Migration From Africa:
The
New Boat People
As
the numbers of migrant Africans, Iraqis, Syrians, Afghans and others
desperate to enter Europe by boats, home-made rafts, barrels,
dinghies and any other water- floating device-enabled contraptions
surge to levels never seen before, is there a solution to these
exoduses of historic proportions?
The
first thing which most commentators fail to point out is that nobody
wants to be a refugee or migrant in flight from their mother country or
fatherland. It's something which is forced upon them. People pack their bags (or what little they possess) and
their families (or those fit and young and healthy enough to survive
the journey) because they have no choice.
If
they stay behind they and their children will be butchered by the
insanity of religious zealots, primitive beliefs, political madmen
and tyrants, or starved to death because of war, famine, pestilence,
disease or because as minorities (ethnic, religious, gay, lesbian)
they are being persecuted and terrorised by governments or
communities where civil society, as we understand it, has collapsed.
The
image of a confused terrified and bewildered child clutching a precious toy or elderly people
crying because everything
they knew and loved has been destroyed all around them and they are
being abandoned to fend for themselves, or human carcasses lying in
the streets being eaten by packs of scavenging animals, once loving
and loved family pets, now desperate for food as the world they knew
disappeared, inexplicably and in an instant. The loving individuals
and children they cared for - and who doted - on them - either blown
apart, limb by limb now only as rotting corpses. For any pet this
schizophrenic Kafkaesque-like new world must be as traumatic and
terror-filled as it is for those humans fleeing in the wake of such
horrors.
Don't be confused or let the media confuse you between the terms 'economic' migrants and refugees. If people have become economic migrants, thye may have been forced to do so because they are religious or ethnic minorities with no opportunity for advancement in their country of birth.
They may have been 'terrorised' into flight through modern day 'pogroms' be it in Asia, Africa or elsewhere.
But
you won't be reading this type of story in your mainstream media
outlet where the emphasis will be on 'let them all die at sea' 'burn
all their (immigrants) boats on the shores of North Africa so they
can't get here.' What
statements like these do echo however are the fears and frustrations
at what seems to be an insoluble and unsolvable problem. I say
'insoluble' because, for example, I don't want to welcome immigrants
who hate Gay and Lesbian people because they are Gay and Lesbian
people and will not respect
their fellow-citizens rights 'to be different' in their new secular
society home in The United States or Europe.
The
Netherlands – Almost From Mediaeval Times, A Sanctuary For
Dissidents
The
Netherlands and Denmark were two of the most liberal countries in
Europe who opened their doors to Muslim refugees and migrant workers
– only to find that those very same people they welcomed, when
'settled' (but never integrated) were contemptuous of the 'liberal'
values of their host countries and, other than for public relations,
prefer the comfort of listening to hate preachers from Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, rail against Christianity and it's immorality and satanic
values and such hate preachers openly calling for the murder of
fellow-citizens in all countries who do not conform to their twisted
version of Islamic values and therefore, are apostates.
Common
Observations You Will Hear
''I
do not want to see streets lined with coffee shops and me looked at
as if I am some sort of monster or outcast if I ask can I get a
bottle of beer.''
''I
have nothing against immigrants opening any business – indeed such
is always to be commended as it is enterprising and such is the
spirity of our communities – but don't ask me to live as if we were
in Turkey, or Morocco, or Saudi Arabia or some other Middle Eastern
or North African Muslim country where Islam and it's mediaeval tenets
are more important than my rights and tolerance of all minorities
within communities.''
''I
don't want to be looked at (or spoken to) with contempt should my
daughters be wearing short skirts or short pants or dressed as they
feel they want to in summertime or told that I should 'keep them
under control' and that they should 'dress modestly' according to
Islamic values in Europe.''
Yes
there is a place for modesty – but according to our civil
institutions or private establishments or when visiting churches,
mosques, synagogues or temples where protocol dictates the dress code
– but in Christendom the church is subject to civil law code in the
same manner as any private citizen and church doctrines do not
supercede the civil and criminal laws.
''Don't
tell me to 'chastise' my wife or children because of a book written
1400 years ago or books written thousands of years ago outside
Christendom says so – and I, a Christian, must conform to this or
die.'' ''Don't tell me that my wife and daughters are like baggage or chattels to be bought and sold at will.''
''Don't
ask me to flog or crucify or murder Gay or Lesbian individuals
because that's what happened thousands of years ago or happens today
in Saudi Arabia or regions of Africa where cannibalism continues to
be practiced (I am here sepcifically referring to the
cannibalism of Albino individuals by locals across East Africa this
very day1) and not much has progressed in human thought on the dignity and rights in plural secular societies,
so it's perfectly OK to burn alive or murder those who are 'different' to this today.''
These
are not my communities. These are not the Europeans with more recent (and visible) African
heritage I know – but if you have good friends who are African and
have known them for a long time, they will honestly tell you about
these 'traditional' 'primitive' practices in the lands of their
ancestors. They will also honestly tell you that ignorance and
superstition are at the root of such beliefs to this very day.
So
this is my dilemma. I don't have any problem welcoming anyone from
any part of the world. Many people have issues of racism - against
Black people, poor people, against refugees with absolutely nothing
but the clothes on their backs, hidden within their very spiteful and
hateful remarks about the 'dirty filthy immigrants'. Perhaps
if those very same people would give the 'dirty filthy immigrants'
the dignity of a job and somewhere decent, safe and secure to live
and be more focused on how to welcome and integrate such people and
their children into their new home and community with the emphasis on
respect for our secular values in Christendom and loyalty to our
democratic values, the separation of church and state (rather than to
a remote land which gave them little except a book of prayer and
certainly did not open its doors when they were fleeing for their
lives seeking shelter and protection) then they would have less to
fear rather than leaving such helpless individuals as lepers
destitute and begging for sustenance and criminal - only to
survive - on the streets throughout Europe.
