I am delighted by the apparent sea-change in media opinion on the treatment of refugees, but concerned that in modern society compassion only seems able to operate in a wave of emotional hysteria rather than as a fundamental, underlying everyday principle. There is also a danger that those arriving in the Mediterranean and Balkans are viewed, quite wrongly, as in some way different from those in the awful camps at Calais, who have been demonised all summer, reaching its peak when a child being killed by a train led to vicious media headlines about delays to British passengers.
Cameron and May’s apparent willingness to budge at least minimally in admitting more from Syria must be matched by a willingness to admit those from the Calais camps who are genuine refugees. I still have a home in Ramsgate from which you can actually see France. I for one am willing to make accommodation available at no charge to help out in the crisis.
These are troubling times. In London the National Youth Centre has cancelled a play, Homegrown, which explored Islamic radicalism, because it had an “extremist agenda”. By this they mean that it did what it was meant to, it explored the reasons that attract young people to terrorism including a revulsion at western foreign policy and the alienation from society of urban youth in a society that values materialism above all but increasingly restricts access to prosperity and choice. These are precisely the issues that modern playwrights ought to be considering, if they are worth anything.
However it goes against the government’s insistence that radicalisation is nothing whatsoever to do with our invasions and bombings of Muslim countries or the huge and burgeoning wealth gap in our society. We are supposed to view terrorism as a spontaneous outbreak of pure evil, for no reason. So the play was cancelled, after consultations between the National Youth Theatre and the Metropolitan Police. When you have the police deciding on the content of plays, you really are on the road to being a fascist state: we already have the police involved in what can be said in universities under the government’s definitively illiberal Prevent strategy.
Just as there is still no official admission that our invasions and bombings greatly boosted terrorist organisations, so there is still no official admission that the wave of terror and destruction we helped unleash on the Middle East, either by direct invasions or bombings or by proxy, by funding and through the Gulf States, is the root cause of much of the refugee crisis. It is good we are moving a tiny way towards helping. We should do very much more. And acknowledgement of our own culpability in the crisis should be an essential part of a new attitude.
It’s crazy enough when politicians pretend that dropping bombs on a country is a solution but it’s something to witness an arch bishop who has sold his soul to the devil advocating the same thing. Is the idiot unaware of all the innocent civilians killed in Libya with this tactic. The solution is stop arming and funding IS and stop Israel acting as it’s air force.
Sadly, Suhayl, some just don’t see the tide of reddish fish, not even when they see it coming towards them and they get slapped around the chops with it.
Well said. housing Syrians is not a football to be bounced around the class divides, point scoring on a boringly predictable scale, a dis functional argument, a default that is being wheeled out to cover up lack of foresight and dysfunction that beggars believe, none of which is surprising, original, or something we have not heard/had before.
@Monteverdi
“Meanwhile in the country who call refugees ‘ infiltrators ‘ , those for whom ‘ life is good ‘ are driven to attack John Lennon’s vacuous but well meaning and humane song ‘ Imagine ‘ as a threat . Herzl’s dream continues on its nightmarish journey.”
I completely agree and having been born in the same hospital in Liverpool just three months apart
from John Lennon I know what he would say to those Zionists twats.
“Karma`s going to get you.” Or as we use to say “The Cosmic Sledghammer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4
Is it as simple as saying you want to bring Syrian refugees into your home ? How do you go about doing this ? My sister-in-law and her two young children made the journey to Germany and are now in a camp there when we would like to bring them here to stay with us. Previous applications for visas were turned down. I would be grateful for any advice.
For Mary and others being taunted: Sorry if my comment at 4.58 on the “When the politics has to Stop” post is being used as a stick to beat you with. This was my response when I saw how it was being used:
Habbabkuk at 10.07 – For the avoidance of doubt
No I was not referring to people on here as “folk like us”. That is a sloppy form of words and refers solely to me and ‘im indoors. I would not presume to describe the people who comment on Craig’s blog as an homogeneous group implied by the phrase; that would be as insulting as it is wrong. I differ with a great many of the opinions expressed here as I’m sure others do with mine. So please don’t try and bully Mary and others with my loose words. I will try and be more precise in future; I don’t know what came over me yer honour.
