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[[Philosopher ]] and [[leftist ]] rabble-rouser [[Slavoj Žižek ]] looks at one of the most desperate situations of our [[time]]: the current refugee crisis overwhelming [[Europe]]. In this short yet stirring book, Žižek argues that accepting all comers and blocking all entry are both untenable solutions… but there is a [[third ]] option.

Today, hundreds of thousands of [[people]], desperate to escape war, [[violence ]] and poverty, are crossing the Mediterranean to seek refuge in Europe. Our response from our protected European standpoint, argues Slavoj Žižek, offers two versions of [[ideological ]] [[blackmail]]: either we open our doors as widely as possible; or we try to pull up the drawbridge. Both solutions are bad, states Žižek. They merely prolong the problem, rather than tackling it.

The refugee crisis also presents an opportunity, a unique [[chance ]] for Europe to redefine itself: but, if we are to do so, we have to start raising unpleasant and difficult questions. We must also acknowledge that large migrations are our [[future]]: only then can we commit to a carefully prepared [[process ]] of [[change]], one founded not on a [[community ]] that see the excluded as a [[threat]], but one that takes as its basis the shared substance of our [[social ]] [[being]].

The only way, in [[other ]] [[words]], to get to the heart of one of the greatest issues confronting Europe today is to insist on the [[global ]] [[solidarity ]] of the exploited and oppressed. Maybe such solidarity is a utopia. But, warns Žižek, if we don’t engage in it, then we are really lost. And we will deserve to be lost.