The Ideal and the Real Dimensions of the European Migration Crisis. The Polish Perspective

Abstract

In the article the so-called European migrant crisis of 2015 is presented from the perspective of Polish society. First, we consider criteria for distinguishing refugees from other types of immigrants. Second, we examine the characteristics of the 2015 inflow which contribute to its perception in terms of crisis. The third issue is Polish society’s reactions to the phenomenon of migration. On the one hand, the results of nationwide polls are presented. On the other hand, the perspective of a provincial city is introduced. In the city an active refugee center has been operating for almost three decades and major importance has been attached to the idea of a multicultural society. The analysis of these issues indicates that the inflow related to the migration crisis does not coincide with the current patterns of refugee migration and is not consistent with the celebrated vision of a multicultural society.

Regionally Divergent Patterns in Factors Affecting Municipal Waste Production: The Polish Perspective

“…A high positive correlation was also observed in municipalities located in the border area with Ukraine and Belarus in west-central Poland (in Warsaw and municipalities in its suburban areas). As mentioned above, those zones attract foreign workers from Eastern Europe [97]. Moreover, the capital city of Poland and its suburban regions remain a catchment city of intra-regional and intra-city migrations [98].…”

Refugee and forced migrants are not welcome in Europe’s diminished welfare states

“…They conclude that although the first group did not receive refugee status, their presence was 'tolerated', they integrated faster, and they were on the whole better received by the local community than the latter group, which remains isolated in the ghettoized conditions of a refugee centre, even though their rights are legally recognized. The authors also contend that the characteristics of these earlier refugee arrivals from Armenia and Chechnya differ from those of the recent 'crisis' of 2015-16 (Cieślińska & Dziekońska, 2019).…”

“…However, orchestration by Poland's right-wing populist 'Law and Justice' (PiS) party of strong anti-immigration and anti-refugee rhetoric across the Polish public sphere has also played a pivotal role in enabling xenophobic and blatantly racist sentiments to be countenanced in wider Polish public discourse and society (Krzyżanowska & Krzyżanowski, 2018). The case of Poland demonstrates the power of elite's discourse to mobilize moral panic, since Poles learned about the European migration crisis mainly through mass media, and then began to fear the perceived consequences of accepting immigrants and refugees of different religions and cultures (Łaciak & Segeš Frelak, 2018;Cieślińska & Dziekońska, 2019). In addition to the common trope of alleged threats to the welfare state posed by refugees and migrants reiterated in many other EU countries, there was a unique and specific theme of an impending crisis that Poland could not afford to countenance (Cieślińska & Dziekońska, 2019).…”

“…The case of Poland demonstrates the power of elite's discourse to mobilize moral panic, since Poles learned about the European migration crisis mainly through mass media, and then began to fear the perceived consequences of accepting immigrants and refugees of different religions and cultures (Łaciak & Segeš Frelak, 2018;Cieślińska & Dziekońska, 2019). In addition to the common trope of alleged threats to the welfare state posed by refugees and migrants reiterated in many other EU countries, there was a unique and specific theme of an impending crisis that Poland could not afford to countenance (Cieślińska & Dziekońska, 2019). Whether real or imaginary, this linking of migration with crisis not only spoke to the recent and past experiences of many Polish citizens across generations, but also represented a significant break with the traditionally strong (and mostly positive) emphasis on emigration in the Polish collective imagination (Krzyżanowska & Krzyżanowski, 2018).…”

A Sending Community in the face of a Migrant Crisis. Mońki Case Study

“…Initially, there were concerns that the scale of this phenomenon would widen (Cianciara 2015, p. 430). However, this did not happen, as in the following years the inflow decreased to the 2015 level (Cieślińska, Dziekońska 2019). It is important to note that those who arrived in high numbers during the peak have remained in Europe and it is difficult to predict how long it will take for them to integrate into the host societies (Balicki 2016).…”