A Syrian arrived in Europe by inflatable boat and is running in Germany's elections
ARK News… Six years ago, Tariq al-Awas was a Syrian on the run from conscription, on a rubber boat crossing the Aegean. When he made landfall, he walked from Athens to Vienna.
He is running now in the midst of an attempt to win a seat in the German parliament, in the elections scheduled for September 26.
Pending obtaining German citizenship, al-Awas intends to run for the Green Party in the western region of the country famous for its coal mining.
The Green Party says he will become the first refugee in the Federal Parliament.
Al-Awas arrived in Germany in 2015, when, he explains, he first felt safe. But he awoke from the shock that was waiting for him. A bed in a gymnasium with 60 other refugees. There, he was banned from working and not taking German lessons.
"I knew that my point of view, as someone who went through all of this, did not exist in politics," a law graduate told Reuters in fluent German. "I am not represented by anyone." al-Awas taught himself the language by placing German laws in the Google Translate application on his mobile phone.
"There are refugees in Germany even before 2015, they have been here for a long time. It is time for these people, who are part of society, to have a voice in politics," said al-Awas, who provides advice on asylum to migrants.
"Refugees face systematic discrimination in this society. They suffer because of racism and (they live) under the penalty of asylum and residency laws. These are experiences they share, and I want to work to bring about changes in these situations," he added.
Opinions poll place the left-leaning second Green Party only to Merkel's conservative bloc.
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