Anton Coaker Blog
Member
Boat People
I’ve been loath to tiptoe onto the creaking ice, but there’s little escaping the reality that an awful lot of people want to come to Europe, by any means they can. Some are fleeing war torn hell holes, or drought wracked regions. Vicious dictators and religious persecution motivate others. Yet more simply ‘want a better life’. It’s a global phenomenon, with Latin Americans queued up to head North, Africans moving within Africa itself, citizens of former soviet bloc countries moving within Russia, and who knows who else trying to get where they think the going will be better. It is not new. Indeed, it’s what we’ve been doing for 10s of thousands of years. Several earlier human species moved outward from Africa, where they’d evolved- notably Neanderthals, who inhabited much of the Eurasia for twice as long as we’ve been about. Then, when we finally put in an appearance, Homo Sapiens did likewise, once we’d suddenly developed great big hungry brains.
What has changed is the scale of it. There are more humans now than ever before, and the rate of increase in the last century or two has been breath-taking. As we’ve mastered methods to feed hundreds of millions, so the population has grown. Then, as further technology made our lives easier in so many other ways, so too the desire to have all that perceived luxury has grown. Instant global communication means people in countries with almost nothing can glimpse into places where we have more than we can ever consume. And unsurprisingly, everyone wants a piece of the action.
I say I’ve been loath to venture onto this creaking ice, because some folk will soon be taking offence, and seeing red. You can scarcely put forward an opinion on this movement without upsetting someone. Just commenting risks being torn down by those whose can’t accept a differing view…whichever that might be. But, hey ho. It’d be dishonest of me not to give it some air.
I notice politicians clamour to put all of the blame on the wicked people smugglers…like they’re dragging poor would-be-migrants onto the boats by force. Never mind that the migrants would still come, if no ‘people smugglers’ existed. The reason is politicians know a big share of the electorate want the flow stopped, but both electorate and elected dance around the ‘why’. Many of us struggling to come to terms with the overlapping subjects of mass migration, and matters of racial and cultural intolerance. Teasing out the root of our discomfort is itself discomforting. I would hazard a guess that an awful lot of Brits don’t have much issue with people of a different race per se. It is the huge numbers that are changing our culture in front of our eyes that they struggle with. That, and the evident fact that the UK is pretty well ‘peopled up’ already.
So, to appease voters who don’t want to see tens of thousands piling in without paperwork, MPs pretend their concern is with the nasty people traffickers, who’re endangering these poor refugees. I have to say that this irritates me hugely, as it isn’t tackling the inevitable questions all ‘wealthy’ countries are going to have to address in the end.
Matters were further complicated when a number of Ukrainians lately sought to hurriedly get out of Putin’s way. The fact that more Brits were happy to hold the door open to these white Christians than, say, Afghans didn’t escape attention. The outraged accusations of double standards and bigotry deftly stepped around the fact that a great many of the Ukrainians were sincerely hoping to be able to return home ASAP. That they are politically, culturally, and logistically our neighbours was lost, as was the obvious fact that they were mainly ‘non-combatants’. They were, for the greater part, women with children. But no, we were bigots for embracing them but not everyone else.
Further anomalies occur if you look elsewhere. While the EU would prefer to show the world how compassionate and welcoming they are, a significant number of member states openly voice serious reservations. Meanwhile, in the far East China has a hugely wealthy economy, and you’d imagine an awful lot of humans adrift on the tides of life would be wanting to go there for a better life. But seemingly they don’t. Why is that?
Look. You can call me all manner of names for addressing the subject, but the truth is that the problem –and it is surely a problem - isn’t going away any time soon. No-one- but no-one- will put the subject to a referendum, but I’m pretty sure what would uncomfortably come out in the wash.
I’ve been loath to tiptoe onto the creaking ice, but there’s little escaping the reality that an awful lot of people want to come to Europe, by any means they can. Some are fleeing war torn hell holes, or drought wracked regions. Vicious dictators and religious persecution motivate others. Yet more simply ‘want a better life’. It’s a global phenomenon, with Latin Americans queued up to head North, Africans moving within Africa itself, citizens of former soviet bloc countries moving within Russia, and who knows who else trying to get where they think the going will be better. It is not new. Indeed, it’s what we’ve been doing for 10s of thousands of years. Several earlier human species moved outward from Africa, where they’d evolved- notably Neanderthals, who inhabited much of the Eurasia for twice as long as we’ve been about. Then, when we finally put in an appearance, Homo Sapiens did likewise, once we’d suddenly developed great big hungry brains.
What has changed is the scale of it. There are more humans now than ever before, and the rate of increase in the last century or two has been breath-taking. As we’ve mastered methods to feed hundreds of millions, so the population has grown. Then, as further technology made our lives easier in so many other ways, so too the desire to have all that perceived luxury has grown. Instant global communication means people in countries with almost nothing can glimpse into places where we have more than we can ever consume. And unsurprisingly, everyone wants a piece of the action.
I say I’ve been loath to venture onto this creaking ice, because some folk will soon be taking offence, and seeing red. You can scarcely put forward an opinion on this movement without upsetting someone. Just commenting risks being torn down by those whose can’t accept a differing view…whichever that might be. But, hey ho. It’d be dishonest of me not to give it some air.
I notice politicians clamour to put all of the blame on the wicked people smugglers…like they’re dragging poor would-be-migrants onto the boats by force. Never mind that the migrants would still come, if no ‘people smugglers’ existed. The reason is politicians know a big share of the electorate want the flow stopped, but both electorate and elected dance around the ‘why’. Many of us struggling to come to terms with the overlapping subjects of mass migration, and matters of racial and cultural intolerance. Teasing out the root of our discomfort is itself discomforting. I would hazard a guess that an awful lot of Brits don’t have much issue with people of a different race per se. It is the huge numbers that are changing our culture in front of our eyes that they struggle with. That, and the evident fact that the UK is pretty well ‘peopled up’ already.
So, to appease voters who don’t want to see tens of thousands piling in without paperwork, MPs pretend their concern is with the nasty people traffickers, who’re endangering these poor refugees. I have to say that this irritates me hugely, as it isn’t tackling the inevitable questions all ‘wealthy’ countries are going to have to address in the end.
Matters were further complicated when a number of Ukrainians lately sought to hurriedly get out of Putin’s way. The fact that more Brits were happy to hold the door open to these white Christians than, say, Afghans didn’t escape attention. The outraged accusations of double standards and bigotry deftly stepped around the fact that a great many of the Ukrainians were sincerely hoping to be able to return home ASAP. That they are politically, culturally, and logistically our neighbours was lost, as was the obvious fact that they were mainly ‘non-combatants’. They were, for the greater part, women with children. But no, we were bigots for embracing them but not everyone else.
Further anomalies occur if you look elsewhere. While the EU would prefer to show the world how compassionate and welcoming they are, a significant number of member states openly voice serious reservations. Meanwhile, in the far East China has a hugely wealthy economy, and you’d imagine an awful lot of humans adrift on the tides of life would be wanting to go there for a better life. But seemingly they don’t. Why is that?
Look. You can call me all manner of names for addressing the subject, but the truth is that the problem –and it is surely a problem - isn’t going away any time soon. No-one- but no-one- will put the subject to a referendum, but I’m pretty sure what would uncomfortably come out in the wash.