Welcome to Bennett's Study

From the Author of No Land an Island and Unconscionable

Pondering Alphabetic SOLUTIONS: Peace, Politics, Public Affairs, People Relations

http://www.bennettponderingpeacepoliticssolutions.com/

http://www.bennettponderingpeacepoliticssolutions.com/author/

http://www.bennettponderingpeacepoliticssolutions.com/buy/

UNCONSCIONABLE: http://www.unconscionableusforeignrelations.com/ http://www.unconscionableusforeignrelations.com/author/ http://www.unconscionableusforeignrelations.com/book/ http://www.unconscionableusforeignrelations.com/excerpt/ http://www.unconscionableusforeignrelations.com/contact/ http://www.unconscionableusforeignrelations.com/buy/ SearchTerm=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett http://www2.xlibris.com/books/webimages/wd/113472/buy.htm http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/08UNCONSCIONABLE/prweb12131656.htm http://bookstore.xlibris.com/AdvancedSearch/Default.aspx? http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-000757788/UNCONSCIONABLE.aspx

http://todaysinsight.blogspot.com

Saturday, August 22, 2015

HUMAN CRISES created, perpetuated by prior conditions of colonies, crimes of colonialists

Calais
Homelessness, Rejection, Historic, Current Cruelty
Editing, excerpting, ending comment by Carolyn Bennett 

3
0-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker Asif Haji speaking to IPS

“Human tragedy should not be classified.”

“At issue is the divisive policy which places refugees in ‘asylum-worthy’ categories.…
 
‘…First are Syrians and other Middle East refugees who are awarded permits and 
education.

‘Second come the Afghans and Pakistanis who have to struggle a bit but are allowed language school and work permits.

‘[Third] … are the Africans who are widely perceived as economic migrants leeching on the system and petty criminals dealing in drugs who are not particularly welcome anywhere. This is unfair. Human tragedy should not be classified.’

S
African Refugees
udanese blogger and Refugee Movement campaigner Adam Bahar to IPS 

Yemeni Refugees
Politicians busying themselves with strategies and programs and allocating resources to more programs to hold back refugees … should instead “be naming and shaming the real culprits….

‘Change begins by uprooting dictators who are clandestinely colluding to misuse their nation’s wealth and remain in power thanks to the support of the pseudo democracies of the first world.’…

‘In dictatorships, young people suffer systematic oppression for a mere criticism of the regime.”

Facing ‘joblessness and lack of freedom of expression’ and ‘following the lure of the foreign media’s often empty slogans of justice and freedom, they (young people)  seek legal or illegal emigration.’

Middle East Refugees
“His dream of a better life of freedom and wealth evaporated when he reached Europe,” Adam Bahar is paraphrased, “where he soon realized that freedom and human rights are not for everyone to enjoy.”


On a clear day, the White Cliffs of Dover can easily be seen from this port town in northern France overlooking the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel. Calais is the closest French town to England and the largest city in Pas-de-Calais.

JUNGLE” AT CALAIS
No one should have to live like this

Calais refugees
James Rippingale reporting: “More than 2,000 migrants” languish “in a Calais Refugee Camp for one reason alone”—a chance “to reach Britain, or die trying.”


2
8-year-old Whalid of Nuba Mountain, Sudan, who has been living in ‘The Jungle’ for three months, recalls a man pretending “to be Islamic” but who was “only interested in money.”

‘We were locked in a small house near the water with around 300 others and herded like cows onto a boat,’
‘The Africans were made to go below and were nailed shut beneath the deck…. We made holes in the wood just to breathe.’
‘I’d rather be killed in my own country than die here, but I will never stop trying to reach freedom.’


M
asters graduate in Food Security and Agriculture (University of Khartoum), Ahmed, who has been in ‘The Jungle’ for over a month, recalled to the reporter that after “two days at sea, the boat’s engine began billowing smoke,” the vessel rocked wildly and “refugees sobbed, screamed, begging to be saved.

Red Cross received emergency radio message; Migrants were transferred “onto a small rescue vessel [and] offloaded onto a nearby cruise ship”, where they were “surrounded by picture-snapping tourists.”
Calais refugees
Somali Refugees
The migrants walked from Italy to Calais and Ahmed said after he tried “to sneak onto a ferry,” he was met by “French police” who beat him and “dumped him at the Belgian border.” At the beginning of September 2014, he “applied for asylum in France” and is still waiting for a decision.


