Malcolm Rifkind (not sir, sir), the prominent Tory MP who was caught on camera by Channel 4 allegedly trying to sell his political favours to a Chinese investor, has treated us all today in the BBC, which is increasingly biased towards their new Conservative Masters, to a refined, yet disgusting, distinction between refugees worth protecting and the rest.
To summarise his position, for this man of grave voice and dubious ethics, refugees are welcome in our Disunited Kingdom only if they flee from war zones. He claims that once they are “safe” in a refugee camp in a neighbouring country, like Lebanon or Turkey, their desire to travel to Europe is an indication of other issues at play.
Let’s make it clear, Malcolm, in a language that power people like you can understand better than no one else: why don’t you piss off to Jordan to live in a tent in the desert? You have had already a good free ride as a member of the elite all these years, so it is only just that you start picking up the slack. You have made loads of money, for you and all the faceless corporations you have “served”, which I am sure you can use in the refugees camps for all sort of good deeds. Ah, and you advocated military interventions in Libya and Syria. Perhaps you would like to say sorry in person to some of the victims of your political “errors of judgement”.
It would be unfair for Malcolm to omit a reference to all those smug inhuman beings who will certainly support his views. I saw some of them last night in Twitter and on TV saying they didn’t want to have refugees in Britain. They are the same lot who do not want migrants, or anyone different to them, nearby. I propose to have a public register where these individual can indicate, by posting their postcode, that they are not willing to have refugees and migrants in their neighbourhood. That way we can spare the poor victims of war and the global crisis of capitalism of the undesirable company of these uncivil members of society.
Everyone has the right to escape from poor living conditions. The aspiration to live and work in peace and good health is legitimate. At this time in history the question is not whether we bring down borders but how we do so. It is urgent.
Picture from Foreign and Commonwealth Office used under the Open Government Licence v1.0
Arte & Ideas 