Paladser, teatre, jernbaner, hospitaler og parker i det rige land er bygget på ødelagte skeletter og rastløse spøgelser, på søer af blod og skamløst tyveri.Når det ene plyndret land efter det andet begynder at synke, når der ikke er mere tilbage der, når børn begynder at dø af sult og når mænd begynder at bekrige hinanden over bittesmå kampesten og beskidte stykker jord, så begynder ynkelige både og joller at krydse vandene, medbringene halvt forsultede flygtninge til europæiske havnefronte dekoreret med marmor.
Hvilket forfærdeligt syn! Det er som en kvinde, med håret bølgende i uorden, med sprækkede læber, beder en mand som har voldtaget hende efter at have dræbt hendes mand - beder og et husly og i det mindste lidt arbejde og et stykke brød. Hun beslutter at opgive al stolthed, fordi hendes børn er syge og forhungrede, fordi det er enten dette eller døden.
Dette er hvad du har reduceret verden til, Europa - dig og dit kæmpe umættelige afkom - Nordamerika! For egocentrisk, for ond,, du tabte evnen til at dømme, til at føle. Alle moralske standarder kollapset. Der er ikke længere nogen højere principper, kun selvinteresse.
I Calais og Kos, i Paris, London, Stuttgart, og Prague, hørte jeg de samme sprørgsmål stilllet med absolut følelsesløse ansigter: "Hvordan skal vi optage alle disse horder af immigranter?"
Næsten ingen i Vesten tænker højt: Hvordan klarede befolkningen sig på andre kontinenter at vedstå disse lange århundreder af kolonialisme og neo-kolonialisme, af skamløst plyndring, af slaveri, af konstante græshoppelignende infesteringer af corporate og neoliberale kannibalistiske horder? Ville et sæt nøgler udstedt til hver eneste borger af plyndrede, tidligere eller nutidige koloniserede lande ikke være det allermindste, det mest basale token af retfærdighed?"
Er det moralsk acceptabelt at en tyv, en brandstifter, en voldtægtsmand, en løgner, en seriemorder, alle i en person, burde have lov til at bo i et palæ, med hans ofre boende i slumkvarterer omkring sig? I Vesten, i det kristne Vesten, i det fundamentalistiske Vesten er sådanne arrangementer tilsyneladende tålelige.
De fleste af borgerne i Europa er fuldstændig uden anger. Kun få af dem er istand til at detektere en forbindelse mellem deres landes velstand, de hundrede af millioner af ødelagte liv verden over, og den seneste bølge af immigranter. [...]
På den græske ø, Kos, som nu huser adskillige tusinder af flygtninge fra Mellemøsten og Asien, men som hverken har lejre eller andre faciliteter for dem, beskrev en modig frivillig læge (Jeg besluttede mig til ikke at bruge hendes navn, da hun var allerede truet) de seneste udviklinger:
"Situationen på Kos er totalt ude af kontrol. De [højre-orienterede] ekstremister fra Golden Dawn - nogle af dem fuldt bevæbnet - har igangsat en pogrom [pogrom betyder en forfølgelse af minoriteter] imod flygtninge. Nogen må tale højt om borgmesterens ansvar...som lige fra begyndelsen har saboteret ethver solidarisk bestræbelse og mulige løsninger."
Storbritannien, ansvarlig for tabet af hundrede af millioner af menneskeliv kloden over (gennem dets koloniale folkemord og udløste/orkestrerede hungersnød), foregiver at det står overfor en alvorlig "flygtningekrise" mens der er kun 25.000 asylsøgende på dets territorium.
Som the Morning Star kommenterede:"Ifølge Flygtningerådet, så er op mod 74% af alle asylsøgere nægtet opholdstilladelse i Storbritannien. Mens antallet er vokset siden 2008, så var antallet af asylsøgere i 2014 under 25.000, med mennesker som flygtede fra konflikter i Afghanistan, Syrien og Eritrea blandt de mest talrige asylsøgere."
