Leaders | Cooler heads, calmer words

How to detoxify the politics of migration

Doom-mongers on both the left and the right are wrong

Migrants walk towards an open gate on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico
Photograph: Getty Images

Every day, screens around the world fill with grim pictures from Gaza, where nearly 2m Palestinians have been forced out of their homes. Even larger numbers have been displaced in Congo, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine. Most people feel compassion when they see fellow humans fleeing from bombs, bullets or machetes. But many also experience another emotion: fear.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “How to detoxify migration politics”

From the December 23rd 2023 edition

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