Race, Class and Second-Class Status: Reactions to the Current Refugee Crisis
In the last few weeks, over 2 million refugees have come to Poland from Ukraine. What we have witnessed has been a wave of solidarity, mutual aid and self-organization unlike anything seen in the country in many years. Thousands of people, the majority of which have never done anything like this before, have opened their homes to total strangers in need of shelter. Many more have donated a wide variety of goods and gone to train stations to welcome people with food and other necessities. Much of the help that has gone on has come from self-organized initiatives. The NGOs that normally help migrants have of course been active. In Warsaw, the city authorities who make a lot of noise about how much they have helped in fact acted relatively late. All sorts of people were actively engaged and provided the majority of help at the beginning and, as far as we can see, continue to do so. This sort of behaviour towards others is heart-warming and seems like the way the world should react...