Let us hope that the USA never has need of refuge on someone else’s soil. The irony of President Trump’s order against refugees and those from the specified Muslim majority nations is not lost on many.
Mainly white Americans fled Europe from religious persecution in search of somewhere to freely practice their faith. The rape and pillage of the native communities of America set a dangerous precedent. That which is foreign can be killed, stolen from or beaten into submission.
During the World War II, Jews seeking refuge away from war-torn Europe have turned away in their thousands in case they harboured Nazi spies among them. Jews that had been marginalised, ghettoed into particular areas, made to register what they were and then later interned into camps and killed unless they could flee. America wouldn’t take refugees then. It would appear that they maintain this stance.
Muslims flee war-torn areas of the world, such as Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, often because of sectarian persecution or because life has been made untenable because of warring groups within those countries. Many, if not most, of the countries that refugees flee from, have had the strong arm of the West try to institute some sort of democracy into their system. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were talked about among the political elite of the West as a liberation as if the poor, uneducated East was in need of some Western liberal democracy. However, if the Western bombs made people homeless or made children parentless, then it was collateral damage. The necessary price of democracy.
Where do orphans go? Where do the homeless go? They flee in the hope of sanctuary from a war that they had no say in and no part to play. They flee from the warring groups on their soil and from the drone strikes that come from ours. When they reach the gates of refuge, having often suffered horrific journeys to get there, they find the gates shut. They are not safe in the countries they flee, and they are not welcome anywhere else because America believes the devil to be lurking among them. The potential for the terrorist among them to surreptitiously enter the USA and cause mayhem is too much of a risk.
The ultimate danger of terrorism is a fascinating concept. The US Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as ” the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives”. So broad as to include any social objective and refined enough to only include that which is ‘unlawful’. An expert doesn’t need to explain that that which is lawful is not necessarily moral, right or fair. A pundit doesn’t need to explain the huge breadth of pursuits that can be considered social objectives. So why does America not see its actions in the Middle East so clearly within its own definition? If Lady Liberty could weep…
Let us hope that those that back Trump’s agenda never have a need to flee. It would not surprise me that if that day comes, they will find doors slammed in their faces. For all the American’s that are terrified of what is happening…I hear Canada is taking applications now.
