A wall of Mexican Federal Police await a new group of Central American migrants wading across the Suchiate River, that connects Guatemala and Mexico. AP/Santiago Billy
A wall of Mexican Federal Police await a new group of Central American migrants wading across the Suchiate River, that connects Guatemala and Mexico. AP/Santiago Billy
A wall of Mexican Federal Police await a new group of Central American migrants wading across the Suchiate River, that connects Guatemala and Mexico. AP/Santiago Billy
A wall of Mexican Federal Police await a new group of Central American migrants wading across the Suchiate River, that connects Guatemala and Mexico. AP/Santiago Billy

From the migrant caravan to the refugee crisis, our conversations should be about community not security


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As Americans head to the midterm polls today, they do so in the face of an existential threat. That, at least, has been the narrative pushed by the nation's right-wing media about the "migrant caravan" now making its way north from the violence-plagued towns of Central America.

The caravan comprises between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants, predominantly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, many making the arduous, thousands-of-kilometres-long journey on foot to the United States. Yesterday, they arrived in the capital of Mexico, still hundreds of kilometres from the nearest US border crossing.

Nevertheless, this issue has become a political football in the United States, folding into a febrile discourse about immigration, security and borders. Donald Trump called the caravan "an invasion", and sent thousands of troops to the border. He has not explained why a nuclear-armed country of 300 million should be so afraid of a few thousand desperate and downtrodden people.

The language being used in the United States demonstrates a continued securitisation of immigration; the way people seeking opportunities for a better life have been discussed only in the context of the purported dangers they pose. The same language was employed during to the so-called European "refugee crisis", which resulted largely from the Syrian war. In both cases, the focus has been on who those trying to enter are, not the reasons they fled their homes in the first place.

The reality of this procession of families is almost unimaginable. Across huge distances, through day and night, mothers, fathers and children, including babies, brave bad weather, illness, lack of food, and the sheer exhaustion of walking for many hours at a time, simply to seek safety. Barely any of the stories behind this astonishing migration make it into the American media, and even fewer into America’s political discourse.

The same was true of the refugee crisis in Europe, a movement of people so vast it was unprecedented in the modern world. Crimes committed by a minuscule percentage of those displaced people became distorted through space and time. What crimes had they committed in their home countries? What crimes had others committed after being offered asylum? What crimes might they commit in the future? Pressed together into one homogenous group, the lives of the many who were seeking refuge from some of the worst abuses imaginable were defined by the acts of the few.

It is true that among those seeking refuge in Europe and the Middle East, some people had committed crimes, and sometimes in the service of the regimes they were leaving behind. There have been horrific stories of former prisoners of ISIS meeting their captors on European streets. In the midst of the Syrian war, or those of the Balkans or Africa, from which other migrants came, truly horrendous acts have been perpetrated. These risks are real, and it is not unreasonable for potential host countries to exercise caution.

Yet the real reason why such large numbers of people were making their way to Europe was rarely discussed, as is the case in the United States today.

Although it was understood that the majority of refugees were fleeing the war in Syria, it was hardly ever mentioned that the next-highest numbers were coming from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan – all countries western forces had recently carried out air and drone strikes against. In other words, a vast number of those coming to the West were doing so to escape the weapons of the West itself.

The conversation gets distorted in other ways, too. In the US, Mr Trump announced that he would send around 7,000 troops to the nation’s border with Mexico, more than are currently in Iraq and Syria combined. In Europe, even at the height of the refugee crisis, there were more Syrian refugees in Istanbul, that in the entirety of the European Union.

Such manipulations can also be seen in the way the “burden” of migrants and asylum seekers, two discrete categories that are often wrongly conflated, is presented. Those who migrate − “young, strong men”, in Mr Trump's telling − are simultaneously responsible for taking jobs from local people, while at the same time living off the state. This is obviously a fiction.

Such misrepresentations are designed to appeal to emotions of fear and anxiety. The language of security is the language of division. At its root is the idea that anyone who migrates to a new country is doing so with the express intention of causing harm, be it economic, social, or acts of outright terrorism. The reality is that in the overwhelming majority of cases, this is far from the truth.

Far better to replace the language of security with the language of community. The Syrian war was rightly seen by some as a threat to the whole of the Middle East and its neighbours in Europe. The solidarity that EU states demanded from each other should have been extended beyond their borders. After all, it was only relatively recently that refugees from the Balkan wars were pouring into countries such as Turkey.

The same is true of the migrant caravan. Most of its members are part of it because they have nowhere else to go, or because they wish to build a brighter future. Their aim is to become a valuable part of American life, not to undermine it. For those leaving Central America, as for those from Syria, the focus should not be on the fact that that they are heading to our homes; it should be on why they so fear staying in their own.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to avoid crypto fraud
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Hotel Data Cloud profile

Date started: June 2016
Founders: Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok
Based: Dubai
Sector: Travel Tech
Size: 10 employees
Funding: $350,000 (Dh1.3 million)
Investors: five angel investors (undisclosed except for Amar Shubar)

Defending champions

World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

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MATCH INFO

Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)

Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16

Delhi Bulls 91-8 (10 ovs)

Mathews 31, Rimmington 3-28

Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs

How to help

Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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While you're here
Tuesday's fixtures
Group A
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Iran v Uzbekistan, 8pm
N Korea v UAE, 10.15pm
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England ODI squad

Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face

The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.

The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran. 

Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf. 

"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said. 

Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer. 

The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy. 

 

MATCH INFO

Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')

Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)

Asian Cup 2019

Quarter-final

UAE v Australia, Friday, 8pm, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

Section 375

Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra & Rahul Bhat

Director: Ajay Bahl

Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak & SCIPL

Rating: 3.5/5

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.