Sunday 23 August 2015

Where has our humanity gone?


I was watching a Channel 4 report from the Macedonian border yesterday. Scenes of chaos as people try to  passing their children and their babies forward, to get them to safety. Families seperated, children left in tears. Treated inhumanely as riot police beat them with batons.
These people have managed to escape Assad's barrel bombs, the horror of Isis, and wrongly believe people will show them some humanity. How shameful it is that Fortress Europe cannot offer them  a safe haven. We have funded and armed their oppressors, and now some people are pissed off, because they want to escape and live. Let us not forget that more than 220,000 Syrians have been killed since the start of the war in their country. Plus 7.6 million displaced, roaming from town to town, looking for safety. But still have this incredible will to survive. Today I thank my lucky stars that I can  go and visit a dear friend and soul mate, and feel safe in her company.
Where has our humanity gone? Wherever it lies, I think it has failed. Does it not have a duty in helping vulnerable people, play our part in helping them finding homes and allow them to rebuild their lives. We must protect those fleeing conflict and persecution.

Do we even really care?  - Tjeerd Rowlands



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