I guess misrepresentation is what you get when you enter the bearpit from those either innocently (not really being at home with colloquial English) or deliberately (trying to imply a meaning that was not intended)
God – what a game.
“I would be grateful for any advice…’
Unwise to ask for counsel when the fungus infection hasn’t been treated by the blog host. They will give you plenty of advice contrary to your ability to make their point. Their ‘point’ is to deflect status quo responsibility for the morass to the group least able to address the issue from logistical or fiscal ability. Creating an organization out of thin air for this purpose is beyond the pale of expectations.
That’s why we elect these lazy-assed, disinterested laggards of legislative legerdemain. The least they can do is address the needs of the many with concrete proposals leading to the least stress on the working man, who is quite frankly flat out of his cash for any but his own.
Stop asking those with the least to sacrifice even more.
Jesus Harold Christ on Rubber Crutches !!!!
Is there no common sense amongst the common people anymore?
If you are going to address the disingenuous poseurs at least do so, obliquely. IOW’s take a broadside at the absurdity with some hyperbole equal to the flaccid nature of his own failed prose. Please refrain from addressing Craig’s Churls directly. It drives them barmy. If you want some context, follow my non-responses to those needing no response.
Rose
06/09/2015 12:23am
I am sure that no-one here took your words as any kind of jibe at anyone. Your posting was very thoughtful – please do not lose any sleep over your meaning being twisted or manipulated by others, that is not your responsibility.
Kind regards,
John
Kindly GFY John Spencer Davis.
Kind Regards,
Ben
Beth
06/05/2015 12:20am
I did not read your posting as asking anyone (except possibly yourself and your family) to sacrifice anything.
Kind regards,
John
To emphasize… http://www.amishrakefight.org/gfy/
Whatever happened to the Englishman (and his Scots Burnes) who used to run an empire on which the sun never set? Instead we now have lithuanian tribalist Goulds who have not only taken over the Speakers chair, but reign as a crypto AoC who is quick to yell for the blood of the two Algerian je suisse charlie patsies, but is utterly silent on Aylan Kurdi? The synagogue of satan has taken over from a crypto PM downwards, we have all ended up powerless as their saviles bugger the land. And when a Corbyn arises to save us from the evil they have fostered, they raise a vast cacophony in the MSM,and even in the microcosm of this blog, to drown him out like he were a toddler Aylan. The evil habbas and anon1s are upon us here at home,and instead of charity beginning at home, the giyanes dumb jihadis are going to Syria to chop of the necks of the natives there, its a travesty. The devils even have the impunity to physically attack a brave Galloway who points a finger at them, right here on the streets of London. Its just insane, we have all become impotent hermephrodites ! And just like the rifkind rats who will abandon our sinking ship for Beersheba when the time comes, we have our own Sikunder, CM who wants out from Ramsgate for Rattray leaving no one to intercede for us. Enoch Powell may have been right we will have to pay for Aylan with our own rivers of blood.
And yes its clear, the self same pollard devils responsible for the evil are printing pictures of toddler Aylan on the front pages of their harps urging us to go and attack assad instead!!!? A great synagogue of satan has descended upon the land, its falsehood has overwhelmed us.
And yes its even more clear, great devils think alike, BOTH politicians erdogan and cameron immediately seized this Aylan “opportunity” to point a finger at assad and prepare us for a £3b fireworks show over Damascus.
Watched the recent debate’ with Jeremy Corbyn answering that ‘person’ with the bombing people is good’ attitude …Did anyone catch the twisted squirming on her face when she effectively asked is there anytime we CAN bomb?
Anyway, hope your all doing well. It’s good to see someone who is, dare I say, mature in his attitude to……..fascists. (sorry I could not help it, just think it describes the current instinct of our better-than-though leaders best).
Cameron is an out and out racist, there is no doubt about that in my mind. Just look how he jumped on his own backtracking over refugees to promote British exceptional-ism,….fucking unreal.
And on the subject of exceptional. I was thinking how I am totally ‘un-political’ in regards to being un-personal and restrained as someone like crobin is, but it takes all sorts..(Though he did get quite angry at that BBC wanker regrading ‘tabloid reporting’, Fair play.
