It could happen here: a vision of a future in which refugees seize conrol of urban neighborhoods

The 3rd section of Mohsin Hamid's Exit West (first: in the Islamic-ruled city torn apart by civil war - Aleppo, Damascus?; 2nd, among thousands of refugees on the Greek island Mykonos), with the young couple, Nadia and Saeed, among thousands of refugee squatters in London, becomes a futuristic dystopia, a horrific vision of the world we might someday (soon?) see in Europe, as several London neighborhoods are nearly overrun by waves of refugees from trouble spots around the world. N and S settled into a small room in a large house in a good neighborhood (can't quite place it, maybe Kensington?) - apparently the house left vacant by owners who may be traveling, and taken over by refugees. We soon see that the refugees are forming into groups by nation of origin - N and S by chance have found themselves in a Nigerian squat, and they debate whether to leave and move into a house dominated by people from their home country (which would mean men and women living separately). Meanwhile, most troubling, a large anti-immigrant group called something like Britain First has begun attacking the refugees and the British police are moving in force on the squatters, and the government takes retributive action such as shutting off power and water; these refugees have endured far worse and show themselves resourceful at finding food and power sources and using bathtubs filled w/ rainwater as necessary - at least up to a point. Hamid is persuasive and credible, bringing us right into this world as experienced by the two young refugees, and forces us to confront our fears and biases. We have obviously already seen nativism and racism exploited for political gain in the U.S., but we have not yet truly been tested: How would we, or our government, react with entire urban neighborhoods seized and occupied by thousands of refugees? It could happen here.

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