Xenophobia has poisoned our EU institutions

As the bodies of hundreds dead migrants gently rise and fall with the of the swelling of the Meditation Sea we see the stunning lack of compassion of European nations, many of whom failed to act when Italy warned them of this growing and intending crisis over a year ago.  This year an estimated 1.500 people have drowned on Italy's coast although, in reality the number is expected to be much higher. 

The deaths of these migrants, many of them African and Syrian has scarred the conscious of Europe.  The toxic daily rhetoric on immigration across Europe and here in Britain, has created an environment where humanity and compassion for fellow human beings is in short supply.  As such what was a small crisis, which could have been avoided with early intervention, has now grown into a humanitarian disaster. 

Petty nationalist sentiment has hardened the hearts and closed the eyes of many to the carpet of humanity, men women and children now floating of the shores of Europe. This is the insidious aspect of xenophobia and racism - it dehumanises both the victim and the perpetrator. 

Racism at worst both defies logic and objective truth, allowing people to come to the most perverse conclusions despite the objective evidence:  “It’s the smugglers fault”, “Stop the foreign Aid”, and worst of all from Katie Hopkins, “let the ‘cockroaches’ drown, I don’t care”. 

The fact is the current migrant crisis of the Middle East and North Africa are both a direct and indirect consequence of western military and political intervention that has created a swarm of terrorists and a human tsunami of desperate humanity.

That’s why we are supporting the call from Save the Children to pressure the UK and French governments that destabilised Libya to now lead the humanitarian intervention.

The 10 point plan recently announced by the EU is a nothing more than the ramping up of racist control measures that seek to criminalise and return asylum seekers to the hell they've struggled so hard to escape.  EU nations are seeking to wash their hands of the bloody mess they are responsible for creating.  It’s our responsibility as the peoples of Europe to demand that our nations do the right thing.  

That’s why we are supporting this important action and urge you to support it in any way you can.  Xenophobia and racism pervert morality and distort reality, and as social evils based on ignorance and prejudice, they are completely contagious.  The only known effective antidote is collective action in fighting racism. 

Don't let our Governments diminish us to the status of moral inadequacy, stand up for moral responsibility and common humanity.

Simon Woolley - OBV 

Lee Jasper - Co-chair BARAC

Migrant Lives Matter

Protest at European Union London HQ

Saturday 25 April, 1-2PM

European Commission in the UK

32 Smith Square, 

SW1P 3EU,

London, 

United Kingdom

https://www.facebook.com/events/373567429511407