I'm seeing (admittedly very few) stories of Israeli backpackers getting turned away from hostels in Kyrgyzstan for "being occupiers." At the same time, Russian war vets or missile operators can vacation in Kyrgyzstan without facing even the remote prospect of a boycott
To be fair, Russia treats its war veterans so horribly that I'm not sure many of them are going on vacation. But you can easily run into military-affiliated people on the beaches of Lake Issyk Kul, especially since most other destinations have been blacklisted.
I have a couple of other projects that I'm working on (notably my PhD 🫠), but I am planning on writing a long piece about my experience of working in the camp. Grateful for any suggestions on potential outlets 🙏
Since late last year, I have been working in a refugee camp (initial reception facility in bureaucratese), which has been a very eye-opening experience. Beyond the way the state treats asylum seekers, I am particularly incensed at how ungrateful Germany has been to its refugee population.
As a migration scholar, it's one thing to know how the EU and German asylum systems work on paper––and a very different one to experience it firsthand on the ground.
Many of my absolutely wonderful colleagues arrived in the country from places like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq in the mid 2010s. They had careers, diplomas, qualifications––none of which were recognized by Germany. Today, many are working in the same camps they transited through ten years earlier.
The racial hierarchy within the refugee welfare system is so blatant: non-ethnic Germans are relegated to working as translators and assistants, a few foreigners (usually with German degrees) become social workers, and all senior positions within the administration are occupied by white Germans
