A story
Let me tell you a story with a morale (how old fashioned!) and an open ending (how modern!).
"I live in a nice house, plenty of room, all the amenities that modern life offers, with a pleasant garden, perhaps a swimming pool. (Told you you had to imagine this.) I have neigbors who are not so well off. I don't like the sight of them, so I have built a wall around my property. I occasionally hear their noises and I see them, when I venture out of my house. Some of my neighbors are really poor. In fact, some of them live in lean-to shanties that are erected against the walls of my property. I cannot do anything about that. The laws in this country protect my property rights right up to the edge of my wall -- but not beyond.
Sometimes, I wish they would not be there and that I would not be confronted with them. However, sometimes they prove to be useful. For example, the person mowing my lawn used to be one of them. I caught him one time climbing my wall. When I accosted him and asked him what he wanted, he said he merely wanted to look at my house. When I asked him again, this time a bit more forcefully, he admitted that he was looking at a way to stay in my beautiful house rather than his own lean-to hut made of corrugated iron and wood. He looked at my lawn and offered to mow it, in exchange for him living in the garage. I agreed to that. I hate mowing the lawn and while living in my garage he doesn't bother me and in fact, he looks more decent and healthier as a result.
But then trouble really started: his relatives also started to climb my walls. I tried to apprehend them and most of them I caught and kicked out. However, they kept coming. Some of them were living in my attic when I found them and I tried getting rid of them, but they claimed they had lived in my attic for so long now, they had nowhere else to go. My wife, who is a bleeding heart liberal said that I should tolerate them. So now they are renting the guestroom and a are regular borders in my house. Others, who I cannot kick out right away, I lock up in my cellar until I can kick them out. True, they haven't tried to steal anything or destroy anything. Nor have they been violent to me or my family. It is just that I found that I sleep better knowing that they are locked up in the basement awaiting eviction.
I then tried to make it more difficult for my neighbors and the relatives of my new guests to enter the premises. I long stopped answering the front door when I suspected it was one of them. I became quite handy in refusing them anything at the front door. I also raised the walls. Only the most tenacious and agile managed to climb the walls now. I hired security guards to patrol the premises. I put barbed wire and cut glass on the walls, so it was impossible for even the strongest among them to enter without cutting their hands seriously.
However, it was to no avail. Still they tried to enter my house through all kinds of devious ways. And once they were in, it was getting harder and harder to turn them out again.
The whole situation began to take its toll. Some of my neighbors started to charge those who wanted to enter my house money in exchange for help getting in. I then dug a moat and when that did not stop them, I put spears and barbed wire in the water. I also sent out warnings which were published all around the walls of my house. It deterred some, but not all.
And then I was confronted with victims. First, two lovely children cut their hands quite badly on the barbed wire and had to be seen to by a physician. My wife was so moved that she allowed them to stay. They now camp in a corner in our kitchen. Not long after that somebody had a nasty fall from my walls. He broke his leg and was lying for hours between the wall and the moat until he died. The same day a party of fifteen drowned in the moat.
I do think it is terrible, but I am not to blame. These pesky neighbors of mine make their own choices, as I make mine in order to protect my house which is already not as nice as it used to be. I have no guilt whatsoever in their fate.
Then this damn philosopher came by. I think his name was Capetti or something foreign sounding like that. He argued that I had a responsibility in the deaths of my neighbors. He claimed that if I had not raised these walls and dug this moat, nobody would have died. He argued that I had to do more, much more, to prevent people from dying. He said that I could not pretend that it was only the fault of my neighbors if they hurt themselves climbing the walls.
He even went so far as to question my right to prevent these neighbors from entering. Although he never said that I should take down the walls and allow my property to be overrun by these neighbors.
I questioned his sanity and suggested he see professional help. By his very logic, we bear responsibilty of the deaths of these illegal immigrants that try to enter the EU via the Mediterranean or the Eastern border of the EU. In his opinion, it is only because of us that the middle men and people smugglers have a business at all.
Of course, everybody knows it has got nothing to do with us that each year, on average, 300 people die trying to enter the EU. Capetti is a fool!"
As the protagonist of the story realizes all too well: I do think we bear a responsibility for the fate that all these aspiring migrants to the rich Western nations meet. What kind of responsibility and what kinds of duties and obligations follows from this, I am not sure (yet), but I will keep you posted.
"I live in a nice house, plenty of room, all the amenities that modern life offers, with a pleasant garden, perhaps a swimming pool. (Told you you had to imagine this.) I have neigbors who are not so well off. I don't like the sight of them, so I have built a wall around my property. I occasionally hear their noises and I see them, when I venture out of my house. Some of my neighbors are really poor. In fact, some of them live in lean-to shanties that are erected against the walls of my property. I cannot do anything about that. The laws in this country protect my property rights right up to the edge of my wall -- but not beyond.
Sometimes, I wish they would not be there and that I would not be confronted with them. However, sometimes they prove to be useful. For example, the person mowing my lawn used to be one of them. I caught him one time climbing my wall. When I accosted him and asked him what he wanted, he said he merely wanted to look at my house. When I asked him again, this time a bit more forcefully, he admitted that he was looking at a way to stay in my beautiful house rather than his own lean-to hut made of corrugated iron and wood. He looked at my lawn and offered to mow it, in exchange for him living in the garage. I agreed to that. I hate mowing the lawn and while living in my garage he doesn't bother me and in fact, he looks more decent and healthier as a result.
