Why Our Treatment of Refugees is every bit as Abhorrent as that they Received from ISIS & Assad

What the fuck is wrong with everyone today?  When did everyone suddenly become so self-interested, introverted, paranoid and scared.  The way Europe is treating the influx of refugees at our borders is just as extreme as the treatment they were getting in their homelands from Assad or ISIS(or whoever) and from which they fled.  It makes me ashamed and if you've got any sense of what it means to be a human being then you too should be ashamed as well.  Ashamed of ourselves; ashamed of our squabbling, petty Politicians who put votes before lives; ashamed our police, our border guards and our security services who trample these poor people beneath their boots.  We, of the civilised West, of rich, privileged Europe are monsters every bit as bad as Assad and ISIS and Al-Queda and in some ways we are much worse.

ISIS and the like at least make no bones about their tactics.  We know what they're about and we know what to expect from them, as did the refugees and that was why they left, running for their lives.  Yes, think about it...running for their lives.

Have you ever run for life from a fate that was so harsh, so terrible that if you stayed you would fear, not only for your life, but for those of your children, your elderly parents, your friends?  I know I haven't and I bet most of you haven't either!  But when you tuck your kids into bed tonight spare a thought for those refugee children who don't have a bed, or even blanket, or maybe even a parent to kiss them on the forehead and tell them it'll be alright!

And to where did they run in their hour of need?  To that bastion of hope!  To Europe where their Human Rights would surely be respected.  To that idea of freedom and charity that we always trumpet we're so big about.  We hold ourselves up in such high esteem and think ourselves so much better than those barbarians in the Middle East.  And let's be fair, we talk a good argument, so good in fact that we managed to fool several million people into thinking they'd be better off with us than they were under a sky full of bombs.

Talk about out of the frying pan.......!

12-13 year old Afghani boys in the camp at Calais.
Picture from today's Guardian

And whilst they ran for their lives we sat in our virtuous, gilded cages, hypocritically passing judgement on our mobile devices, tablets and PC's about the horrors wrought on civilians by the people of ISIS that we rightly call monsters, and then turn round and do exactly the same thing to the same homeless, impoverished disenfranchised individuals who turned to us for help when they had nowhere else to go.  How fucking hypocritical is that?

I don't need to provide references or links here.....we've all seen them, the homeless, hungry waifs and strays who held their hands out to us only for us to bite that hand off and tell them they're not welcome.  So we stick them behind fences, feed them a bowl of rice once a day if they're lucky, give them a a bottle of water and a couple of square metres of canvass to sleep under and tell ourselves we've done all we can do, and then with a clear conscience we go back to our lives.  And if they dare protest that this is not the humanity they were led to believe they'd receive from the rich West then we'll tear gas them, shoot them, send them back to where we don't have to see their dirty, hungry faces any more; where they become someone else's problem because we paid them to take them.  The only problem for those hapless refugees being that where we sent them back to they even less respect for Human Rights than we do, but hey, so what, right?  At least we don't have to look at them now!

What the fuck is wrong with everyone?

I know we're scared.  And we're right to be scared but we can't let it get in the way of doing what's right.  Because I'll tell you what, the treatment we're metering out to these refugee children will not be forgotten.  Oh we might forget!  A ceasefire signed somewhere at some point by yet more self-interested politicians who in reality care more about what the polls say than actually doing something constructive, something truly dramatic which might actually make a difference, might allow us to push all this to recesses of our minds. And then 10 years down the line this will all be just a sound-bite on our 3-D smart TVs and we'll pat ourselves on the back and say 'look at all the good we did back then,' ignoring the fact that the vast majority of those displaced individuals remain displaced individuals, but hey, that's not our problem!  We did what we could, right?

And you'd be right, it won't be our problem.

Do you know whose problem it'll be?  it'll be our kids and our grand kids.  And if we think we're scared now, it's going to be nothing compared to the fear that will be revisited on the coming generations.  Because do you know who won't have forgotten about the treatment they received when they were in need; when their parents had been blown up in front of them, or their siblings had drowned trying to escape, and just because they held out their hands and said 'we're hungry and homeless and in danger!  Can you help us?' and all we could say in return was, 'fuck you!  You might be a terrorist and want to blow me up!' so we ignore their pleas and their plaintive cries and their basic humanity and right to live a peaceful life, and why?  Because we're fucking scared and they might take our job.

Ask any Jewish survivor of the holocaust if they've forgotten the treatment they got at the hands of the Nazi's?  I think you know the answer!

And who do you think those displaced kids in 10/15 years time, as adults, with guns in their hands and bitter resentment in their hearts are going to blame for their own strife and misery?  It won't be us, because we'll be gone or going, it'll be our kids, and our kids kids!  They'll be dealing with the repercussions of our intolerance and indifference and lack of humanity long after we've shuttled off our mortal coil.

So what do we do?

Here's a radical solution.  Let's all offer to pay 1p extra income tax for 1 year so that we can keep the refugees, not in camps (it's just too similar to concentration camps for me) but in temporary villages, paid for by all the extra tax, where they can get regular meals, fresh water and a safe place to sleep.  Where the displaced bakers, carpenters, engineers,, doctors and nurses can use their skills and talents to help rebuild the lives of all those who have suffered.  Give them the resources to help themselves.  Don't make them reliant on charity.  Charity shouldn't be needed in the 21st Century.  How would you feel if you had to rely on someone else to give you a loaf of stale bread every other day with which to feed your family?  Far better to set up a small bakery, supply the grain and let them make the bread for themselves.  Let the builders build, the carpenters shape the wood, the nurses nurse and give them back some of the pride they must have lost.  Give them a stake in their own future!

And then one day when that ceasefire has been signed they can maybe return home with some dignity and some money in their pocket and gratitude in their hearts and minds for the wonderful people of Europe who helped them live again.

And what would it cost us?  One or two drinks less in the bar a week?  Baked beans on toast one night a week for a year instead of steak?  Or maybe just one less pair of designer trainers that we never wear?  It wouldn't take a whole lot if we all did it.  And let's shame those Austrians and Bulgarians and Macedonians into doing what's right.  Let's lead the way without fear and with love, holding our humanity high.

So, I'm asking you to tweet @DavidCameron and @JeremyCorbyn or whoever your MP is and say you want to pay 1p more on tax for 1 year to help the refugees live again.

And just think how good it'll feel to know you've truly made a difference as you sit down to your baked beans on toast supper.  Come on people.  Rediscover your humanity.  Take down the walls, start building bridges, open your hearts and let's stop all this awful suffering.

Whoever your God is, pray to him for help and understanding and the strength to do what is right.  Have a good day.