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Discussion Contributions
Fidelis Neba Chebe, Cameroon Aug 23, 2001
We are bound to search and render peace and hope to those searching for the last hope. They are many of such, but let me deal with little mastery and thought on the search for the last hope by the so called illegal immigrants.
When CNN announced the screening of the documentary "exodus from Africa" by Sorious Samura, I was amongst the thousands who looked forward to it with great curiosity and enthusiasm. But as the program unfolded, I watched painstakingly and my curiosity paled into frustration and bewilderment. My heart sunk to it's lowest ebb and my emotional resistance collapsed like a pack of cards, and before I realised my eyes were cloudy and heavy as I saw humanity debased and dehumanised. It was then it dawned on me that behind the facade of the tremendous human advances in science and technology with all the wonders of modern civilization including the internet, democracy, human rights and globalization, mankind was still threatened by an age old enemy- the fear of it's own species. Jamil, Kathryn and Akpos will agree with me that it is a very short step from being afraid of someone to disliking, hating, discriminating, and of course, eliminating him. That is the plight of millions of people searching for survival today, migrants.
To those of you who watched the documentary and got the testimonies of the Nigerian, a graduate economist, or the Ghanaian who both lamented having left their countries 10 yrs ago en route to Europe, when I saw pretty girls having all that a man needs for body, soul, family and society collapse to death in harsh conditions to get to Europe, then I realised that these young energetic men and women, fuming with potentials and capacities were not just simply caught in the excitement nor the facinations of European or American ice creams , hamburgers, skyscrappers or beaches. Rather, they were driven by a deeper force - the search for freedom, opportunities and life to make living worthwhile and relevant. Since they couldn't get these things in their respective countries for no fault of theirs, they had to search for them elsewhere on the earth's surface. Just as the slave masters, colonial and neo-colonial imperialists, including the WORLD BANK/IMF, came rushing to Africa, Latin America and Asia looking for raw materials, markets, slaves for free which they couldn't get in Europe, so these guys are out to get from Europe what they can't get from their societies. A perfect law of reciprocity.
So from where come these illegal immigrants or Beasts of Burden? Are these guys flowing in thousands from Jupiter or Mars? What is causing all these eloping as if huge fires were ravaging parts of the earth? I think it is time we start facing them as students of peace studies, because to me it is a conflict which has to be managed properly. Beginning with the structural violence questions involved here. I have seen throughout Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, which Rafael, Jamil and Oleg may have seen as well, deep cracks and fissures created in the structures of these societies. From slavery until this date, the advanced world has deliberately battered these now titled "less developed countries" in so severe a manner that it can no longer content it's people. Poverty, disease, economic and political ill, planning and planting by the West has bedevilled our societies. Is it then strange to see Nigerians, Ghanians and other east and west Africans trooping into Britain and other European countries, when we know that wealth of these nations belong to the former until today that shell, BP are in the niger delta looting? Is it not stupid to find France qualifying Cameroonians, and other french colonies till date as LES SANS PAPIERS? Which "papier" did /do the French have for looting these countries? I wonder which visas the slave masters, colonialists and neo-colonial imperialists had when they went ravaging lands from Africa to Latin America and to Asia. Is it just mere coincidence like that which we find in our romantic novels and Shakespearean plays, that with the coming of S.A.P and globalization, millions of people are getting poorer and dying while some struggle to survive by dashing to Europe, while the few in the "MADE RICH" live in all flush and luxury? If it is a mere coincidence, then I think it is "globalized coincidence". The fact, thus, is that from the past to the present, all strategies, methods and policies, by the West, done arguably without an iota of good intentions, including SAP and globalization has destructured, maladjusted and unprogrammed these societies, rendering them uninhabitable to the common man, thus many's search for the last hope is a plight that these European countries are not unconnected nor unfamiliar with.
Going beyond the structural to the direct, violence of all forms, wars, ethnic eruptions, etc have contributed significantly to this rush out again from the causes to the tools that sustain these wars, no African, Asia, nor Latin American country is noted for major arms production, rather SWEDEN prospers on the sales of arms but, at the same time, is surprised seeing refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Congo, Rwanda, Macedonia, Kosova, Eritrea, Sudan, Angola, Pakistan, Palestine, Algeria and you can name them. What a hypocrisy, these wars bring untold misery to the people and crumble fragile structures to their knees. How then will people hang on to such misery, hopelessness and despair?
My point here is simple, these so called developed countries know too well and continue to devastate what they have underdeveloped, yet they chase and maltreat the products of their exploitation and vicious greed. Call them,"illegal" unconventional, "trouble makers". The influx will go on. Statistics show that 15.000 made it through Spain this year, 4 times the number last year. 18.000 struggled to get into Britain alone, within the first 6 months of this year. More struggle to get into the US, Mexico, Cuba, etc. The time has come for the downtrodden and marginalised to stick out their necks and say, enough is enough, we shall join there and dine with you, after all much of it is theirs they say! The approaches are different. Migrations, anti-globalization marches, disruption of major summits are just a few. The voiceless want to be heard.
Perhaps it is time for those surrogates, caricatures, looters in the name of leaders in Africa and other "less developed countries" who have no plan but to help destroy their nations and their futures to sit up or be sent out, for this hapless generation of beautiful and handsome men and women can't afford to be faced out of the earth so easily because of the means to survive.
Perhaps it is equally time for the oppressed people to get together in a militant commitment to build a better future for themselves by identifying the common enemy in and out of the house, and dealing with them rather than for the IJAWS AND ISTEKIRIS, of the niger delta hating and fighting each other purposely and sending Akpos on a midnight escape, while Shell thrives. Above all , I think it is time for those who design this discipline of peace studies, to make it more militant and actively politically conscious, so that graduates and peace workers will not be reduced into Priests, Evangelists and Gospel crusaders or like the cops in the movies who always arrive late looking serious. Sitting to wait for conflicts to get grave, before going in with peace plans, messages etc, is gradually proving futile. Critically examine the structures and nib the conflicts in the buds. As peace students or workers, are you part of the problem or part of the solution? what are the lessons at stake, early warning signals and how do we go from here?
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