Embracing the Infidel

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"Borders are illegal" - Rated
[“Did you come here illegally?” That was the first question I asked her. “I did not cross illegally. Borders are illegal. They are not natural. Crossing them is my right. Doing what is my right is not illegal,” she replied.]

The immigrants have gotten used to being counted in UN statistics. But do they count?

In an attempt to address the vital need to acknowledge what the informal immigrants have to say about their clandestine journey, Behzad Yaghmaian recently published “Embracing the Infidel”, a collection of the stories of informal immigrants. With his humane perspective on the issue of migration, Yaghmaian goes beyond the limits of participatory research and actively shares the experiences of immigrants in their Westward journey. Giving a voice to the ones stranded in a web of powerlessness, he shows us the naked reality of torture immigrants face in the borders of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. He tells us the life stories of the ones who, having nothing to lose, imperil their lives, leaving their families and homes behind just to achieve a normal life. They are the ones who are excluded from any chance of improving their conditions and achieving a better life. Yaghmaian shows how the incompetence to change their lives turn into a rage to their fate, to their home country and to the host country that do not welcome them. It is a very timely book reminding the Western world the ignored immigration challenge they have to face.