P
Calais refugees
olitical cartoonist and writer of slogans highlighting corruption and brutality among Sudanese government officials, a passionate exponent of Khartoum’s protest movement, 24-year-old Yassen of Khartoum, Sudan (also (University of Khartoum student in illustration), has been three months in ‘The Jungle’.

Why? He says he “became scared for [his] future because there was no freedom, no liberty and [he] was on a government blacklist.”


Z
Sicily off Italy south
aghawa tribesman, cattle and sheep rancher, 24-year-old Nahar of Hamada Forest, Southern Darfur, Sudan, three months in ‘The Jungle’ recalls snapshots from his journey to Calais.

It was “…evening …on a darkened beach, the refugees were
packed into tiny inflatable boats to begin the crossing to Sicily.” He then made his way to Ventimiglia then to Nice by train; and then walking to the Calais migrant camp.’ He said he had hoped “to reach the safety of England and end his journey.”
Middle East Refugees

The question is not “are we living up to ‘our values’”?

The compelling issue is twofold: correcting the harm of the past and stopping the harm currently perpetrated with impunity, which is compounding egregious wrongs of the past.


Sources and notes

“Germany’s Asylum Seekers – You Can’t Evict a Movement,” Francesca Dziadek, August 22, 2015, http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/germanys-asylum-seekers-you-cant-evict-a-movement/

“Welcome to The Jungle,” Web Exclusive, James Rippingale , March 18, 2015, http://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2015/03/18/jungle-calais-migrants/

James Rippingale can be found @mrrippingale. See more at: http://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2015/03/18/jungle-calais-migrants/#sthash.hFM0n2Rh.dpuf

 “Refugee crisis - Do we care enough?” Deutsche Welle’s Quadriga August 20, 2015 edition

“Hundreds of thousands are fleeing persecution, war and poverty – in the hope of safety and a better life in Europe.

In Germany alone an estimated 800.000 refugees are expected to arrive this year. Many Germans are eager to help them, but there has also been opposition and even racist attacks.

Can Europe find a worthy answer to the migrant crisis? Or will we respond by isolating ourselves further? quadriga(at)dw.com

http://www.dw.com/en/quadriga-refugee-crisis-do-we-care-enough-2015-08-20/e-18612192-9798

CALAIS today is a key transport hub and notable fishing port, a center for fish marketing, with additionally an estimated 3,000 people still employed in the town’s famed lace industry. Ten million people visit Calais annually. In Northern France, “the city’s proximity to England has made it a major port for centuries. It is the principal ferry crossing point between England and France, with the vast majority of Channel crossings being made between Dover and Calais. The port accounts for more than a third of economic activity of the town of Calais.

Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km (21 mi) wide here, and is the closest French town to England. On a clear day, the White Cliffs of Dover can easily be seen from Calais.  

Calais is largest city in Pas-de-Calais, a town and major ferry port in northern France; population of the metropolitan area 126,395 (2010 census) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais


__________________________________________________

A lifelong American writer and writer/activist (former academic and staffer with the U.S. government in Washington), Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett is credentialed in education and print journalism and public affairs (PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; MA, The American University, Washington, DC). Her work concerns itself with news and current affairs, historical contexts, and ideas particularly related to acts and consequences of U.S. foreign relations, geopolitics, human rights, war and peace, and violence and nonviolence. Dr. Bennett is an internationalist and nonpartisan progressive personally concerned with society and the common good. An educator at heart, her career began with the U.S. Peace Corps, teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Since then, she has authored several books and numerous current-affairs articles; her latest book: UNCONSCIONABLE: How The World Sees Us: World News, Alternative Views, Commentary on U.S. Foreign Relations; most thoughts, articles, edited work are posted at Bennett’s Study: http://todaysinsightnews.blogspot.com/ and on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/08UNCONSCIONABLE/prweb12131656.htm http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-000757788/UNCONSCIONABLE.aspx Her books are also available at independent bookstores in New York State: Lift Bridge in Brockport; Sundance in Geneseo; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center in Buffalo; Burlingham Books in Perry; The Bookworm in East Aurora

__________________________________________________

No comments:

Post a Comment