Multi-Faith
and Multi-Ethnic Communities Have Worked For Thousands Of Years -
Until Religion or Politics Have Torn Them Apart
The
problem I have is that I do not want to see my community which
consists of White, Black, Brown and 'Mediterranean' tanned peoples
who are straight, gay, lesbian, libertarians,
conservatives and ultra-conservatives, all living together in the
absence of bloodshed (but not without prejudices and differences) in civilized
open-society communities, torn apart through bigotry and intolerance.
I would prefer to live in a community or communities where the values
of individual liberty and personal freedom are more important than
what any politician, religious extremist cleric or monk or priest or
rabbi or imam will damn with the words taken from a book or books (and there
are far too many different such 'religious' books in this world)
which have caused more suffering, death and destruction, than all the
diseases known to have killed populations throughout the course of
human history.
The
New York Precinct – Some Local History18
For
example, little Ireland, little Italy, little Odessa. little
Africa (Manhattan) all in the New York precinct, are the remains of
thriving exclusively immigrant Irish, Italian African and Jewish
communities who arrived in an alien land fleeing religious
persecution, starvation, pogroms and tyranny, all seeking a better
future for themselves and their families. But this was in an age
before instant communication. It could take weeks (or months) for a
letter from New York to arrive at a small Ukrainian or Polish or
Irish village two hundred years ago. Now, we have the capability to be
aware of what is happening on planet earth almost in an instant. In
my opinion, this requires also a change in how we perceive and manage
migration, immigration and emigration, worldwide. It must be a proactive change
to meet the new challenges. What
I am saying here is that modern communications and technologies have
outpaced our abilities to foresee the legislation and actions in local
municipalities required to meet the challenges of this new digital
age in the context of how to respond to the phenomena of, for
example, incitement to hatred being broadcast by ISIS or radical
extremists to create civil unrest, murder and revolution – because
they have a clear agenda and target audience whilst we do not have
anything concrete in place to challenge their hateful and divisive
propaganda, all designed to undermine civil democratic secular
societies.
Problems
Seeking Solutions
In
conclusion I do not have an answer to the catastrophe of people in
their millions throughout
the world fleeing for their lives and the safety of their loved ones.
Better you ask the politicians and so-called 'men of god' who have
created most of this chaos, causing societies in North Africa, The
Middle East and elsewhere to collapse into anarchy – hence creating
domino effects – than to ask me.
They
did not ask for my permission to go to war and when they asked for my
vote they told me nothing in advance of their global plans to
replace fledgling secular despots in North Africa and elsewhere with
religious zealots creating chaos and anarchy resulting in human
displacement on a scale not seen since World War II – then these
same politicians blame the helpless refugees for causing
'immigration' crises.
If
they had asked my opinion I would have said nobody wants to live like
a refugee – a castaway on some inhospitable shore - as practiced in
Australia towards it's 'Boat Refugees'.
If
such individuals fleeing for their lives had personal safety,
industries, jobs, schools, libraries, kindergartens, hospitals,
security, a future and stable societies back home – everything we
take for granted by the way – few would desire uprooting to alien
lands and none to have the humiliation of being treated and kicked
around from pillar to post like human garbage.
So
next time you see someone who might 'fit' the above description just
ask youself for one second 'What would I do If I lost everything I
had and everyone I loved in an instant, through no fault of my own?' What would you do if every evening you came back with no food for your starving family because the land is so inhospitable that nothing will grow?; or you fear even going outside because you are a religious or ethnic or social outcast minority, murdered, or, as an Albino in East Africa, you are likely to be cannibalised or chopped up as human meat for sale in the market?
What
would you do? What would you do? What would you do?
What
would you do? What would you do? What would you do?
What
would you do? What would you do? What would you do?
What
would you do? What would you do? What would you do?
What
would you do? What would you do?
What
would you do?
©Patrick
Emek, 2015
(amended version)
References
Genocide
Against Albinos In East Africa – The White House and The Vatican
Stay Silent Because Albinos Have No Voice In the World
The
Fight To Stop Tanzanians Killing And Eating Albinos:
Kabale
Albinos Living in Fear Due to Increased Demand of Body Parts in
Rwanda and Tanzania
Australia
Islamic school 'bans running' over virginity fears
the online resource on Islam that
anyone
can
edit.
Islamic
Witch Hunts (Saudi Arabia)
Will
Saudi Arabia Execute Guest Workers for 'Witchcraft'?
Indonesian guest workers are on
trial in Saudi Arabia for “witchcraft.” But the charges are cover
for cultural misunderstandings, sexual assaults, and withheld wages.
Beheading
of a poor Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia. Islam, the Barbaric
Religion.
Saudi
Arabia flogs blogger in public for "insulting Islam"
personal
experience of having lived so far under the barbaric Islamic shariah
law
18
Little
Ireland, New York
Little
Italy, New York:
Little
Odessa, New York:
Little
Senegal, New York
Little
Africa, New York
I
have just taken some small examples of 'unknown' NY.
[Use
the references above to discover hamlets you never knew existed
within the NY precincts]
