We are all migrants
Originally the only humans resided in the Rift Valley in East Africa. Now there are people in every corner of the globe. How did they get there? Migration. So, in a sense, we are all migrants.
Some may argue that this was a long time ago, but most of us only have to go back a few generations to find family connections in another country. Many of us don’t even have to go back generations.
My mother was Italian and came to Britain in 1946 when she married my father who was stationed in Italy with the Royal Air Force. My wife’s father was Czech and married her mother in 1942 when he had fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to fly with the wartime RAF.
Today, in north-west London, I live in a very cosmopolitan community. In our road, our immediate neighbours include Irish, Cypriot, Spanish, Polish, Indian, Pakistani, Lebanese and Filipino. A near neighbour was a Kenyan Asian who was expelled from his country of birth. Our postman is Nepalese, our doctor is Indian, our newsagent is Sri Lankan, our dry cleaner is Pakistani, my dentist is Iranian, my hairdresser is Greek Cypriot.
So this summer’s news about migrants and refugees from north Africa and the Middle East has deeply upset me. As one of the last tourists in Syria [see my account here], I feel especially concerned about those fleeing the civil war there. When we left Syria, we visited Lebanon [see my account here]. Today about one in five people living in Lebanon is a refugee from Syria’s civil war – giving Lebanon more refugees per capita than any other country in the world.
I know that we cannot have open borders and unlimited migration, but Europe can and should do more, a lot more. And Britain – one of the richest and most humane countries in the world – should do a lot, lot more. Especially for refugees.
September 7th, 2015 at 7:55 am
I totally agree, Roger. We are all in this together(tell our government) and we have an absolute moral duty to help these unfortunates however we can. There but for fortune……..
September 7th, 2015 at 9:39 am
If the Nazies had invaded the UK think of that exodus not just of Jews, trade unionist, socialists, liberals etc. how ironic it is the Germans who are now the most welcoming. I will never do a John Cleese “remember the war” joke again.
September 7th, 2015 at 4:00 pm
You are correct about us all being migrants or descendants thereof but this won’t affect those who believe we should keep “Oor ain fish-guts to oor ain sea-maws”. Quoted to me by a fellow Scot when discussing how had a moral duty to assist those less well-off than ourselves in the developing world.