In 2015 – which has now come to be seen as the peak of Europe’s migration crisis – nearly 1 million asylum seekers tried to reach the continent by perilous journeys over land and sea. Most were refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war, but many also came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other countries across the Middle East and Africa.
In doing so they would test the core values of the European Union, itself an organisation that grew out of the ashes of a war that displaced millions. Ten years on, Guardian reporter Lorenzo Tondo catches up with one Syrian refugee who reflects on the 4,400km journey he undertook to Germany, and how his life has progressed since.
Also as part of our big story package, the Guardian’s European community affairs correspondent Ashifa Kassam reports on the growing wave of anti-migrant vigilantes in Europe and what their emergence signifies.
And Nesrine Malik’s excellent commentary explores the cyclical and escalating nature of anti-immigration rhetoric and policy, especially in the UK and US. Nesrine argues that the issue is deliberately manipulated by politicians, with the goalposts constantly shifting so no measure, no matter how extreme, can ever satisfy the demand for “fewer” immigrants.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | Is Trump trying to rig the midterms?
With elections next year, the US president is pushing extraordinary measures to ensure the Republicans maintain control of the legislature, reports David Smith
Spotlight | Friction on the Nato border
In North Karelia, the border force says the fence dividing Finland and Russia is no Berlin Wall – but it is now a key geopolitical faultline. Miranda Bryant reports
Feature | What the Netflix algorithm did to the movies
When the streaming giant began making films guided by data, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is a happier ending in store, asks Phil Hoad
Opinion | What Starmer should be saying to Farage
Labour’s reluctance to name Brexit as the cause of so many problems hasn’t stopped Reform’s rise. It’s time to try the truth, argues Rafael Behr
Culture | The drama and spectacle of Pablo Picasso
Famed for his cubist portraits, the Spanish genius also created costumes for the Ballet Russes and loved bullfights. Jonathan Jones explores a new show on the dramatic side of an uncompromising artist
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What else we’ve been reading
• There’s a romance and adventure about travelling, relatively slowly, across Europe by train. By following James Joyce’s rail trip from Dublin to Trieste in 1904, this story celebrates how the journey is still so familiar – but also the ways in which the world has changed in the century since. Anthony Naughton, assistant editor
• Netflix’s latest animated sensation, KPop Demon Hunters, has become its most-watched film ever, racking up more than 236m views. Following a K-pop girl group that moonlights as demon slayers, the film blends Korean pop aesthetics with global genre tropes. A surprise singalong theatrical release brought in its biggest box office receipts from the US. Hyunmu Lee, CRM executive
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Other highlights from the Guardian website
• Audio | A North Korean defector on why Kim Jong-un has sent troops to Ukraine
• Video | It’s complicated – why ‘baby brain’ isn’t what we think
• Gallery | A deeper story: photography from Australia and New Zealand
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