Historians for Refugees - Benefits of Migration

Historians for Refugees - Benefits of Migration

Project owner / organizer
N/A ()
Hosting organization
City
Stockholm
Country
Sweden
From - Until
15.09.2015 -
By
Jan Kunnas

We have written the statement (below) regarding the current humanitarian crisis in Europe; the plight of refugees from war and persecution at the borders and shorelines of the EU. At this crucial moment, we – historians – must contribute with our knowledge to the better understanding of the present crisis. We sincerely hope that you would like to join as a signatories to the statement. If so please send us your name, academic title and affiliation so we can update signatures to this statement.

To support our statement on the benefits of migration to our societies and creating the current wealth we enjoy in Europe. We want to collect examples of knowledge transferred by immigrants, or other ways how the flow of humans has contributed to a better world for us all, to underline our point. If your work would provide such evidence, please provide us a few lines describing your results, and if possible reference link to your source, project, article, publication, or add them simply as a comment.

Jan Kunnas, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
https://historiansforrefugees.wordpress.com/join/

Statement
We are shocked by the current humanitarian crisis in Europe, by the plight of refugees from war and persecution at the borders and shorelines of the EU. Simultaneously we are upset by the harsh and antagonistic attitudes by some of our fellow citizens and elected leaders who deny help and assistance to fellow humans in distress and life threatening danger.

At this crucial moment, we want as historians to highlight the importance of the knowledge that migrants, regardless if they have escaped persecution or war, or are just looking for a better future for themselves and their children, have brought with them to Europe in the past. How that knowledge helped building our societies and creating the current wealth we enjoy in Europe. Migration and mobility have been and is fundamental part of our society, to highlight this we are adding to this statement a continuously updated list containing examples of the knowledge transferred by immigrants to underline our point.

Although migration and migrants were beneficial to Europe in the past, we know that the potential usefulness of a person to society should not be the reason why we help fellow humans. We must help people in need because they need help. It was that simple in the past, and so it is today.

The 20th century taught us to accept and embrace our diversities. In this very moment we Europeans must stand for our values.

To support our statement on the benefits of migration to our societies and creating the current wealth we enjoy in Europe. We want to collect examples of knowledge transferred by immigrants, or other ways how the flow of humans has contributed to a better world for us all, to underline our point. If your work would provide such evidence, please provide us a few lines describing your results, and if possible reference link to your source, project, article, publication, or add them simply as a comment below. For sure, considering all benefits, we are not able to list everything. As Petter Wulff exhaustively noted: ¨Humans originated in Africa. So without migration there would not have been any Europeans.”

Editors Information
Published on
26.09.2015
Author(s)
Contributor
Classification
Temporal Classification
Regional Classification
Subject - Topic
Additional Informations
Country Event
Project Language(s)
English
Language