Humanity

Major nations should bear much more responsibility for the refugee crisis. (77)

I have no illusions about power. Where there is power there is danger. (78)

Inhumanity is rampant in all systems, whether you grow up in communism, in socialism, in Buddhism or in Western capitalism. (43)

I believe that the people and their government are not one and the same. (74)

Power has to be represented by generosity and confidence. (79)

Governments do not do enough. They should feel ashamed. They are going to leave this world in a chaotic state. (80)

Power is so afraid of art and the poet. Art has the possibility to defend the very essential rights. (81)

My message is very clear: as a politician or a political group, you cannot be short-sighted, you cannot sacrifice human dignity and human rights for political gain. (82)

It is time for the international community to put the refugee agenda on the table and start having a very broad discussion about how to address it. (83)

The West does not want to accept its responsibility. There are going to be millions of Africans fleeing war. The population is growing, it’s going to double, there will be more famine, more wars, and more refugees. This is not just about Syria. Are Western leaders hoping that the problem will just resolve itself? (14)

The current-day displacement of people is the largest since the end of World War II. It’s a global issue and one that tests the resolve of developed nations to uphold human rights. (84)

I am pointing at all the governments who are not really facing up to this humanitarian crisis. It has not ended, it still continues. No nation can separate themselves. (85)

These people have nothing to do with Europe, but they have to come. They have been pushed out, and they are being totally neglected by Europe. They are sleeping in the mud and rain and it is only volunteers giving them food or clothes. (86)

All day long, the media asks me if I have shown the film to the refugees, but that’s the wrong question. The purpose is to show it to people of influence; people who are in a position to help and who have a responsibility to help. The refugees who need help—they don’t need to see the film. They need dry shoes. They need soup. (87)

Especially in today’s society, where the power structure has become so complex, it’s hard to tell when the interests of certain countries and regimes align. But an individual remains an individual. (88)

Any political struggle takes both sides. There are people defending their values and there are people who are trying to take away some of the most important values of our lives. (33)

To refuse somebody so desperate is almost a crime. It’s immoral, it’s shortsighted, and it is not going to benefit this nation. (89)

To control the information, to limit the truth: These are most efficient tactics for a totalitarian society. (90)

The United States was basically built by immigrants and refugees. The foundation, the very idea of this nation, was all about everyone being created equal. Violating those ideas to create policies and tactics that push people in need away sets up a very bad situation, not only for the refugees, but for the United States as a nation and how it looks at its own dignity, confidence, and place in the world. (91)

Everyone is a person and has rights; if not, democracy is a lie. (80)

Europe and the US have always been very greedy to increase their profit. Their attitude of not wanting to take responsibility shows how cowardly and selfish they are. (92)

I think we’re lucky that information can be flowing and transmitted through social media in almost real time. We can rally against power. (75)

We have to trust in humanity, not politicians. (86)

The internet is the real world. Individuals have never before had a chance to have their voices be heard. The only voice that could be heard, in the past, was from those in power. Now, that’s shifting and changing. (93)

Many Gulf states refuse refugees, but they have the same religious background and speak the same language. I think this shows very short-sighted politics, like you’re refusing to help out your brothers or your relatives. (94)

The West exploits Third World countries because many nations in the West are not really defenders of democracy but use it as a cloak, a tool defending their own profit. (17)

Internationally, we have many different kinds of systems but all these different powers should have one goal in common: to protect humanity. (84)

I don’t look at the refugee problem as a regional problem at all, because I think that, after globalization, regional problems are no longer regional. They always reflect some other powers at work. (95)

A great nation profits from accepting difference, from tolerance and understanding. (32)

In recent years, after globalization, I think the political structure and the economic structure has been dramatically shifting and adjusting itself. At the same time, the adjustment of our thinking, or our understanding of the world, has stayed in old times. (96)

We no longer want to accept or talk to anyone who is different, or to try to tolerate or understand each other. Rather, we are more exclusive and defensive. And of course politicians use this kind of danger or risk to scare people, and to increase their reputation. (96)

I’m not interested in a specific region or one person or one story. I’m interested in the global situation. (96)

No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all. (97)

I think all the far-right movements really show the nations that lack confidence and lack an understanding of what humanity is about. (98)

I think the west—generally speaking, the democratic countries—have benefitted from a long period of globalization, but they have also brought a lot of regional instability. The West should have some vision for dealing with this. (10)

I see how Europe reacted to the refugee crisis. I think it’s shameful, it’s questionable, it’s immoral, and in many ways it’s not legal. (99)

We say that the problem of refugees does not affect us, yet the politics on this issue affects us all. (80)

In politics of course you make a lot of sacrifices, but still you have to defend basic values, otherwise it’s not worth being a politician. (36)

It takes global leadership to sit down and see how to prevent refugee situations caused by war, by famine, by environmental problems. There are many things that need to be solved. (100)