As Europe’s greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War continues with no easy solutions in sight, voices on all sides have been clamouring to spout their opinions and much has been lost in the debate.

In A Nutshell have attempted to bring some clarity back to the conversation and sidestep media framing to explain the roots of the Syrian conflict and why it has produced so many refugees, with some much-needed facts and figures.

According to the narrator, Syria became the world’s top source of refugees as the Arab Spring uprising led to unrest across the country. It explains the response of neighbouring states and why many refugees have left refugee camps in those countries to come to seek sanctuary in Europe.

The video also puts the current crisis in a historical and humanitarian context, while responding to some of the hysteria around this ‘influx’ of people. It points out that accepting the Syrians will not lead to an ‘Islamification’ of Europe as the EU’s Muslim population will rise from 4% to just 5% – still a tiny minority – and that countries far poorer than Europe, such as Jordan have taken in greater numbers of refugees.

“We are writing history right now – how do we want to be remembered?” the narrator asks. “As xenophobic rich cowards behind fences?”

Check out more rad explainer videos from In A Nutshell.