Over the past couple of days we’ve all seen the harrowing photographs of Aylan Kurdi: a little boy of three years old and probably no more than three feet tall. Wearing a red t-shirt and blue shorts, he was washed up on the Turkish shores as he attempted to reach sanctuary with his mother and five year old brother. A toddler, the same age as my nephew. An age at which innocence is personified. He should’ve been carefree and happy, running around kicking a ball in the park like a normal child. Not face down, soaking wet, both lungs filled with water. It’s horrific and incomprehensible to me.
As it’s been made crystal clear in the newspapers, the UK is doing much less than other EU members for refugees like Aylan and I find that to be extremely shameful. David Cameron was supposedly “deeply moved” by the photos, well pull your finger out and do something about it then, you’re a dad, where’s your heart? You’re also the PM, you have the power to make a difference, use it. Not that Hungary’s PM Obran is much better. Closing Budapest’s train station and passing the entire refugee crisis off as a “German problem” is such a cop-out. Where is their sense of humanity? What kind of heartless people have been elected to run entire countries!
Yes, of course the affluent Arab countries should be first in line to be offering their help, but being a British citizen, my issue is with the UK. Why are we shying away from responsibility? We have a moral duty to help the Syrian refugees, Cameron knows that as well as we do. The UK needs to pull its weight like the other EU members and offer sanctuary to tens of thousands of vulnerable refugees. Contrary to popular British belief, we do have the space and we do have the resources. So far Germany has taken in over 35,000 Syrians, Canada has more than 10,000 and the UK has provided homes for a whopping 200. I think that those figures say it all.
It needs to be an equal effort, no country should be taking on more or less refugees than others. Even countries outside of Europe such as the US and Australia should be doing their bit. This is a WORLD crisis, meaning that everybody needs to help, for the sake of humanity. World leaders need to put their heads together and figure out a way to mitigate the problem from its source in the Middle East. There needs to be a change and a long-term solution must be implemented, or we’ll continue to see photos of kids like Aylan everywhere we turn. I don’t know about you, but I for one can’t bear the thought of that.
The issues of benefits, jobs and overcrowding that so many reluctant British citizens refer to, should not overshadow the fact that these helpless people just want to be able to live. Is that really too much to ask for? We’re all so fortunate, sitting in our detached houses on our comfy sofas, drinking cups of tea and watching the News on our flat-screen TVs. And then we switch the channel and act as if it’s such an unfortunate crisis, but it has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with us. We’re all humans, we have that link that ties us together, regardless of race, creed or colour.
Put yourself in their shoes for a minute, I know that it’s hard but try. How would you feel if you had to up and leave your country, the place that you called home, because of warfare and corruption, factors that are way beyond your control. You’d been torn from the majority of your family, probably witnessed a few of them die in front of your eyes, you’d been stripped of your security and everything that you ever knew. But you had hope. The hope of a far off land where you’d finally be safe, where the remainder of your family would be safe, and you dreamt of that miraculous place day and night. Somehow you managed to edge closer to it, moving heaven and earth to stay alive, constantly watching your back, but you finally got there, filled with nothing but hope. And that magical place told you NO. They refused you entry and told you to go back to the hell that you came from, because you weren’t their responsibility. Their doors were closed for you. How would you feel?
These refugees risk absolutely everything for just the hope of attaining a better life, can you imagine being that desperate for something? I can’t. Most of us will never be able to comprehend how it feels to be so vulnerable and powerless. 2,500 migrants have lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean to get to Europe so far and that number will continue to increase by the thousands if the world powers continue to sit around a table and scratch their heads. We need action.
Until then I’ll be keeping these poor souls in my prayers.
Just A Small Town Girl... 
Well thought out & written! I hope it’s ok to post it to Facebook for my friends to read if they want/
As everything I look deep into the problem, there are arseholes causing choas halfway accross the world, forcing people to leave thier countries, what are we doing as an international force to not only ‘render assistance’ but get a legit government ready to move into these countries with military backing, bussiness opportunities to rebuild and recruit local labour in safe zones, charities given official jobs like providing schools, hospitals and training whilst removing the root cause of mass migration.
Then we can take the business from the smugglers, give power to democratic systems and be able to send back the migrants that are here to just leach off the system to safe countries and clean up the image of the immigration as a genuine process based on skills been moved from one place to fill gaps in another, like the original influxes of outside populations to the British isles that have since adapted to our culture, respected it and enhanced it.
And stop fucking it all up by bullshit processes that take five hundred years to achieve changes like I’ve said that need to happen in a matter of weeks.
