Refugees on the Polish-Belarusian Border: Between Suffering and Being an “Object” of a Political Game

This paper is an attempt to grasp the pitfalls and paradoxes of providing assistance in the situation of the ongoing humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border (which is also the border of the European Union) since the second half of 2021. The considerations undertaken herein aim at a preliminary sketching of the scope, dynamics and directions of the transformation of attitudes and practices (including those related to the silencing or positioning of this issue in public discourse) undertaken towards refugees in Poland (and Europe), as well as the ways of depicting, interpreting and explaining the related political issues and social questions. The issues discussed are based on the assumption that we are dealing with refugees in the first place: people fleeing a trajectory (i.e., associated with chaos and suffering) of their life situation and seeking a safe haven. In this light, the intention of answering the question of why Ukrainians and Ukrainians have been treated differently in Poland, and those arriving from the Middle East and Africa. The dissimilarity is addressed to the interpretative patterns present in the public discourse rooted in culturally fixed and socially conditioned ways of talking about Others and Strangers, as well as the political and discursive “utility” of the Stranger for both the polities practiced in Poland and Europe, through which political interests can be played out sowing fear and insecurity. These activities will be contrasted with the commitment of the few who provide assistance. Finally, an ethical move is proposed to stop treating refugees solely in terms of physical and cultural threat and to commit to taking their suffering into account.