EU Murder
How the rise of racism, violence and death are an ‘acceptable’ price to pay in the Europe’s delusional fight against migration.
This article contains extracts from the author’s book DISPLACED. EUROPE AND THE GLOBAL REFUGEE CRISIS.
It has become commonplace to criticize Donald Trump and his delusional border wall. Indeed, what Trump is offering is not a solution to people’s fears about immigration, but a theatrical gesture — symbolic, sending a message of rejection, whilst hammering home the classic “us versus them” line.
The EU’s response to mass displacement on its periphery is similar, if not worse. This is the continent which has grown rich off the plunder and pillage of most of the rest of the world for centuries. It is also the continent which prides itself on respecting human rights, the rule of law and a commitment to global cooperation. As I write this, children are drowning in the Aegean Sea, whilst border guards along the Turkey-Bulgarian and Turkey-Greece border are shooting rubber bullets at traumatized families, most of whom have fled violence in Syria and Iraq. The United Nations has estimated that 80% of Syrian refugees are now women and children.
A Brave New World — Profiting From Misery
There is a good reason for all this. We live in a world in which the overriding dynamic causing or exacerbating conflict is the making of profits. Displaced Syrians have proved to be very profitable for Europe. Instead of seeing them as desperate, traumatized, scared human beings, Syrians are collateral damage of an ethic addicted to ‘economic opportunities’. After all, have European arms sales to the Middle East and Africa not soared since 2011?
In fact, ‘we’ are making money twice over. First, our arms fuel conflict in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya. They are used by repressive regimes to put down pro-democracy protesters or wage war. Predictably, people flee, preferably to safety, perhaps even to Europe, where a small chance exists to rebuild something that resembles life. This is where ‘we’ can profit…
