Question
One
Just one week after a boat sank near the Italian island
of Lampedusa with the loss of 300 lives, a vessel capsized near Malta. This
time a prompt rescue operation by both Maltese and Italian coastguard
authorities resulted in many of the immigrants being saved and a much lower
death toll – about 30. Media reports say there are many thousands more migrants
gathering on the coasts of Lybia and Tunisia to wait for a clandestine crossing
to Italy – desperate people fleeing war and dictatorships. The PM of Malta has
described the Mediterranean as a ‘cemetery’. The Pope says the situation is ‘a
disgrace’. The president of Italian Red Cross has called for humanitarian
corridors to be opened. How should we in Europe respond? What can be done?
Comment
Why not do away with our borders for a start? People only
undertake these dangerous, clandestine journeys because they have no
alternative. They are fleeing wars, oppression and abject poverty. Life in
these countries is for some, untenable. They have no alternative but to flee.
Nobody leaves their own country without good reason. So why don’t we just raise
our borders and let them in? We are all human beings, citizens of the same
world. Who gives us the right to deny anyone access to a better life? If they want
to come here, let them in….and make is easy for them. Provide safe passage,
good, secure transport. Just because I was born in Europe does not mean I own
this land. Nor does it mean I can keep my fellow humans from moving in next
door. In fact I have a responsibility to ensure that all fellow humans in the
world have access to the same human rights that I enjoy: a safe home,
nourishment, access to education….. All those rights we have fought for and
laid out in print should belong to the whole human race, not just to Europeans.
People are by nature nomadic. Our survival through the
ages has depended on our ability to search out a safer environment, a richer,
more fertile land. Why deny our fellow humans the right to live in a safe, fair
society? It is merely our greed and our lack of humanity that pushes us to
describe these fellow citizens of the world as a problem, a drain on our
resources. We live here in a world of plenty, relatively speaking, with many
Europeans enjoying huge wealth. While some in our own land are still in need, there
is more than enough to go round.
And what of the question of sustainability? If so many
migrants end up in Europe surely this will lead to overcrowding? Not so. People
migrate to areas where there are sufficient jobs, where there is appropriate
housing. Look at Northern Ireland! We have unbelievably low numbers of
immigrants precisely because they know that there is a lack of sustainability
here. People only migrate to areas where there is surplus.
The myth of ‘immigrants taking our jobs and using up our
resources’ is one that has been largely developed by our present politicians,
driven by greed, individualistic objectives and political ambition. We the good
citizens of the world need to reclaim our responsibility to diffuse a more
global sense of responsibility throughout Europe. It is time for us to proclaim
our responsibility towards our African cousins by ensuring their safe passage
to our less troubled lands.
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