Lesson of the Day: ‘Migrants in Peril, and Raw Emotions, in a Volatile European Border Standoff’

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “Migrants in Peril, and Raw Emotions, in a Volatile European Border Standoff” by Andrew Higgins

Thousands of migrants — many from the Middle East — are stranded in Belarus as they attempt to cross the border into Poland. The cold weather has led to the deaths of nine migrants, including a 14-year-old Kurdish boy. Western leaders believe the crisis has been engineered by Belarus’s autocratic leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, in an attempt to punish Poland for harboring dissidents and to pressure the European Union into lifting sanctions.

In this lesson, you will learn more about this unfolding crisis by watching a video, looking at maps and reading an article. Then, you will react to the situation and share how you think E.U. leaders should respond.

Warm-Up

Part 1: Take our Country of the Week quiz for Belarus. What is one thing you learned about Belarus? What is one thing that surprised you?

Part 2: Next, watch the two-minute video from the featured article that is embedded at the top of this lesson. Then, make a list of the key people, places and events involved in the situation. You might draw a diagram to show how they are related to one another. Finally, write down at least two questions you still have about what is happening.

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Read the article, and then answer the following questions:

1. The first five paragraphs of the featured article paint a picture of the current situation at the border. According to those first five paragraphs, what are three things that are currently happening at the border?

2. According to Western leaders, what actions led to the current crisis at the border?

3. How has Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland reacted to the crisis at the border? How has Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Belarus’s autocratic leader, responded?

4. Why is it a “nonstarter” for many European officials to speak directly to their Belarusian counterparts? What is their concern about Mr. Lukashenko and the country’s election last year?

5. What has Mr. Lukashenko threatened to do if the West escalates sanctions? What is he hoping to leverage by making these threats?

6. How has Poland’s hard-line policy forbidding all nonresidents from entering the border zone been received by people both within and outside the country?

7. What were some of the beliefs expressed by participants of the Independence Day march in Poland? What is your reaction to their chants and statements?

8. What action has the Iraqi government taken to support Iraqi Kurds who are currently at the border in Belarus?

Going Further

Option 1: What is your reaction to the crisis at the border?

Discuss one or more of the following questions with your classmates:

• What do you think should happen next? What should leaders of the European Union do? What should Belarus do?

• What responsibility do you think the international community has in a migrant crisis like this one? For example, do you think the leaders of your country should step in to help resolve the confrontation? Why or why not? What role, if any, do you think everyday citizens such as you have?

• What does this particular crisis tell us about the larger global patterns of mass migration and the rise of the far right? What connections can you make between this event and others like it that have happened recently in other parts of the world?

Option 2: Learn more about the crisis by reading at least one additional article.

Choose from the following:

Then, respond to the following questions:

• What are two additional facts about the situation you learned?

• What is one quote from the article that helps you better understand what is happening?

• Does the additional information you learned change anything about how you think the situation should be handled going forward? Explain.

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