LAHORE: Migration of human beings from one place to another since time immemorial and the mass level interaction of different cultures as a result has led to progress in the world and could therefore not be stopped even in this era of nation states.
This was the nutshell of the debate on “Us versus Them” held at a main session of the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) here at Alhamra. Moderated by US journalist Suzy Hansen, the session attracted a good number of people.
American lawyer and law teacher Becca Heller said she met in 2008 six Iraqi families who, among others, had taken refuge in Jordan after their country was attacked just to know what was happening to them in the new land. “In most cases, refugees are not welcomed despite the fact that finding a safe place becomes all important for their survival. Mostly, the natives of a country do agree that it is unsafe for the refugees to go back home. But still they do not welcome the new entrants,” she said, adding such migrants required legal assistance.
She mentioned how American people made the Trump administration change a law about child separation at the Mexico border without entering a legal battle because the decision was inhuman.
She disagreed with a questioner that women generally do not decide to migrate to other countries. This idea had proved wrong in the case of Syria where majority women opted to shift to other countries in the wake of turbulence in their homeland.
“Women from Islamic countries do not have any problem in getting mixed up with the people and the culture of a country they make their new home. In fact, those who match the education level of a country they migrate to get easily assimilated into a new society,” she said.
Sudanese Muslim and author Leila Aboulela who is settled in Scotland said she had gone to England basically for higher studies. But she settled in Scotland because of her husband’s job. As a practicing Muslim, it was difficult for her to get adjusted to the new realities in Scotland. She got around women of the same cultural background to recreate their own environment.