I do apologize for the swearing and personal insults, but I just came back from the pub and it’s much easer to generalise in such a state. (:
My feeling is this highlights with gladly received clarity how far right wing/ fascist the current bunch of …… are that inhabit positions of perceived power ( or manipulated perceptions with the fear offensive) have gone…but I know who inspires me as this unfolds, and i’m glad to say it’s the better judgment of relatively ordinary people who inhabit these islands..
Interview (2015) with Greece’s Ex-Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis (english) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL7OYyFStqs
Sure you’re all up-to-date on this, but I was genuinely interested to see more of he ins and out’s of this atm.. …Though I make it clear what I think about the systems these people work within/ legitimatize, I do think individuals as people, being people, matters. So though backing of anyone’s ‘career’ is strictly out, as just people, equals, I have found some encouragement lately.
It’s just being a bit more human, not that hard, easer than being otherwise. I guess when you accept killing people as part of your ‘career’ it creates a fucked up culture that many in this country accept as ok ‘progressive behavior. I don’t and it’s good to see others feel similar.
I got this on vinyl, 12in..(: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWxhqg1sJRo&list=PLUqTOKgDO9Ejr3MUAdJhPTpjoBXLGRqizv
‘Russia ‘is building military base in Syria’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11846382/Russia-is-building-military-base-in-Syria.html
“The secretary (Kerry) made clear (to the Russians) that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-Isil coalition operating in Syria,”
i.e. These actions could interfere with our goals of regime change, lead to greater loss of life for our terrorists, increase refugee flows beyond the biblcal numbers already created by our policies and risk confrontation with our own forces, including ISIL. Leave this to us, this is our job.
The thing about many of the Syrian refugees is this. We are expecting to see ‘Ethiopia 1984’. But these people had stable lives, homes, ediucation, health and had enough to eat. There is no famine in the Midlde East. There is no reason why they would need to look emaciated and malnourished. Just because they are ‘just like us’ ought not ot be used against them. They are escaping from war and death. They are refugees, period. In such circumstances, it is obscene, and adistratction, to speculate on their state of nutitrition. When the Bosnians similarly were escaping, it was deemed favourable to their case that they ‘looked just like us’ (though it was really quite racist, this view). But since the Syrians also more-or-less look, ‘just like us’, it is being used by some xenophobes as a negative thing. The subtext behind such speculation is of course that somehow they are not ‘genuine’ refugees. Now, I would like to ask, which oof those who is making such absurd comments – no-one here, I mean more generally – would like to swap places with them? Any takers? I think public opinion as a whole rightly will excoriate anyone who makes such comments.
The other thing that occured to me was this. Is Israel accepting any refugees (other than the ISIS paramiliatries whokm it seems inoridinately willing to treat and cure and ?return to the battlefront)? Turkey, Jordan, iraq all are involved as players yet all have taken massive numbers of refugees. israel too is a player in this bloody game, yet how many has it taken? There’s a question.
From the notorious jew-hating racist – “I see he is retiring hurt. Miffed that he could not make me rise to his taunts. An infantile and unpleasant troll who infests this blog and detracts from its good reputation. My reference to the absence of moderators is due to the fact that Jemand’s muck has not been deleted and that he is still commenting.”
Mary gives us a peek inside the disturbed mind of the control freak who makes life hell for large numbers of people – like we see in North Korea.
Calls for deletions of comments come from people who arrogantly presume that they know best about what *should* be written and, more importantly, what should be read and *thought*. You see, freedom of speech means nothing on a deserted island where there is no audience to hear it. The problem arises when people hear, stop to listen and pause to think independently about the subject matter of that speech.
So, when people call on the mods for censorship, they are less interested in the stifling of a lonely voice and more interested in preventing others from thinking independently, free from constraints imposed by control freaks.
Freedom of speech = freedom of thought. Beware those who try to deny you your fundamental freedom of thought.
Ben claims – “I’m not sure about the Kiwis but the Aussies are up to drowning children to avoid supporting them in camps.”
