Humanity’s Last Call for a Culture of Sharing and Cooperation

Written on March 19th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

The Global Refugee Crisis – Published on Global Research.ca (first on Share The World’s Resources STWR), by Rajesh Makwana, March 15, 2016: the real crisis is not the influx of refugees to Europe per se but a toxic combination of destabilising foreign policy agendas, economic austerity and the rise of right-wing nationalism, which is likely to push the world further into social and political chaos in the months ahead.

Razor-wire fences, detention centres, xenophobic rhetoric and political disarray; nothing illustrates the tendency of governments to aggressively pursue nationalistic interests more starkly than their inhumane response to refugees fleeing conflict and war. With record numbers of asylum seekers predicted to reach Europe this year and a morally acceptable humanitarian response nowhere in sight, the immediate problem is more apparent than ever: the abject failure of the international community to share the responsibility, burden and resources needed to safeguard the basic rights of asylum seekers in accordance with international law.

Of immediate concern across the European Union, however, is the mounting pressure that policymakers are under from the far-right and anti-immigration groups, whose influence is skewing the public debate on the divisive issue of how governments should deal with refugees and immigrants. With racial intolerance steadily growing among citizens, the traditionally liberal attitude of European states is fast diminishing and governments are increasingly adopting a cynical interpretation of international refugee law that lacks any sense of justice or compassion … //

… Dispelling nationalist myths of the far-right: … //
… A common agenda to end austerity: … //
… From a culture of war to conflict resolution: … //
… Sharing the burden, responsibility and resources: … //

… Thankfully, ordinary citizens are leading the way on this critical issue and putting elected representatives to shame by providing urgent support to refugee families in immediate need of help. In their thousands, volunteers stationed along Europe’s boarders have been welcoming asylum seekers by providing much needed food, shelter and clothing, and have even provided search and rescue services for those who have risked their lives being trafficked into Europe in rubber dinghies. Nowhere is this spirit of compassion and generosity more apparent than on Lesbos and other Geek islands, where residents have been collectively nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for their humanitarian efforts.

The selfless actions of these dedicated volunteers should remind the world that people have a responsibility and a natural inclination to serve one another in times of need – regardless of differences in race, religion and nationality. Instead of building militarised borders and ignoring popular calls for a just and humanitarian response to the refugee crisis, governments should take the lead from these people of goodwill and prioritise the needs of the world’s most vulnerable above all other concerns. For European leaders and policymakers in all countries, it’s this instinctively humane response to the refugee crisis – which is based firmly on the principle of sharing – that holds the key to addressing the whole spectrum of interconnected social, economic and environmental challenges in the critical period ahead.

(full long text).

Links:

Lives shattered, homes destroyed: Ankara’s anti-Kurd military op mapped out, on RT, March 18, 2016;

Turkish gambit: Ankara wants €6 billion & visa-free travel to EU for hosting refugees, on RT, March 18, 2016;

‘You should have expected us’ – Anonymous leak Trump’s public ‘private data’ in #OpWhiteRose [3 VIDEOS], on RT, March 18, 2016;

US govt mistakenly leaks Snowden’s name in case that shuttered Lavabit, on RT, March 18, 2016;

ISIS increasingly relies on child jihadists amid mass losses and desertion (VIDEO), on RT, March 17, 2016: Islamic State tries to fill up its dramatically dwindling ranks with children recruiters, RT`s Gayane Chichakyan reports. With fighters’ salaries slashed in half and an ongoing witch hunt for defectors, terrorists are desperate for manpower. “The use of minors shows not only how brutal the terrorist group is but also how desperate,” says Chichakyan …;

Modern Warfare Just Changed Forever — Laser Weapons Are Ready For Use — TODAY, on Activist Post, by Matt Agorist, March 17, 2016: as if autonomous drones launching Hellfire missiles at targets acquired through the collection of metadata weren’t horrifying enough, the US military now;

From Free Speech to Party Politics, on ZNet, by Yash Kothari and Chinmay Rayarikar, March 16, 2016;

Can A Rational Progressive Jew Still Maintain Hope For Israel? on Tikkun, by Michael Lerner, March 9, 2016;

Tikkun.org/about: Tikkun is a magazine dedicated to healing and transforming the world. We seek writing that gives us insight on how to make that utopian vision a reality. We build bridges between religious and secular progressives by delivering a forceful critique of all forms of exploitation, oppression, and domination while nurturing an interfaith vision of a caring society — one whose institutions are reconstructed on the basis of love, generosity, nonviolence, social justice, caring for nature, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. To learn more, read our Core Vision statement. Our founding editor, Rabbi Michael Lerner, also leads Beyt Tikkun, a Jewish Renewal synagogue in the San Francisco Bay Area …;
(read also - Move Your Money From Banks that Exploit – The Jewish Imperative, on Beyt Tikkun: You’re striving to live ethically. Do you know what your money does when you’re not looking?);

Advocating for a global strategy of ‘generosity through sharing’, on Share The World’s Resources STWR (first on Tikkun), by Rajesh Makwana, March 3, 2016: Only the ethic and practice of sharing can provide the necessary values-based policy framework for planetary rehabilitation – one that compels us to think in global terms, prioritise the needs of the poorest, and recognise that we only have one planet’s worth of resources that must be fairly shared by all people;

DETROIT: How the Motor City was driven to Bankruptcy, on Equal Times, by David Bacon, July 26, 2013;

… and this – Basque music:

Musique Basque:

Euskal Herriko musika:

Basque music:

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