Until we do something other than have politicians talk crap for months, do something admittedly risky but with notable effects, may as well give up on civilised culture, if we make a few minor mistakes for the greater good, atleast we can examine them through the eyes of a better world
I have a strong policital sense, I’ll keep it to myself next time, sorry if offence caused
It’s not humanity. But some people who are a blot on humanity. Germans are opening their hearts to the refugees, providing them with relief materials. Even Britishers pressurised the govt to take in more refugees. The leaders are responsible for this. The Mediterranean cemetery is a collective responsibility of ISIS and other terrorist organisations and the world leaders who fail to provide a safe haven to their citizens and those leaders too who fail to help the war-struck refugees. The images of Aylan are too harrowing to see. But seems like the world awoke only after they found this boy. Thousands of such kids have drowned in the Mediterranean with no trace of their body. The world was literally sleeping at that time.
Well, better late than never.. I hope they learn from their mistakes..
While definitely sympathizing with these unfortunate people, I can’t help but wonder why no one is demanding from the affluent Arab countries to contribute as well? How come none of them offers refuge to their suffering brothers? Why is it always the West who has to deal with the results of their ongoing wars against each other?
I agree with what you have written here … it is beyond frustrating, it is beyond horrifying, and it is beyond unjust. It’s not just heart-wrenching, it’s sickening. Honestly, though, I don’t think the governments are doing much right now, because I’m not convinced they can do much – I’m not even sure they can even afford to come out and admit it. If freedom-loving democracies around the world were to band together and establish a functioning government in Syria, we would have to conquer Syria, outright, to do so. We would have to stamp out every single bit of resistance, from the current government in Syria, to the terrorist thugs. We would then have to educate the Syrians, so that they might more efficiently use the democracy we might install for them. We would have to initiate a functioning economy, to fund the fledgling government. Doing this might also run the risk of having to stick our fingers in the religious beliefs of Syrians, that might not readily mesh with everything else we wanted to do. If we do this, we will also have to face resistance not just from other neighboring countries that might be nervous or outraged at our meddling in their region, we would also face resistance from UN member States that might disagree on political, economical, and even philosophical premises. We resent it when other countries try to throw their weight into our own affairs … Germans and French banks, along with their respective governments, felt outrage at the US throwing its economic weight around and imposing fines and penalties because those banks did not go along 100% with US-based sanctions. Those are fines and penalties … imagine being outright conquered, situations where our governments or local terrorist thugs might take members of our families as human shields as part of their resistance. For Syria, I don’t think there is an answer that can happen within a matter of weeks, possibly not even years.
With caring for the refugees, however, I can’t really see why some of the wealthier nations aren’t doing more. Germany is doing what it can, and there is a political fall-out that may result from it, mainly because Germans are being told on one hand that retirement age will have to be increased, benefits decreased, and public medical insurance benefits also have to be reduced because Germany can’t afford its growing social systems; but then are being told that the money is there to take on thousands of refugees. Most Germans seem to be in favor of helping the refugees; but even still, they wonder why other countries with resource capacities similar or greater than Germany’s aren’t doing more. I personally think it would be interesting to see a cooperative effort among wealthier nations to set up an immediate emergency fund, contributed to by all involved countries, to temporarily shelter and feed refugees until the flood of refugees seems to finally be stemmed. Donations from the private sector could also be sought out for this effort. Then count the refugees, decide how many refugees each of the involved countries can reasonably absorb, and get on with the process of integrating (and healing and educating) those refugees who have no desire to return to Syria. I think something like this could be organized in relatively short order. Giving refugees a chance to see what wealthier and more stable nations have achieved might inspire some of those who might someday wish to return to Syria, some of the contributions they might make to Syria’s development, or to regional stability could be significant. At the very least, they would have the chance to see with their own eyes that we are not the image of evil that has been painted for many of them over the years. The contributions to our societies that remaining refugees might make should also not be underestimated. This would take care of the short-term and long-term issues regarding the refugees; and would also enable safe passage corridors to be opened; so refugees didn’t have to attempt a long swim before finally being taken seriously.
That is a strong possible option that goes against invasion and military action on the ground and educating honest intentioned refugees to adapt and contribute to the countries that take them in is something that would improve public image.
I still believe we need to play hard ball and more forcefully combat organisations like ISIS and the such, through more local channels preferable but the idea of new citizens who speak the native language, respect the culture and earn an honest living like everyone else, one day returning to reclaim thier homeland with an idea of what democratic culture etc is like… That’s a public image dream that would win over public opinion and something that I agree is very possible in the current climate.