So Ben has just revealed himself to be yet another fog-horn lying propagandist for the onanistic, pro-refugee cult here.
Under the Rudd Labor govt, 1200+ people perished at sea as leaky boats they boarded in Indonesia succumbed to the violence of the high seas and deliberate acts to scuttle those vessels soon after contacting Australian authorities with distress calls. Being THOUSANDS of kilometres from Australia, Royal Australian Navy vessels were expected to be on call for impromptu, multi-million dollar sea rescue missions thereby obligating Australia to provide a shuttle service for prospective migrants. It would be cheaper to give these people first class tickets on Qantas flights. New Zealand doesn’t experience this phenomenom because it is on the far side of Australia and is less attractive to asylum seekers. Apparently, Australia is such a cruel and oppressive nation that people flee Central Asia with our country as their preferred migration destination. Now why would that be?
I agree with another commentator that the wave of refugees has probably been facilitated to rouse popular support for proposed military action in Syria that was abruptly shut down in the UK some time ago.
The importance of removing the Assad regime arises from its resistantance to energy supply lines being constructed to transport gas etc from southern gulf states thru Syria and Turkey to Western markets.
Russia wants to prevent this energy supply corridor being constructed because that will undermine their use of energy supplies and pricing as a geopolitical tool.
By bringing Syria under the control of Nato, energy independence from Russia can be achieved and more aggressive stances against Russian influence can be made without fear of the lights going out.
Therefore, we might see this mass influx of refugees and the active fomenting of anxiety amongst Europeans in response, as a means of curtailing Russian influence in the region.
There are calls in Israel for the state to accept refugess from Syria. Israel was a state founded by refugees, fleeing persecution largely in Europe. So, when will Israel step up to the plate?
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.674594#!
Still no escape from the trolls I see. Those ‘messages’ came through the ether from over 9,400 miles away in a sunny afternoon. Strange thought isn’t it? And what a waste of electricity.
Still linking to Condell’s racist muck too.
So much space. So little heart
Abbott under pressure to boost refugee intake amid desperate scenes in Europe
The Guardian – 3 hours ago
Two Liberal premiers and several cabinet ministers call for action, with Mike Baird saying ‘NSW remains ready and willing to do more than our fair share”
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/06/abbott-under-pressure-to-boost-refugee-intake-as-two-liberal-premiers-call-for-action
I fear the appeals will fall on deaf jug ears.
Jemand, at 8:07am, yes, good point.
US targets Syria infrastructure rather than militants: Sabrosky
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/09/30/380612/no-military-value-in-us-syria-targets/
Dave/Suhayl:
Have you thought about the relationship between ‘Karma’, DNA, epigenetics, (re)birth, death, String Theory?
No Rose (last night) Nothing to do with you but kind of you to write.
They are selective and work against those who do not possess or accept their disgusting mindsets. If they get no traction, they move on to another as you can see.
Carey has been receiving a negative reaction to his disgusting comments in the press, on blogs and over the airwaves.
‘Some will not like me saying this, but in recent years, there has been too much Muslim mass immigration to Europe. This has resulted in ghettos of Muslim communities living parallel lives to mainstream society, following their own customs and even their own laws. Isn’t it high-time instead for the oil-rich Gulf States to open their doors to the many Muslims who are fleeing conflict? Surely if they are concerned for fellow Muslims who prefer to live in Muslim-majority countries, then they have a moral responsibility to intervene.’
Can’t say I disagree with that.
War. War.
BBC online.
‘US concerned by Russia’s Syria moves
John Kerry, pictured during his speech on Iran in September
US Secretary of State John Kerry voices concern to Moscow amid reports of a Russian military build-up in Syria in support of President Assad’s forces.
9 hours ago
From the section US & Canada
Related content
Just how far is Russia bolstering Assad?’
Sky News website.
‘US Fears Over Russia’s ‘Build Up’ In Syria
President Vladimir Putin has sent a military advance team and a portable air traffic control station to Syria, say reports.’
ITV Report
‘Britain ‘edging closer’ to vote on Syria air strikes’
etc etc
Of course there is absolutely no concern at all about USUKIsNATO’s intentions.