The plight of the migrants

Once again we are seeing the plight of migrants to Europe who are refugees escaping war and famine in the Middle East and Africa. The people attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy are desperate. No one risks their life to board a flimsy boat at the behest of people traffickers unless they are desperate.

The reaction of European governments to this humanitarian disaster has been shameful. Also I am ashamed of the reaction of some of my fellow countrymen to this issue. The people trying to come to Europe are not economic migrants who want to sponge off our society; they are desperate to survive. If they are allowed to remain in Europe then they will be more than glad to work and make a contribution to the societies that welcome them.

Western governments have contributed to the malaise in Africa and the Middle East  by indulging in wars to try to contain conflicts and problems that they do not understand. This is exemplified by the bombing of Libya. Britain and France did not have a plan for restoring stable government in Libya after Colonel Gaddafi was deposed.  Our governments did not understand the politics and the intervention led to disaster.

We do not understand Syria either; western governments have armed the opposition to President Assad without any understanding of the politics and have allowed Isis to obtain huge quantities of western arms , probably, for free. Before the Syrian crisis millions of refugees were not fleeing Syria despite the despotic nature of the regime. Everyone knew the risks of opposing the regime but those who kept their heads down were relatively safe. Most despotic states fail and self-implode and then the time becomes right to obtain genuine political change but imposed from within the state.

The resources which western governments expend on war would be better deployed by promoting peace and useful economic activity. The world must also tackle over population and climate change. The rich and powerful nations of the world have the ability to improve the economic lot of the poor nations and this will help to reduce over population and famine.

The rich nations also have it within their power to mitigate the effects of climate change to reduce pressure on food and water supplies and alleviate famine.

If we all thought rationally then  we could find solutions to the problems of migration by promoting peace, economic development and an equable climate for all.

If we persist with the policy of only promoting self interest we are going to head for disaster. We will not solve the problems of Africa and the Middle East by allowing a situation where millions and millions of people are forced to migrate. Everyone would rather stay at home so lets make all homes comfortable enough so that no one needs to run away. Migration should an option for the adventurous rather than a necessity for the desperate.