Starvation and Asylum - What can we do?
starvation and asylum - what we can do
My friends are beginning to get irritated with me. I’m becoming impatient with everyone’s complacency. All they’re concerned about is getting a pay rise, or better working conditions. Their ambition reaches only as far as their bank balance and other material things. My ambitions are much greater. First I want to write, and I hope my writing will change the world for the better, but I’m going to have to go gently with the readership. They will think I am dangerous, they will be scared of what they might lose, and I’m sure I will be unpopular with many.
I have a proposition to put to the readership. Isn’t it time we took a long hard look at how we live our lives, and what position we hold relative to the rest of the world? I doubt if you’d agree, after all, you’re overrun by stress, you’re thinking about getting a bigger house/car, or looking forward to your next holiday. There’s enough to think about already, anyway, there’s nothing you can do about the 10 million people starving in Africa. Frankly, I’m sick of people stopping me, or sending me stuff, asking for money for this cause or that. It feels pointless, putting a few quid in a pot, or signing a direct debit (it would bounce anyway). The solution to worldwide poverty surely requires a more profound strategy.
I have a number of fundamental disagreements with the whole Asylum Seekers debate. A young man I was working with recently put a knife to someone’s throat, because they came on ‘his’ estate. Surely his behaviour only reflects that of national leaders the world over, yet he is likely to go to prison, whereas they enjoy status and wealth. I’ve always been with Virginia Woolf; I’m a ‘citizen of the world’. I don’t really understand the need for national frontiers, except as some perverse extrapolation of masculine territorialism. It’s one planet we occupy, with one atmosphere, one sun, one moon and one mass of water that we all share. In the interest of mutual understanding, knowledge and resources all people should be allowed to go wherever they want. It’s outrageous that we take for granted a comprehensive range of possible holiday destinations while others cannot enter ‘our’ land.
I don’t believe many people genuinely want to ‘sponge’ off any system; greater humanity lies in resourcing one’s own life. I trust in humanity enough to believe that diversity is strength; the more perspectives that can be brought to a debate, the more enlightened it will be, and the more cultures clash and merge, the more creativity will be released. For too long ‘we’ in Britain and America have made plans for ‘them’ in other parts of the world, in their absence. No wonder some of the decisions have been questionable, to say the least. I have benefited enormously from living and working in a multi-cultural environment; I have a much broader, deeper perspective than I would ever have received in rural Sussex. I believe wider society could similarly benefit.
The government is on a self-defeating cycle. It promotes the UK as Cool Britannia, and it has long been seen as a land of opportunity where the streets are paved with gold. We’re just the best at everything these days, a place people really want to be. If you do try to come though, and you’re from a non-white listed country (or whatever the latest terminology is for ‘the unwelcome’), you will be denied access, grilled, put in detention, or allowed to live on a pittance in a squat without the opportunity to work legally. The UK is a reasonably good place to be, especially if you’re escaping from persecution, but some immigrants suffer more persecution here than anywhere else. Perhaps if we were a little more humble, people wouldn’t kill themselves in tomato consignments or falling out of aeroplanes to get here.
Another problem I have with the debate is that it scarcely recognises the reality of British history, not only our role in creating many of the conflicts or famines which lead to refugee crises, but the fact that our society has experienced numerous waves of immigration, and has been multicultural, for ever. Humankind did not evolve n this landmass, we moved here.
I suppose I’m an unusual white person, as I have no fear of immigration, in fact I love it. I live in Southall where my local primary school boasts pupils from around 40 nations. In my street are Sikhs from India and Africa; Moslems from Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and many other places; and Christians of numerous denominations from at least four continents. Rastafarians, Buddhists and Hindus are also represented. This experience has given me a more global view of politics, and I am now astounded at how narrow most white people’s view is. The fact is that we once elected ourselves to be the moral guardian of these poor ‘savages’ in other countries; we stole their land, gems, culture and even people; and we continue to intervene from on high in an inconsistent way, purely based on self-interest. I understand that you do not want to hear what I’m saying, but I think it is in our self-interest to allow 10 million starving Africans to eat decently, and even have real autonomy and power. Yes, we will have to lose some of our daily comforts. No, you will not be able to lie guilt-free on a tropical beach while people clamour to land on our own shores. But, I hope to persuade you that allowing equal access for all to world resources, will make you more human, and genuinely satisfied.
