The Asylum Seeker from Central Casting

Now on my way back to Australia, the BBC’s take on the European refugee crisis sticks in my mind. Or, is it in my craw?

“Haven’t they a right to travel?” queried the BBC anchorwoman in conversation with a correspondent reporting from outside Budapest’s chief railway station. Only in my dreams did the correspondent respond by saying, “Sure they do — if you no longer think that having travel documents is a requirement to travel internationally, and that European law can be causally set aside.”

Hungary is acting absolutely in keeping with European law. Others, such as Greece, funnelling asylum seekers on, are not. Asylum seekers have the option to register at centres on Hungary’s border where they can apply for asylum. This, of course, does not suit them. The cameras show hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Syrian asylum-seekers/refugees/economic migrants — choose your descriptor according to ideology and preference — demonstrating outside the terminus, chanting in unison: “Where do we go? Germany!” Note that they are not chanting Wohin gehen wir, Deutschland! (Google translation, be warned), as what they seek is a far wider audience than German speakers alone. They are mostly young men, with the odd woman in a head scarf among them. From that, I safely take it, I think, that they are Muslims not Christians.

Although Angela Merkel has more or less issued an open invitation for Syrians to come to Germany – she has clearly lost the plot! – the police in Budapest are not (currently) letting them board the trains for which they have purchased tickets unless they also hold appropriate travel documents. Hence the demonstrations. The scenes outside the station provide a vivid microcosm of the extent to which Europe is in process of being overrun by people who are simply turning up.

None of this seemly affects the BBC. Like our very own ABC, it has an axe to grind on behalf of the oppressed, the downtrodden and the climate-ravaged, and go hang the interests of Europe’s common people if they get in the way. In this case, the broadcaster sees tactical advantage in putting the best possible gloss on the face of the ‘invasion’. This is illustrated perfectly by the story of Nour.

As the young Muslim men mill around that railway station in Budapest, the BBC’s James Reynolds is reported as being “on the migrant trail through Europe.” He chooses (purely at random, you understand) to follow “the trail of Nour, as she travels 2000 miles through nine countries to fulfill her dream of applying for asylum in Sweden.” Well, let me say, there wouldn’t be many countries, apart from Muslim ones for obvious reasons, who would put too many hurdles in her way, not once you see Nour (that’s her in the thumbnail at the start of this article). She is young and beautiful with long flowing brown hair, perfect teeth and complexion; and in part of the short film of her journey she sports a lowish cut dress. A Syrian who had been living in Turkey and left her mother behind, she didn’t look poor. Indeed, she spent €3000 to reach Sweden. Her English is excellent. She will undoubtedly be a boon to Sweden and I genuinely hope everything goes well for her.

At one point while watching the BBC report, however, I came to suspect she might actually be an actress. But even taking the BBC story at face value, Nour just ain’t your typical Syrian asylum seeker, not if those pictured in Budapest are any guide. I have decided she belongs to a special class of asylum seekers, which can be termed BBC-worthy asylum seekers. Numbers of young children also belong to this group. Basically, they must be sufficiently telegenic to fulfill the requirement of invoking sympathy and calming fears.

Have a look at the story of Nour and see for yourself.