I just wish the politictions could be quicker at enacting solutions and not bullshit all the time!
The US under orders from Obama is taking Muslim Syrians who aren’t being butchered and refusing asylum to Christians who are being hunted down and killed. Shame shame Barack Hussein Obama. Shame shame.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/228670-no-room-in-america-for-christian-refugees
I agree 100% with you, I’m so ashamed of what little my prime minister is doing.
It’s a shameful part of humanity’s history in the making. You’re right that we should put ourselves in their shoes- I bet if it was reversed, the people claiming we cannot help more than we are would be the first ones crying out to be treated as humans.
Luckily there are many schemes being set up by the public to assist refugees, and I hope we can all contribute to them whilst putting pressure on our government to do more.
it is hard not tohave a knee-jerk reacton of shame, disgust and anger and form a reasoned response to this. I am ashamed of our government and the way that they have used the argument of stopping the refugees from attempting the journey as a solution. britain has a long history of allowing refugees here. They have not always been welcomed by the people but they have found space and acceptance as well as safety. They have enhanced a country that has prided itself in its multi culturalism. the Hugenots, the jews, the Irish, the Ugandan Asians and the vietnamese boat people all came here long ago. They made homes, families, good citizens, and guess what… the world did not come to an end. Our way of life did not suffer at their hands. We did not lose our jobs, our homes or our prospects. We did not suffer any harm at their hands. Our Britishness was not compromised, and by showing compassion to these people, these families, these persecuted children we can only gain, by giving them a safe home we can only enrich our own lives. How can we turn them away? Refusing them help hurts Britain =, damages our own humanity, destroys the things that we value and I am ashamed to be part of a nation that can see the plight of others for months and still refuse to act with any humanity. The worst thing is that hundreds of others have drowned in the Mediterranean sea already this year, the Italians and Greeks have been trying to help as they wash up on the shores, yet both of these countries are so much poorer than the U.K. whose Chancellor of the exchequer is consistantly telling us how much better we are doing economically (tell that to the folk who are using food banks). These people are not a “swarm” or a threat. We are a wealthy country. We have a moral obligation to help.
Sometime seems … people go crazy … the image of the baby dead flash in our heart … that baby is our own baby … the baby of Humanity … I am 65 and perhaps with humble I tell you do not despeir … do not … hugs to you and all by Rinaldo .
Well said. Wonderful words. I hope that many, many people have read this and taken note. The UK needs to hear this…
If we want to save future children from drowning and suffering, then fleetingly we must not think, but deeply, cleverly and long-term.
The boy drowned because of an overfilled boat in bad weather. He died because of not wearing a life-jacket. He died because politicians want immigration but are too stupid to pic out the real refugees and allow them a direct flight. The boy did not die because of you or anyone else in this sense. In this case he died because of his parents, the greedy politicians wanting immigration and the smugglers own greed.
Greed is also the cause of overpopulation, weather modification and wars. Children die in the most gruesome ways, drowning being a nice way in comparison. Children starve, they are bombed with white phosphor or being born without skin because of radioactive dust from projectiles or killed in other gruesome ways, also with glyphosate.
The good news is that if you are able to respond then you are responsible. Yes. You can stop it. I am here to help you do that. All you need is to be true and be able to think long-term.
The reason some politicians are in favour of mass-immigration is called greed. They want economical growth. Their population is not growing fast enough for them and they do not consider nature as important. They want more sales in the shops and they want you and nature to pay for it.
These politicians, through mainstream-media, want to be seen as generous. At the same time they plan to rip-off the students, the children, the sick and the retired of their own countries. Some of the really mentally sick politicians even do it as a genetical Kalergi-experiment, not considering what lack of sun will do to a dark skin in dark northern Europe. It is slow murder.
The reason some politicians are in favour of war is called greed. Private interests make money on wars. That is why they both educate IS troops and send weapons to IS and that is why they love the IS religion, a religion of destruction, growth and war.
These people and you are not helpless and are not helped by a flat-screen TV, on the contrary, brainwashing through a TV is what is causing the problem. We can all help our selves and our people and the world, but we must be true. You know what I mean! Just do it!
If I, as a man, witnessed a few of my family die from IS I would get up and do the right thing, but not run like a coward, not risk the life of my son in rough sea without a life-vest. Not even women and children must run. They can also fight.
Do scratch your heads! We need action, true action!!!
So well written! Don’t think anyone has put these out there better.
How come I never came across your blog?! :O