My friends are beginning to get irritated with me. I’m becoming impatient with everyone’s complacency. All they’re concerned about is getting a pay rise, or better working conditions. Their ambition reaches only as far as their bank balance and other material things. My ambitions are much greater. First I want to write, and I hope my writing will change the world for the better, but I’m going to have to go gently with the readership. They will think I am dangerous, they will be scared of what they might lose, and I’m sure I will be unpopular with many.
I have a proposition to put to the readership. Isn’t it time we took a long hard look at how we live our lives, and what position we hold relative to the rest of the world? I doubt if you’d agree, after all, you’re overrun by stress, you’re thinking about getting a bigger house/car, or looking forward to your next holiday. There’s enough to think about already, anyway, there’s nothing you can do about the 10 million people starving in Africa. Frankly, I’m sick of people stopping me, or sending me stuff, asking for money for this cause or that. It feels pointless, putting a few quid in a pot, or signing a direct debit (it would bounce anyway). The solution to worldwide poverty surely requires a more profound strategy.
I have a number of fundamental disagreements with the whole Asylum Seekers debate. A young man I was working with recently put a knife to someone’s throat, because they came on ‘his’ estate. Surely his behaviour only reflects that of national leaders the world over, yet he is likely to go to prison, whereas they enjoy status and wealth. I’ve always been with Virginia Woolf; I’m a ‘citizen of the world’. I don’t really understand the need for national frontiers, except as some perverse extrapolation of masculine territorialism. It’s one planet we occupy, with one atmosphere, one sun, one moon and one mass of water that we all share. In the interest of mutual understanding, knowledge and resources all people should be allowed to go wherever they want. It’s outrageous that we take for granted a comprehensive range of possible holiday destinations while others cannot enter ‘our’ land.
I don’t believe many people genuinely want to ‘sponge’ off any system; greater humanity lies in resourcing one’s own life. I trust in humanity enough to believe that diversity is strength; the more perspectives that can be brought to a debate, the more enlightened it will be, and the more cultures clash and merge, the more creativity will be released. For too long ‘we’ in Britain and America have made plans for ‘them’ in other parts of the world, in their absence. No wonder some of the decisions have been questionable, to say the least. I have benefited enormously from living and working in a multi-cultural environment; I have a much broader, deeper perspective than I would ever have received in rural Sussex. I believe wider society could similarly benefit.
The government is on a self-defeating cycle. It promotes the UK as Cool Britannia, and it has long been seen as a land of opportunity where the streets are paved with gold. We’re just the best at everything these days, a place people really want to be. If you do try to come though, and you’re from a non-white listed country (or whatever the latest terminology is for ‘the unwelcome’), you will be denied access, grilled, put in detention, or allowed to live on a pittance in a squat without the opportunity to work legally. The UK is a reasonably good place to be, especially if you’re escaping from persecution, but some immigrants suffer more persecution here than anywhere else. Perhaps if we were a little more humble, people wouldn’t kill themselves in tomato consignments or falling out of aeroplanes to get here.
Another problem I have with the debate is that it scarcely recognises the reality of British history, not only our role in creating many of the conflicts or famines which lead to refugee crises, but the fact that our society has experienced numerous waves of immigration, and has been multicultural, for ever. Humankind did not evolve n this landmass, we moved here.
I suppose I’m an unusual white person, as I have no fear of immigration, in fact I love it. I live in Southall where my local primary school boasts pupils from around 40 nations. In my street are Sikhs from India and Africa; Moslems from Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and many other places; and Christians of numerous denominations from at least four continents. Rastafarians, Buddhists and Hindus are also represented. This experience has given me a more global view of politics, and I am now astounded at how narrow most white people’s view is. The fact is that we once elected ourselves to be the moral guardian of these poor ‘savages’ in other countries; we stole their land, gems, culture and even people; and we continue to intervene from on high in an inconsistent way, purely based on self-interest. I understand that you do not want to hear what I’m saying, but I think it is in our self-interest to allow 10 million starving Africans to eat decently, and even have real autonomy and power. Yes, we will have to lose some of our daily comforts. No, you will not be able to lie guilt-free on a tropical beach while people clamour to land on our own shores. But, I hope to persuade you that allowing equal access for all to world resources, will make you more human, and genuinely satisfied.
posted by Firegoat @ 9:49 am
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