The Meaning of Home
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the eastern Mediterranean there are far fewer refugees and migrants arriving by boat than in recent years - but the moral dilemmas of dealing with migration are still acute. In Greece, the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has tightened its asylum laws, built new walled camps and pushed back boats at sea. Over his reporting career, Fergal Keane has followed many global waves of migrants and refugees, from their home countries, along their journeys and to their various end points. A recent visit to the Greek islands got him thinking about the big picture again.
Life has been good to King Mswati III of Eswatini. He has ruled over a small, peaceable country for decades as an absolute monarch. But his historic privileges are now in question. It seems some of his people have had enough; recently protests and looting broke out, and were met with a violent response. At least twenty seven people have been killed. Shingai Nyoka has met the King in person, and talked to some of his restive subjects.
The situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is still looking grim. Apart from the armies of Ethiopia and Eritrea and the armed forces of the TPLF, armed forces from other regions of Ethiopia have also become involved. Outside observers have warned of a possible impending famine. But it’s been very hard for journalists to find out exactly what’s happening inside Tigray itself, as the Ethiopian government has tightly controlled access. Fred Harter managed to get there earlier this year, and since then he’s been trying to keep up with events from afar.
In France this week, President Macron sent signals of a distinctly tougher official approach to vaccination. From now on, if you can’t produce a pass showing you're Covid-safe, daily life could become significantly more complicated. Hugh Schofield wonders whether the French may secretly like a bit of strong-arming from their leader.
Over the long months of lockdown many people have taken to walking with new fervour – particularly when it was the only legitimate pretext for leaving the house. In Transcarpathian Ukraine, Nick Thorpe recently joined a group of local enthusiasts who are assembling their own route for a very long hike indeed - a new footpath winding 250 miles through the mountains from the Slovak to the Romanian border.
Producer: Polly Hope
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today, the perks of an absolute monarchy in Africa, and the people in Eswetini who are starting to chafe under the rule of their king. |
| 0:14.0 | Trying to get around the restrictions on reporting from Tigray as the Ethiopian government keeps most journalists out. |
| 0:22.5 | In France, President Macron's remarks on vaccination show the strong arm of the state, |
| 0:29.0 | and we're treated to a long walk and an introduction to a storm wizard in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine. |
| 0:37.3 | First, to a question still preoccupying almost |
| 0:40.1 | every country in the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom, how to manage migration. |
| 0:46.5 | Some try to contract the problem out by reaching agreements with and finding some funding for |
| 0:51.7 | neighbouring states to keep back people trying to arrive without |
| 0:55.5 | papers. But border enforcement is a never-ending headache for governments across the continent. |
| 1:01.7 | In Greece, there's a particular sense that the country is having to police its frontiers |
| 1:06.7 | for the benefit of richer countries further north. There's also an appetite for tougher policies. |
| 1:13.2 | The Conservative government of Prime Minister Keriakos Mitsutakis |
| 1:16.7 | has tightened its asylum laws, built new-walled camps and pushed back boats at sea. |
| 1:24.0 | Fergal Keen has followed many global waves of migrants and refugees from their home countries along their journeys and to their various endpoints. |
| 1:32.3 | A recent visit to the Greek islands, which is still dealing with migrants arriving by boat from Turkish waters, |
| 1:38.3 | got him thinking about the big picture again. |
| 1:42.3 | Once we had a country, the line is W. H. Aldens, and it came to mind as I walked through |
| 1:49.0 | the Mavrovuni camp on Lesbos, past the elderly Syrian woman who had waded into the sea to pray. |
| 1:56.9 | She stood near some Afghan children who were fishing listlessly with a piece of string and some lumps of bread. |
| 2:03.8 | From here, all could see the coast of Turkey from which they'd embarked on their journey towards Western Europe. |
| 2:11.2 | There were people of several nations here, but most were Afghans, Hazaras, fleeing the persecution of the Taliban, |
| 2:19.3 | whose Sunni fundamentalism reserves a special hatred for these Shia Muslims. |
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