Borders
Why do we give borders power? They are lines drawn on a map. They are walls or points guarded by officials. Why do we let that become the starting point of xenophobic treatment against other human beings?
It astounds me that people are in the mindset that they are more deserving of all the opportunities a country like Britain has to offer, than someone born elsewhere. For the sake of example, Syria. Maybe once you've made a contribution to the - for lack of a better term - "goingson" of a country I can see your point but I still cannot and will not agree that anyone is more entitled to reap the benefits of a successful infrastructure than someone that happens to have been raised elsewhere. What effort or toil did you actually have to go through in order to be born in this country? Exactly! David Cameron can very well call the refugees and migrants travelling through Europe a "swarm" and a "bunch" but that doesn't make them more or less human than he is. So what if they're economic migrants! If you were in a country with few opportunities to support your family and obtain a job which you enjoy, the reasonable and obvious solution would be to move.
I just can't get past the idea that we made these borders. We decided where one country would start and another would end. We drew them on a map. Some of the countries, governments and currencies have done well, have created good places for societies to reside in. Others haven't. And that's just the thing: some people succeed and some people don't. But I personally did not have a hand in ensuring Britain is a place where I get to attend school everyday and go to the doctors when something happens. And because I had no hand in making that happen, I have no more claim to it than anybody else, including those overseas in countries with corrupt governments and crumbling economies.
I know it's not feasible to just get rid of them; I get that we are too deep into this now that we can't just decide to get rid of them all. I also get that there isn't exactly any practical solution - we can't have one power controlling the entire population of the Earth. I'm not trying to provide answers because if I did you'd have heard about them at the beginning. I am just really quite sick of hearing people talk so flippantly of the refugee crisis. Of using such vile, derogatory terms to reference them. Of genuinely upholding their own ascribed privilege to explain why refugees shouldn't be helped. Because, God forbid, it actually affects you!
I hate to be that person and I know I am a lot of the time, but in relation to some people your problems aren't that big of a deal. They are very much legitimate and valid, but you are lucky enough to have been provided with years of education and even if worst came to worst there is facilities to deal with the aftermath of a lot of bad situations. These people may have fled a country engulfed by warfare, where their only chance is to leave for safe land. Or they may have left in search of better economic opportunities. But I do not think they are any less entitled to what Britain has to offer because the geographical location of their birth wasn't where you think it should have been.
Just to briefly mention the wristbands in Wales, although I believe they are being reconsidered... How did anyone sit there and think that was a good idea? How did it go through the various meetings with no one recognising how scarily close branding someone as an 'outsider' is to Nazi policy? I know mankind isn't that done for! Marking someone with a physical item to identify them leaves them vulnerable and susceptible to the vile hatred that has blossomed in lieu of the refugee intake. It isn't hard to work out that people aren't always wonderful and this gives them the prime opportunity to put their views into practice. Yet no one stopped it, which just about reflects the pinnacle of the problem.
This is very much short but sweet: I have such a clear cut, definite view on this. I cannot comprehend how something we ourselves created (borders) can be what creates privilege. It is absolutely crazy. I want, more than anything, for people crossing these dangerous seas and taking the risks of travelling to be regarded as human beings. Which, funnily enough, they actually are. (In case you hadn't noticed). Not only are they endangering their lives on these horrific journeys but they are also being met with incredulous hostility on the way.
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