I Tyskland, Holland, Skandinavien, Grækenland, faktisk over hele Europa, har højreorienterede, fremmedfjendtlige grupper og bevægelser travlt med at angrinbe og intimidere forsvarsløse flygtninge. Immigranter bliver udstillet som værende en trussel, eller pest, ikke som værende en gruppe af desperate menneskelige individer - ofre for imperiet.
Det er hovedsageligt på grund af kollapset af ærligheden indenfor den vestlige politiske elite, massemedierne såvel som den akademiske verden og kunstverden.
Nu, gør de som taler for at acceptere immigranter det udfra selvretfærdigende, "ud af godgørende", men ikke fordi de anerkender at det at acceptere ofre for deres kontinents grusomheder er deres moralske forpligtelse, ej heller fordi de er overbeviste om at nedbryde portene af "borgen Euopa" ville være den mindste betaling af den enorme gæld imod den verden som er blevet skændet og plyndret for adskillige århundreder.
Det er ikke kun hvad du ser i Europa - den lille top af isbjerget, den lillebitte del af elendigheden som det lykkedes at lande på de italienske, græske eller maltesiske kyster.
Verden er i bevægelse. Snesevis af millioner er fortrængt
Syrerne, libyerne, irakerne og afghanerne blev bombet tilbage til stenalderen, blot fordi de prøvede at føde, huse og uddanne deres egen befolkning. I imperiets øjne var dette den største forbrydelse, da det er meningen at alle resourcer skal bruges til at ernære de vestlige korporationer, banker og militære komplekser.
Kommentar: Vi undskylder at resten af artiklen er på engelsk, men vores lille stab må prioritere resourcerne da der er så mange artikler som vi mener også bør være tilgængelige for reflektion for nordiske læsere. Hvis du har lyst til at hjælpe, så skriv blot til sott_da@sott.net
Eritreans were debilitated by sanctions and embargoes, right after their long war for independence. 10 million of Congolese people died since 1995, butchered by West's allies - Rwanda and Uganda - so that Washington, London and Paris could enjoy a free flow of uranium and coltan. Many Congolese people are now trying to flee unimaginable horrors at home. Many Somalis are trying to escape, after Washington destabilized their country, after Kenya invaded its southern part on direct orders from the West, after the EU has been dumping toxic waste at its shores.
Even the plight of Rohingya people in Burma could be traced to the monstrous "divide and rule" of the British Empire in Asia.
For decades and centuries, the West kept overthrowing progressive governments, one after another. It has been murdering great political leaders like Patrice Lumumba, liquidating all attempts to build decent, socialist societies. Then it would say: "Those niggers cannot govern their own countries... All their people want is to come to us, stealing our jobs, straining our social systems."
It goes without saying that, if left alone, those countries that are now bleeding millions of their own people, "exporting refugees", would be, most likely, as rich or even richer than the West. It applies to Iran and Iraq, Syria and Libya, perhaps even Congo and Indonesia.
The ongoing "refugee crises" is not a "problem that Europe has to deal with". Europe is creating the crises. Europe is not "dealing" with anything. It is, as always, cheating, lying and calculating pennies, after stealing billions. Those who don't see it are either blind or conditioned, alternatively well paid not to see.
If the mother earth gets hit, powerfully, with tremendous destructive force, pieces of it will fly, in all directions. The same applies to countries, to nations. If left in peace, states will find the way to take care of their people.The present situation is actually just a tiny reflection, an overflow of horrors that the colonized and plundered world has to endure. It is just a tiny bit of that nightmare which is taking place inside Africa, the Middle East and several parts of Asia; a tiny bit thrown back to the face of the Europeans; being brought to and left at their doorsteps.
How come that "they" don't see it? How come that almost all Western mass media are silent? How come most of present-day philosophers are not addressing, not combining the subjects of neocolonialism and immigration?
What I am saying in this essay is philosophically clear. It would be hard to dispute it. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre came to several similar conclusions in his "Colonialism and Neocolonialism", few decades ago. But that was "then". Now, to combine the plunder of the Planet committed by the West, and the plight of the refugees, appears to be taboo.
