Could one honest politician have the courage to say it anyway?

Is it ever so, the wealthy are greeted with open arms? Those who have money to spend are waved ashore.  A boost to the economy, the ring of cash registers heralds their entrance. The poor get no such welcome mat. They pile onto overloaded boats fleeing the intolerable to find the possible. They fill refugee camps around their country's borders. These are not rich enough to woo their suitor countries. They quite clearly are not wanted. They must scurry through dark places. Whatever savings they gather is used to bribe the smugglers. It is big business this trade. People used to earn lots of money capturing Africans and transporting them to be sold abroad into slavery. Now, there is a new currency in human flesh.  Money is to be earned transporting those who cannot bear to live in their homes to countries that do not want them, by those who make a livelihood from the spreading chaos. 

The deaths are a stain on Europe. It's red tide of shame. But compared to the loss of life and danger these refugees face at home, the journey is worth the risk. Does Europe bite its fingers in hatred that the victims don't die or suffer quietly in their own backyard’s? Don't these people see by fleeing to southern Europe they embarrass the developed world. We have become accustomed to the deaths, murders and atrocities of the third world but not in our own borders. However, Bosnia showed Europe could once more stomach the killing of large numbers.  Rwanda proved that even killings approaching a million caused handwringing but no action at the UN. The truth is less palatable than we imagine. The reality is hidden behind feel good charity endeavours. Our shame is not that we don't know what is happening. It is because we don't want to know.  

The system is sustainable because our focus is on our own misery and fears. Terrorism, viruses,  Ebola, bird flu, the weak economy, threatening wars. The distracted developed world is like a selfish adolescent who is concerned only with how things affect them. This mindset has no room for global awareness. No matter what environmental considerations, wildlife extinctions, global warming, pollution of our land, sea and air. Never mind human loss of life the show must go on. Unfortunately, we are reaching the tipping point on all fronts. Beyond which, many fear, there is no recovery. 

Some solutions are obvious. This flawed view that we can continue to abuse and over use the earth's resources to fuel a growing economy at whatever cost. It beggars belief that are our leaders could be so disengaged from reality. They, of course, are singing from the hymmn sheet, that the developed world insists on hearing, business as usual! Everything is limited.  The amount of gold, gas and oil is finite. Natural resources such as water, fish and crops are not only limited but fragile. We would do well to give our leaders a reality check. We cannot grow ourselves out of the present problems. The growth they proclaim as future progress will be at a cost the world cannot sustain. Politicians are obliged to tell us what we want to hear, either business as usual or business better than normal. They fear divergence from this popular script. 

Could somewhere, some leader have the courage to say the unpalatable.  Okay, they will never be re-elected. The truth will have to be their swan song. But, could one honest politician of any nation or background have the courage to say it anyway.

Another 300 lost lives in the Med yesterday

There was a disaster off Lampedusi when on the 3^rd of October 2013 over 360 migrants drowned.  By the end of that October over 500 lives were lost off Lampedusi. Such was the international reaction an operation, Mare Nostrum, was initiated which involved boats patrolling the Mediterranean to make sure such huge disasters were prevented.  This initiative managed to save 140,000 lives in a year during its operation.  Unfortunately, on the 1^st Nov 2014 another initiative replaced Mare Nostrum called Frontex Triton.  This receives two thirds the funding of its predecessor.  This at a time when Syria's brutal civil war is pushing a new wave of migrants towards Europe. Their numbers have not only surged, but many asylum seekers in Europe have also fled the conflicts and turmoil in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and the Horn of Africa.  The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says more migrants are dying because search and rescue efforts have been reduced.  According to Amnesty International,

“With the continued instability in the Middle East, conflicts largest and the deterioration of the situation in Libya, desperate people are seeking safety and refuge in Europe.

As Europe strengthens its land borders, people are being pushed towards more and more dangerous routes through the central Mediterranean. Now more than ever, the EU must ensure collective mechanisms and global search and rescue along the sea route more dangerous the world.”

Questions are being asked whether an organisation, such as Triton, whose mandate is border surveillance, will be able to protect the vulnerable migrants.  Certainly, patrolling closer to the Italian borders, as its intent, will not help those drowning between Malta and the North African coast.  Already 3000 have died attempting the crossing since the start of this year.  Understanding where migrants are fleeing from is important.

A few days ago more boats sank with an estimated loss of live of 300 and this did not even reach the front pages of the media either online or in print.  Being so close in Malta, I was shocked that such a tragic loss of life does even merit appropriate mention in the world’s press.  If you hunt for the item you will find it here, at this link.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31414009

In a world of increasing turmoil on every front it is possible to be distracted from the tragic suffering happening on Europe’s doorstep.  The policy of averting our eyes or pretending it is not happening does not ameliorate their plight or our moral responsibilities.

Love of humanity not love of nationality

It is disheartening to see the rise of racism across Europe.  The tide of illegal immigrants flocking to its shores, combined with an economic downturn have prompted the rise of a growing nationalism and a swing to the political right.  I lived in Rhodes for almost a decade and was devastated by the common occurrence of boats filled with refugees sinking as they made their way across into Europe from Turkey.  Searching for a new life and fleeing impossible conditions these hopefuls were instead washed ashore on holiday islands, their dead bodies bloated and distorted. 

Now, I am living on Malta the fleeing refugees keep coming, this time from Africa and again holiday islands are the first piece of Europe encountered by the fleeing masses.   You used to read in history about when a civilisation fell it was customary for its men to be slaughtered and its women and children sold into slavery.  It seemed barbaric and inhuman that this was so common an occurrence in our history.  But living in Rhodes, during the fall of the Soviet Union, I was to learn a new lesson in modern forms of the same.  Russian women worked on the island as cleaners and sent their money home to their families in Russia.  Often these women were qualified workers in Russia but had not been paid and so had fled to find income to support their children.  They work so hard these women and they don’t complain.  Whatever disaster unfolds they just buckle down and try a little harder.  Hardship strengthens you, they say.   It felt horrific to see a kind of modern slavery of sorts and to sense their vulnerability. 

Here, on Malta the economy is good and yet already a weariness of this tide of refugees is in evidence.  In Greece, where the economy is far from healthy, the rise of the right wing extremist party has brought violence onto the street against foreigners.  It is not just the newly arrived that are targeted.  A friend of mine, who has lived in Greece for many decades, as an eye doctor was targeted by racist thugs in the town where he lives.  I remember using his services when one of my young sons had something painful in his eye at a summer school, we were both attending in northern Greece.  The doctor delicately rolled back the eyelid and blew, the obstruction was cleared and my son’s relief was immediate.  To think that this decent man was beaten so badly that he is on crutches defies belief.  When I saw his photograph after the attack I wept.  Both at the pain and suffering he endured and at the stupidity of those who do such things to other human beings. 

Most people would not attack foreigners in their midst but many will come out with racist comments that fuel the actions of the ignorant in our society.  When a tide of racism is on the increase one hopes that those who believe in a better society stand firm in their principles.  We so often look back to Nazi actions and celebrate those who protected the Jews and went against the tide of public opinion around them.  Perhaps, people will look back at these days we live in now and speak of those who knew how to keep grounded in their love of humanity, despite the challenges and confusion.