The War in Ukraine has highlighted something that everyone knew but didn't want to talk about

Since the beginning of the Invasion in February, Millions of Ukrainians have fled their countries, almost all of them, women and children. But rather surprisingly, the number one country that jumped to offer aid and shelter to those fleeing was Poland. A country that not too long ago was complaining about the ongoing refugee crisis with Syrians and many people fleeing the middle east. Poland complained and outright refused to take in refugees if they didn't have to, but now with Ukraine, they are bending over backward for them. So what gives? Has Poland had a sudden change of heart? Is it shared history? Or is it what we kind of knew already, A racist double standard.

Poland is regarded by most as being one of the most explicitly right-wing countries in Europe, rightfully so, Poland has had the ruling Law and Justice party in charge since 2011 and they've been a consistent contender for the premier since around 2007. Now, Poland isn't the only right-wing country in Europe, Hungary is next door and they're a dictatorship at the moment. But Poland has U-turned pretty quickly from being a reasonably liberal country to being a lighthouse for the far-right in Europe. Famously taking strict Anti-Abortion stances, Anti-LGBTQ stances, often to the Financial detriment of itself. Since, an Anti-LGBTQ bill that essentially banned the existence of Homosexual people in certain areas went against EU law which has resulted in Sanctions from the EU, of which Poland is a member.

But the Law and Justice party garnered initial support from the Christian Right-wing and the general public due to rising tensions between native Poles and Immigrants. Most of them came from Non-Christian countries and created what was seen as an Ethnic and Cultural trench between the Immigrants coming in and the Polish people many of which were working hard to try and get by, whilst they were led to believe that the Immigrants were getting everything for free.

It won't surprise you, I hope when I point out that much of the "Immigrants are living off of welfare" is 90% of the time, wrong. It was a major talking point during the Brexit referendum and at the time of the referendum, Refugees and otherwise non-citizens only made up 4% of Benefit claimants, many of those benefits being in-work benefits like Child Tax Credits and Working tax credits. The same story is for Poland, much of the immigration back in 2007 was working immigrants and the only Immigrants seeking benefits were young Immigrants who came with their parents and unlike their parents didn't have a job lined up due to many of them being just under the legal working age.

Fast forward to the situation with Ukraine, Poland has jumped at the opportunity to provide Military, Humanitarian and Financial Aid to Ukrainians fleeing the Invasion. So why are they helping Ukrainians whilst only a few years ago complaining about Syrian Immigrants who were also leaving a war-torn country? Well, the answer is pretty complex and this is where I have to be careful about phrasing.

A lot of it comes from stereotypes, Syrians by en-large are Sunni Muslims and Poland is a Catholic country, so by the judgment of the majority, Syrian = Muslim in the eyes of the Polish Government. The Polish Government is deeply Catholic, and doesn't want to risk stirring the pot of tensions again so, would rather that the other EU countries take on the Syrians. But Syrians do have a fair number of Christians amongst them, roughly 10% of the population are Christians. So why don't the Polish be more specific and only take on the Christians?

Well, hyper-specific immigration law like that is pretty difficult to enforce since many Religions don't have a membership card like Scheme where all Christians have a membership card verifying that they are Christians and not "wrong un's". So the border guards have to resort to what they know, which is that Muslims are usually brown, and Christians are usually white. This takes us to Ukraine quite nicely.

Ukraine is majority White and Christian, which makes Poland's willingness to help a lot easier to enforce. We know for a fact that those are the two characteristics being used in conjunction because Mixed-race Ukrainians have run into a few issues getting into Poland. So, by its very nature. It is steeped in Racist Stereotypes. Now, the Polish Government has said that Immigrants in Ukraine who were displaced by the war, will be allowed into Poland but their rule is that they let in 10 Ukrainians first then 1 displaced Immigrant. They've also said their willingness comes from "Shared History" and I for one don't doubt that that's a factor. What I do question is the practicality of their help.

Ukraine and Poland are very similar, Culturally, Historically, and Demographically. But just because you help Culturally similar people now don't remedy you from holding a double standard. A double standard that is resulting in the displaced, being displaced even further. If the issue is funding and specifically wanting to help Christians then I at least understand that, doesn't mean I agree with it. But at least let all of them in and allow the Displaced Immigrants who were in Ukraine to use your airports to go back home, rather than leaving them on the edge of the Ukrainian-Polish border.

I am by no means just picking on Poland, The west as a whole is guilty of doing the same thing as Poland. But Poland is pretty far removed from the west which allows me to use what is going on there to hold a mirror to the west. People are much more likely to trust their government and deny wrongdoing even to people who didn't vote for their government, than if you show them what is going on elsewhere and force them to acknowledge it.

The Ukrainian Invasion has highlighted a double standard held by many countries in and west and it allows us to help those who need the help. But it also gives us a moment to observe and reflect. Something I think, we all need just now.