Migration as an electoral battleground

With Greece's national elections drawing near and the political parties having already mobilized their mechanisms in the race for votes, another parallel and often more important battle is already underway. It is the 'war' of impressions, with communication tactics being devised and the propaganda arsenals making their appearance on both sides. The strategy is specific and successfully tested: to strike your political opponent at his weakest point, as it emerges into the public spotlight, using various means. Some of these methods include reports, journalistic investigations, targeted exclusives, and even fake news and fabricated stories, with the aim of creating a negative political climate, whether prolonged or temporary. The intended effect would be to damage the opponent's prestige and credibility, both on a personal and on a purely political level, while at the same time polarizing the party audience. It is therefore only to be expected that issues of major importance at the level of governance will come to the forefront and that around them an arena of confrontation will unfold, until the final battle. The economy, the country's development trajectory, defense spending and armament programs, foreign policy and labor issues have always been the preferred subject matter of every electoral contest, with gallons of ink spilled and hundreds of hours of live political programs devoted to defending the various political positions, highlighting governmental successes or shortcomings, respectively. More recently, and specifically since 2015, migration, and particularly the management of illegal migration, has occupied a prominent position in this communication arena. The migration crisis of that period, an outcome of the Arab Spring and the prolonged Syrian civil war, shocked European public opinion with its scale and intensity and became a point of reference for the years that followed. The way the crisis was managed, and its immediate consequences in some member-states (increased crime, sporadic terrorist attacks, the collapse of the welfare state etc), combined with the heterogeneous initiatives taken to manage illegal migration at a later stage, have collectively left the impression of a controversial sociopolitical footprint, open to interpretations, all kinds of approaches, as well as political fragmentation and communication exploitation. Within such a chaotic landscape, with the extremes attempting to crush voices of reason between the mythological sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, a clash of impressions is cultivated and played out, accompanied by the cheap attribution of disparaging labels and base motives. Superficial and oversimplified approaches flood social media, addressing a large audience, which has understandably grown tired of over-analysis and is willing to believe almost anything because of its thirst to see tangible results. Once again, therefore, and in the run-up to the elections, when it comes to migration, we will be confronted with the distortion of facts, the exploitation of isolated incidents, the dissemination of misleading information, the manipulation of data and, of course, the spread of unfounded rumors, all of which are nevertheless capable of touching the emotions and emotionally charging voters. Unfortunately, controlling all of the above is now impossible and it is left to citizens to deal with them critically. Yet the extent of the propaganda, bordering on brainwashing, is such that it leaves little room for optimism. The real danger is not simply that falsehoods are spread, but that, when repeated often enough and presented with sufficient conviction, they gradually acquire the appearance of truth. As George Orwell aptly observed, 'for all practical purposes, the lie will have become truth.' Marios Kaleas is the general director of the Greek Asylum Service and Chairperson of the Management Board of the European Agency for Asylum (EUAA).