The tragedy suffered by a group of immigrants near the Italian coast, with the
result of 69 deaths (the balance could exceed one hundred fatalities if we takeinto account the missing) once again points to those responsible for Europeanborder policy. The Schengen Agreement and the Border and Coast Guard Agency(Frontex) have meant the closure of the European space to anyone who tries toreach the old continent in search of refuge or in some way to survive thehardships that force them to leave their land and risk their lives in theMediterranean or in the waters of the Canary Islands.This recent disaster in Calabria joins many others that have occurred in recentyears and which already leave a mark, at least in some consciences, of severalthousand deaths and disappearances. Europe spends many millions of euros to buildborder fences and surveillance equipment in a futile attempt to prevent humanbeings lacking the essentials to live from reaching the gates of consumerparadise. In many cases these people come from countries that until not so longago were colonies of the main European powers and even today continue to sufferthe plunder of their resources for the benefit of large companies in thedeveloped world.In the case of this last misfortune, all the limits of human insensitivity havebeen exceeded, since apparently the Italian authorities knew that the precariousboat with which these migrants left Turkey was sinking and, knowing theirobligation to provide help, they did not send relief ships or allow humanitarianorganizations to carry out rescue work in jurisdictional waters, in compliancewith the new xenophobic rules imposed by the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni.With great cynicism, the Italian Minister of the Interior went so far as todeclare that they knew what was happening, but that they did nothing to avoid themaximum amount of misfortune because nobody forces immigrants to get on a boat,much less to do it with children. We are facing a new example of institutionalxenophobia and breach of human rights by the government of a democratic country.These racist and unsupportive policies towards people seeking refuge have beenapplied by European states for years, regardless of the fact that in some cases(such as the wars in Syria and Ukraine) a small part of the exodus has beenaccepted caused by these armed conflicts.Unfortunately, political parties with clearly racist and ultranationalistprograms are increasing throughout Europe, which, despite their anti-democraticmessages, achieve the electoral support of an important sector of the population.The left, the little that remains of it, instead of effectively combating theseretrograde ideas, moderates its discourse to win the electorate and assumesrestrictive proposals on immigration policies.Deprived of society of discourses in favor of solidarity between peoples and thefree movement of people (at least at the same level as goods), racist behavior,aggression and hatred of foreigners settle in our cities, impoverishingcoexistence, democracy and dialogue between cultures.But rejection and lack of solidarity are no longer limited to the foreigner, tothe one with a darker skin tone, to the one who follows other customs, etc. Nowthe poor are beginning to be looked down upon, those who do not have a job, thosewho lose their homes, those who need to resort to social services. Recently, theMadrid Deputy Minister of Health came to wonder publicly if it makes sense for achronically ill person to live free of the system. Without ceasing to benonsense, the reflection of this pathetic character is nothing more than thefollow-up of the capitalist plan to ensure that health, education and the rest ofthe public services are privatized as soon as possible... and whoever cannot payfor them, let it go away A sad social panorama, without a doubt.*Antonio Pérez Collado, General Confederation of Labor for the Valencian Countryand MurciaCGT-PVyM--Communication Office of the General Confederation of Labor of the ValencianCountry and Murcia_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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