But I don't believe in taboos, as I don't believe in a knowledge that is strictly "theoretical".
In the past few years I documented human misery in countless battlefields, and in the refugee camps that are housing exiles from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Bangladesh, Libya and many other broken places. I often see, first hand, how grotesque, unsustainable, repulsive the situation is: while tiny Lebanon is now a host of over 2 million Syrian refugees, one of the main global bullies, the UK, has lesser than 25.000 registered asylum applicants on its turf!
Kommentar: Libanons befolking på 4,5 millioner er vært til omkring 2 millioner syriske flygtninge. Libanon registrerer 2500 nye flygtninge hver dag, mere end en per minut.
Even the intellectuals of aggressive NATO country, Turkey, write openly and honestly in the newspapers: "We wanted to act like some smaller regional United States, therefore we should pay for those 1.8 million refugees who were forced to cross the border and settle in our camps." Turkey is paying. As aggressive as it is, it has at least some dignity left, compared to the West.
There is simply something appalling, hypocritical, twisted, profoundly un-humanistic, in the way Europe addresses the plight of its victims.
Of course "it" is not something new. "It" has deep roots in both Christian dogmas and Christian cultural fundamentalism - the elements that are unyieldingly controlling the minds of the majority of European people. Such fundamentalism has been helping to accept and promote, even glorify, colonialism and neocolonialism, as well as the "exceptionalism".
Fundamentalism and exceptionalism put their religions (even in the countries that became 'secular' on the surface), cultures, races and ways of life on the pedestal. They see "those others" as irrelevant. The suffering of "the others" is trivial, insignificant. Or it simply "does not exist". Orwell defined un-Christian, un-white and un-Western people simply as "un-people", in the eyes of the West.
In Europe, wherever you go, you can read between the lines:
"If millions of "them" starve to death, then so be it - as long as Germany and France could maintain clean sidewalks and hospitals, and as long as the schools don't have too many undesirable, foreign elements and influences.
Destruction of the world, killing and starving of millions, is sad but a necessary price to be paid for the high standard of living of the chosen, white, good Christian people in Europe and North America. Let the slaughter be contained to far away places! Let it not appear on the television screens. Let us not see the victims.
And let those dirty and uncivilized beings stay where they are. We don't want to face them at our resort towns and in our capital cities. We don't want to see their sores, their wounds, and their puss. Let everything remain out of focus, as blurry as possible, and at extremely low volume. Neocolonialism? Modern slavery? We don't like these terms. They belong to the Cold War era. They died with the Soviet Union, didn't they?"
As long as the Empire reigns, as long as the West rules over the planet, the refugees will be crossing dangerous waterways on board their fragile dinghies. Some will die; others will make it. Those who will make it will be put on trial. What they did is defined as "illegal". They will have to prove that they are persecuted in their home country, that their lives have been threatened. A tricky game... A very filthy game... Like in those days of Inquisition, men, women and children facing Western Christian "justice" would have to lie, in order to survive.
They would not be able to say: "I had to escape because your country killed my family". Or: "Your continent robbed me of my livelihood".
Fear of persecution... A "genuine" refugee would have to invent his or her imaginary story, his or her torturer: one that is approved by the Empire. Then, and only then, a refugee would have at least a tiny chance to receive his or her asylum, a shelter and a piece of bread - a tiny bit of what was already stolen from his or her native land.
About the author
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: Exposing Lies of the Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism. Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania - a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: Indonesia - The Archipelago of Fear. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.
Kommentar: Nearly half the population of Syria (11 million people) have been displaced from their homes. Global Trends report shows that many of the world's poorest countries are hosting huge refugee populations brought to them by the West's resource wars. As of the end of 2014, 59.5 million people were displaced...and that number increases daily. Countries neighboring conflict zones are suffering the brunt of human displacement, rather than the instigators and perpetrators of these 'hells on Earth'. It is only a matter of time before these host countries deteriorate and are crushed as well. The atrocities of Western pathocracy are on the rise, and Westerners remain largely oblivious of the human tsunami heading their way.