The issue of immigrants, the refugee crisis and the destruction of the Islamic State are the biggest challenges of the Western powers of the 21st century. The issue of immigrants and their descendants will only be solved with their integration into societies where they live. The current refugee crisis will not be resolved unless with the reception by European countries and the United States of all who aspire to move away from areas of conflict where they came from. The United States and the European Union, responsible for the disorganization and devastation of the countries of the refugees, have a moral duty to assist them and house them at this juncture. The UN must also go out of their passivity and go to work with effectiveness to prevent the worsening of this humanitarian crisis. In turn, the annihilation of the Islamic State, which would make it possible to reduce the flow of refugees, should be accompanied by a major effort in promoting economic and social development of the Middle Eastern countries and in peace building, especially between Sunnis and Shiites and Palestinians and Israelis.

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THE QUESTION OF IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
Fernando Alcoforado *
Immigrant is one who enters a foreign country in order to reside or work. The
immigrant is seen by the perspective of the country that welcomes him as the individual
who came from abroad. Stuart Hall (HALL, S. The question of cultural identity,
Cambridge, 1992) identifies two possible adaptive responses by immigrants: translation
and tradition. Translation is a response based on syncretism in which immigrants who
live with a new culture seek to develop new forms of expression that are entirely
divorced from their origins. Translation is therefore the result of the integration of
immigrants in the society that welcomes them. Tradition means ethnic fundamentalism
and / or religious facing the rediscovery of its origins by immigrants. The tradition
involves the search of certainties of the past. Tradition is therefore the result of the lack
of integration of immigrants in the society that welcomes them.
According Schaetti (SCHAETTI, B. Phoenix rising: the question of cultural identity,
Transition Dynamics, 1999), one of the effects of the migration process it is what has
the name of cultural marginality which describes a typical experience for immigrants
who are exposed to two or more cultural traditions. Such people do not tend to stand
comfortably in any of the cultures in which they are exposed, but putting them on
margin. This is the situation of immigrants and also of the children of immigrants in
Europe and the United States. The children of immigrants born and educated in the host
country face greater difficulties than children of natives and feel more discriminated
against than the immigrants themselves, warns the OECD [See Article Filhos de
imigrantes nascidos no país de acolhimento sentem-se mais discriminados do que os
estrangeiros (Children of immigrants born in the host country feel more discriminated
against than foreign) available on the website
<http://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/filhos-de-imigrantes-nascidos-no-pais-de-
acolhimento-sentemse-mais-discriminados-do-que-os-estrangeiros-2923488.html>].
In the above-mentioned article that addresses the issue of immigrants, the OECD
highlights the "persistent disadvantages that the children of immigrants born, raised and
educated in the country face when compared to children of at least one native parent".
The children of immigrants born in the host country represented, in 2008, 5.4% of
people aged between 15 and 34 years, while 14.4% of the same age were foreign in
OECD countries. The difficulties are noted in access to the labor market and the quality
of jobs that children of immigrants are. The average of the 34 OECD countries, the
unemployment rate of the children of immigrants born in the host country is 13.8%,
seven percentage points above the unemployment rate of native descent. Also the rate of
young children of immigrants between 15 and 34 who are not working or studying
(17%) is five percentage points higher than that of natives. Moreover, the children of
immigrants are less likely to find employment in the public sector, despite have the
nationality of the country where they reside. In all OECD countries, the feeling of
belonging to a discriminated group is more frequent among children of immigrants
(23%) than among people born abroad (14%), adds the organization.
Another effect of population immigrations is, according Schaetti (1999), marginality
encapsulated that corresponds to the situation of immigrants who feel insecure in the
new environment. They often feel alienated, weak, unhappy and life meaningless.
Marginalized encapsulated do not integrate to the country that welcomes them. They are
isolated. They do not see a social group in the country with which to establish a

