Europeans don’t live alone on the planet

The Mediterranean Sea has become a graveyard for hundreds of poor immigrants — Africans, Arabs from North Africa, Syrians and Egyptians — fleeing their countries because of either political despotism, which makes the poor poorer, or lack of stability. In the last two weeks, almost 400 people have lost their lives. A few months ago, hundreds of Lebanese lost their lives not far from Australian shores.

Europe is the nearest place for most of these refugees hoping to find shelter and probably a decent life. But European hypocrisy on this issue is at its peak: On the one hand, European countries tighten border controls, preventing these desperate refugees from entering. On the other hand, they organise grand funerals when the bodies of these refugees are recovered from the sea.

This hypocrisy is further evident in the turning of a deaf ear towards the atrocities tyrannical regimes inflict on their people, and ignoring the mafia that continues to generate millions of dollars through human trafficking — a fact well-known to western authorities.

We are witnessing double standards in these places and thousands of people are losing their lives in vain. Tyranny, civil war and despotism are leading to more and more refugees meeting a watery grave.

The West can do a lot more to stop these atrocities. First of all, the West should tackle the root of the problem regionally and internationally. Dictatorships in some African and Middle East countries should face punishment economically and politically through action by the United Nations Security Council. They should be meted out the same harsh treatment they impose on their citizens.

Furthermore, the West has a responsibility not to let the new emerging states in North Africa and the Middle East to plunge into chaos on the lines of what is happing in Libya, Syria and elsewhere. Western powers have a moral duty to extend a helping hand to stabilise law and order in these countries in accordance with the modern form of governance.

No choice

Poor people do not ditch their homeland, only oppressed people do. There are many countries with large populations, but stable governments, and that is the reason why we do not see an exodus of refugees from these countries.

The other step is to seriously consider educating people in poorer countries. In fact, one could argue that there are no poor countries as such, and all countries have some sort of resources, either natural or minerals. But there are poor people, who cannot benefit from these resources.

By providing them with a good education, and a proper system of government, one can ensure that they will not ever think of leaving their homelands that enjoy sunny weather for a cold and overburdened European state where eking out a new life may well turn out to be a gamble.

Today with globalisation working to bring the world closer, people should be free to move wherever they want, provided they have the tools to participate in the production of wealth in the host countries.

It’s the first time in history that an educated person living in a remote village in Africa can follow the monetary crisis in Washington easily, have an opinion on every aspect of life there and can easily join the world economy without leaving his village.

In fact, the modern economy depends completely on the freedom of movement of goods and people, but some countries are practically welcoming the goods while creating barriers to free movement of people. History tells us that national wealth can be generated by waves of immigrants, whether it was North or South America, Australia, or other countries. These nations grew and prospered because of immigrants. If we consider the Gulf region where we live, the immigrants’ participation has played a major role in our prosperity,

It must also be noted that if an ordinary Gulf citizen wants to go to Europe today, he/she has to fill extensive documentations specifying every minute detail of his/her life, including parents’ date of birth.

Looking at these questions, a friend once commented that they forgot to ask the size of shoes we wear! It would be a good way to add insult to injury.

It’s high time that Europeans rethink their respective immigration polices. They do not live alone in this planet.

Mohammed Alrumaihi is a professor of political sociology at Kuwait University.