But then trouble really started: his relatives also started to climb my walls. I tried to apprehend them and most of them I caught and kicked out. However, they kept coming. Some of them were living in my attic when I found them and I tried getting rid of them, but they claimed they had lived in my attic for so long now, they had nowhere else to go. My wife, who is a bleeding heart liberal said that I should tolerate them. So now they are renting the guestroom and a are regular borders in my house. Others, who I cannot kick out right away, I lock up in my cellar until I can kick them out. True, they haven't tried to steal anything or destroy anything. Nor have they been violent to me or my family. It is just that I found that I sleep better knowing that they are locked up in the basement awaiting eviction.
I then tried to make it more difficult for my neighbors and the relatives of my new guests to enter the premises. I long stopped answering the front door when I suspected it was one of them. I became quite handy in refusing them anything at the front door. I also raised the walls. Only the most tenacious and agile managed to climb the walls now. I hired security guards to patrol the premises. I put barbed wire and cut glass on the walls, so it was impossible for even the strongest among them to enter without cutting their hands seriously.
However, it was to no avail. Still they tried to enter my house through all kinds of devious ways. And once they were in, it was getting harder and harder to turn them out again.
The whole situation began to take its toll. Some of my neighbors started to charge those who wanted to enter my house money in exchange for help getting in. I then dug a moat and when that did not stop them, I put spears and barbed wire in the water. I also sent out warnings which were published all around the walls of my house. It deterred some, but not all.
And then I was confronted with victims. First, two lovely children cut their hands quite badly on the barbed wire and had to be seen to by a physician. My wife was so moved that she allowed them to stay. They now camp in a corner in our kitchen. Not long after that somebody had a nasty fall from my walls. He broke his leg and was lying for hours between the wall and the moat until he died. The same day a party of fifteen drowned in the moat.
I do think it is terrible, but I am not to blame. These pesky neighbors of mine make their own choices, as I make mine in order to protect my house which is already not as nice as it used to be. I have no guilt whatsoever in their fate.
Then this damn philosopher came by. I think his name was Capetti or something foreign sounding like that. He argued that I had a responsibility in the deaths of my neighbors. He claimed that if I had not raised these walls and dug this moat, nobody would have died. He argued that I had to do more, much more, to prevent people from dying. He said that I could not pretend that it was only the fault of my neighbors if they hurt themselves climbing the walls.
He even went so far as to question my right to prevent these neighbors from entering. Although he never said that I should take down the walls and allow my property to be overrun by these neighbors.
I questioned his sanity and suggested he see professional help. By his very logic, we bear responsibilty of the deaths of these illegal immigrants that try to enter the EU via the Mediterranean or the Eastern border of the EU. In his opinion, it is only because of us that the middle men and people smugglers have a business at all.
Of course, everybody knows it has got nothing to do with us that each year, on average, 300 people die trying to enter the EU. Capetti is a fool!"
As the protagonist of the story realizes all too well: I do think we bear a responsibility for the fate that all these aspiring migrants to the rich Western nations meet. What kind of responsibility and what kinds of duties and obligations follows from this, I am not sure (yet), but I will keep you posted.
posted by Bruno at Monday, December 05, 2005
2 Comments:
Ways the innocent folk in the West are responsible for the conditions that lead to emigration (leaving aside the morality of privileging certain borders as barriers over others):
1) Trade barriers and export subsidies policies that impoverish 'Third World' farmers.
2) Tacit and often practical political/economic support for corrupt and tyrannical governments.
3) Weapons sales to corrupt and tyrannical governments or their corrupt and tyrannical freedom fighters (especially in countries with oil, diamonds, or other precious metals).
4) Wasteful not to say harmful foreign aid (often displacing local products and knowledge).
5) Forcing inane industrial and fiscal policy advice by IMF and Worldbank on recipients of financial aid.
6) Encouraging infra 'Third World' policies by encouraging commitment to colonial trade preferences.
7) Enforcing monopoly profits of pharmacy (most of the basic research of which is funded by Western governments).
8) It’s largely the shareholders and their agents of stupid banks, who made silly loans, that benefit from cycles of debt and debt release.
How's that for a start?
Eric, thanks for your response.
All you say is relevant, but I was thinking of our responsibilities towards those that do cross the Mediterranean and drown in sight of the harbor or get caught by the Spanish and Italian border patrols. What is it that we owe them? Contrary to received wisdom, I doubt that we are not to blame for their fate. However, this blame is not because we forced them to cross the seas. Our blame is that we upped the ante of crossing knowing just how costly it is to stay and remain in Sub-saharan Africa. It is like we witness a hold-up taking place, where the attacker says 'your money or your life!' And then we come to the "rescue" and offer the victim our successful assistance for only half his money. Of course the victim will accept and loose half his money, but he should not have been in that situation in the first place. Note that we do not bear any responsibility in this scenario for the predicament of the victim -- that is all on the head of the attacker. However, there is something deeply immoral about the way we respond and the obstacle we throw in the way of the victims to a better life. Moreover, we cannot excuse ourselves by arguing that the fact that the victim decided to accept our offer means that all the consequences of that choice are upon his head.
In other words, regardless of why the 'illegal immigrants' decide to risk their life and belongings to cross the seas (literally) and bundle up inside poorly ventilated containers, we should not have made it so difficult for them to immigrate! The fact that they choose to do so in spite of these costs, does not remove the injustice of putting to barriers in their way in the first place.
I also have something to say about my responsibility of all these ways in which *I*, as a person, contribute to the 'push-factors' for emigration from poor countries. I think, unlike you apparently, that the moral case is not so clear-cut and simple as you make it out to be.
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