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relationship. A good example of immigrants and children of immigrants who have this
feature are the Muslims who are seen as a threat to local residents of European Union
countries, especially in the current era of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. Are
immigrants or children of immigrants with marginality encapsulated from Muslim
origin who constitute mass of maneuver to terrorism actions by the Islamic State as
those reached Paris and Brussels recently. It occurs with immigrants and children of
immigrants who profess Islam what Stuart Hall (1992) calls Tradition that is the search
for the certainties of the past as a result of the lack of their integration in societies that
welcomes them.
The difficulties of integration of immigrants to France, thrown to the suburbs and
subjected to prejudice, unemployment and lack of support from the French state
contribute to the marginalization (cultural or encapsulated) of immigrants. Just as in the
suburbs of Paris, the black population of the suburbs of London, most of which come
from former Caribbean colonies, he claimed to suffer from severe and unjustified police
repression, beyond racism and unemployment, fuel to hopelessness. Public authorities
and the press classified the disorders that followed as pure acts of violence and
vandalism, overlooking the deep social problems that affect the immigrant population.
Finally, Schaetti (1999) concludes that the third effect of population immigrations is the
constructive marginality that describes the situation in which immigrants are able to
move easily and powerfully between different cultural traditions, appropriately acting,
feeling at home and at the same time maintaining an integrated multicultural sense of
self. Constructive marginalized people tend to put their multicultural experience to good
use. Global nomads recognize that the knowledge and skills they have gained through
their international mobility can help in their personal and professional goals. This is the
situation of the Jews and their descendants who, in addition to maintaining their cultural
identity with the Jewish community and in particular with the State of Israel, are
integrated with the countries that welcomes them. It occurs with the Jews what Stuart
Hall (1992) called translation that is the result of its effective integration in societies
that welcomes them.
It is worth noting that the refugee is also an immigrant who is forced to seek another
country to live. The refugee is any person who, due to founded fear of persecution
because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or
political party, takes refuge outside their country of origin and that, because of such
fear, cannot or don´t want to return to it, or due to serious and widespread violations of
human rights, is obliged to leave their country of nationality to seek refuge in other
countries. This is the situation of thousands of refugees from wars of Afghanistan and
Iraq and of predatory interventions in Libya and Syria led by the United States and
NATO that have devastated whole societies and killed hundreds of thousands of men,
women and children.
The rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the civil wars ongoing in Iraq and Syria are the
product of the devastation of Iraq by the United States, followed by US support and its
allies to Islamic militias in Syria. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell and other Bush
administration that waged a war of aggression in Iraq based on lies remain completely
unpunished. The Obama administration is primarily responsible for the disasters that
triggered in Libya and Syria and remains unpunished. They are responsible for what
happens today on the borders of Europe, which should be seen more than a tragedy,
such as a prolonged and ongoing war crime.

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The issue of immigrants, the refugee crisis and the destruction of the Islamic State are
the biggest challenges of the Western powers of the 21st century. The issue of
immigrants and their descendants will only be solved with their integration into
societies where they live. The current refugee crisis will not be resolved unless with the
reception by European countries and the United States of all who aspire to move away
from areas of conflict where they came from. The United States and the European
Union, responsible for the disorganization and devastation of the countries of the
refugees, have a moral duty to assist them and house them at this juncture. The UN
must also go out of their passivity and go to work with effectiveness to prevent the
worsening of this humanitarian crisis. In turn, the annihilation of the Islamic State,
which would make it possible to reduce the flow of refugees, should be accompanied by
a major effort in promoting economic and social development of the Middle Eastern
countries and in peace building, especially between Sunnis and Shiites and Palestinians
and Israelis.
*Fernando Alcoforado, 76, membro da Academia Baiana de Educação, engenheiro e doutor em
Planejamento Territorial e Desenvolvimento Regional pela Universidade de Barcelona, professor
universitário e consultor nas áreas de planejamento estratégico, planejamento empresarial, planejamento
regional e planejamento de sistemas energéticos, é autor dos livros Globalização (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo,
1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento
(Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos
Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic
and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft &
Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e
Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento
global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes
do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012) e Energia no Mundo e no Brasil-
Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015). Possui blog na
Internet (http://fernando.alcoforado.zip.net). E-mail: falcoforado@uol.com.br.