani Christians, and so I presume the other groups including these Syrian refugees, come to Thailand because it is relatively easy to get in given the open tourism policy, but find it very hard to leave and end up living a miserable existence there. The Thai government makes life very hard for them and many don't get recognition from UNHCR, meaning they live in a kind of limbo for years on end, while awaiting a slim hope of resettlement in a third country. I am sure some of them end up wishing they had never left their original nation, as grim as it must have been. Thailand is not the land of milk and honey some naively imagine. 

[rwdrwdrwd]

39 minutes ago, The Old Bull said:

Why isn't he home fighting the bad guys. He expects the Russians and Yanks to do it for him. I feel no sorrow for him.

 

Perhaps he has no particular affinity with any of the factions that have taken up arms against each other.

 

Perhaps he values his family more than a piece of land, or a specific religious strain.

 

Perhaps he's fully aware that the US and Russia are at the root of the conflict, rather than knights in shining armour.

 

Very easy to lack empathy when you simply see black and white but nothing in between, either by affliction or by choice.

Edited January 24, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[Morch]

9 minutes ago, rwdrwdrwd said:

 

Perhaps he has no particular affinity with any of the factions that have taken up arms against each other.

 

Perhaps he values his family more than a piece of land, or a specific religious strain.

 

Perhaps he's fully aware that the US and Russia are at the root of the conflict, rather than knights in shining armour.

 

Very easy to lack empathy when you simply see black and white but nothing in between, either by affliction or by choice.

 

Plus, he's 58...and not everyone is a veteran SAS

[Stargeezr]

^{Just like in Canada, these people do not speak Thai, cannot not work, have to hang around the Mosque and smoke}

^{and gripe all day.  Well boo hoo, learn Thai, or go back home.  Enuff sympathy for people from an area of the world, who will}

^{not help themselves, but run somewhere, because they won't stay and fight in their own country.}

[Schwabe]

to ezzra

bet you are israeli

u talk about demonizing israel..who is building more settlements on palestian turf ignoring the world despising it??

yes i am german...now you can start the shitstorm against me..

[John1012]

16 hours ago, Scott said:

Oh, goodness, read the article.   They got a visa and got on an airplane.   They arrived with a visa, which they paid for.   I don't think this had much to do with people smugglers, anymore than a lot of people posting in the various sub-forums on this form.

 

They, like a lot of people who are listed as 'Persons of Concern' by the UNHCR, receive some assistance while waiting for resettlement.  

 

It remains to be seen how the new US administration will deal with people such as this that have already been accepted for resettlement.  

What has the US got to do with  refugees in Thailand? Must have money, 60 cigarettes a day is the best part of 300 baht, enough to feed 3 people.

[Morch]

27 minutes ago, John1012 said:

What has the US got to do with  refugees in Thailand? Must have money, 60 cigarettes a day is the best part of 300 baht, enough to feed 3 people.

From the article:

 

Quote

But a brighter future lies ahead. The family has received resettlement papers for the US. Fewer than 1% of all refugees around the world will be that lucky.

 

[Scott]

35 minutes ago, John1012 said:

What has the US got to do with  refugees in Thailand? Must have money, 60 cigarettes a day is the best part of 300 baht, enough to feed 3 people.

Thanks, Morch.   I also suggested in post #4 that people read the OP.  

 

The family has been screened for resettlement in the US.   The new administration could throw a spanner in the works.  

 

[wakeupplease]

There are a few thousand Thai's displaced outside Thailand, who cares about them? not Thailand that is for sure.

So if they do not care about their own what chance has the others got.

[Destiny1990]

4 hours ago, hanuman2543 said:

Please get your facts right and stop repeating xenophobic propaganda. The refugees in Germany are not more criminal than Germans and that Anis Amri was captured and handed over to the German police by fellow Tunesian country men you don't seem to know. In 2015 Germany took in more than 800,000 refugees and for sure some of them cheated their way into the EU and Germany, but the vast majority were real refugees in need of our help.

Nah they can go to a syria safe zone.most parts in syria are totally safe so stop whining

[hanuman2543]

I rest my case

[Destiny1990]

None of those syrians are war victims.none of them had even a single scratch.why because none of them came from a warzone they came from safe place already like turkey and libanon.real victims are stuck in syria and cant go out.send them all back they simply asylm shoppers looking for the best deal.

[manarak]

17 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

What is a Palestinian Syrian ? Or is that hedging your bets ?

that's an illustration of what I have been explaining in older posts of mine and which some on this forum chose to dismiss.

 

many countries still make a distinction between nationality and citizenship, while many other countries have abandoned completely the idea of nationality, which is based on racial/cultural criteria.

 

I suppose the Palestinian Syrian is someone who himself or whose ancestry originates from Palestina and moved/was deported/fled at some point in time to Syria, obtaining a Syrian passport and citizenship.

[rwdrwdrwd]

23 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

None of those syrians are war victims.none of them had even a single scratch.why because none of them came from a warzone they came from safe place already like turkey and libanon.real victims are stuck in syria and cant go out.send them all back they simply asylm shoppers looking for the best deal.

 

 

I think if anyone needs to be shopping for an asylum it's you. Utterly clueless.