He and his family fled Iraq for Poland in the 1970s, never to return. Basil Kerski knows from firsthand experience that integration can be a long and difficult process, but it usually enriches receiving societies and new arrivals alike. As further migrations and intercultural encounters undoubtedly await Europe, Kerski argues in favour of European solidarity.
Basil Kerski
is director of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk and editor-in-chief of Dialog, a Polish-German bilingual monthly magazine.