This is the end, beautiful friend [~]
Of
everything that stands, the end
No
safety or surprise, the end
I'll
never look into your eyes, again
The picture of the Kurdish/Syrian boy
Aylan Kurdi, lying on the beach, was of a macabre
beauty and tranquility. It was a haunting picture, as it pictured the boy in what
seemed – at first glance – a relaxed, lying position on the beach: a place that
most people in the Western world associate with joy and excitement.
The
shocking truth was that Aylan would never move again. He was dead; drowned
during the attempt of his family to escape from a country that can be called hell on earth and build up a better future for themselves.
And perhaps the most shocking personal experience was
my relative numbness for this gruesome picture of poor Aylan. I always avoid
the most shocking and brutal pictures and videos from the various war zones in
the Middle East and Africa or from the numerous drownings in the Mediterranean Sea.
Nevertheless, the ones that I did see were already enough to rise my tolerance
for violence, torture and death to a certain amount of numbness, for which I
feel deeply ashamed.
Aylan has hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters
in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and many other countries in the Middle-East and
Africa. We all know it, but choose instead for repressing this knowledge, as we
can’t handle the truth; a
bold statement of truth, uttered so forcefully by “Colonel Nathan R. Jessup” in the movie A
Few Good Men.
Hell on earth is Syria – Aylan’s country. A country
torn apart by brutal, murderous squads, fighting against an evenly brutal
government in a civil war
of attrition. A war, which already lasts for more than
four years and does not carry the prospect of having a quick ending. None of the fighting
parties wants to underachieve in comparison with the other involved parties,
when it comes to sheer violence and brutality.
And although the goals of all parties differ – carrying
through people’s perverted views on religion, the constitutional state,
protection of minorities and humane behaviour, versus an utterly egoistical,
hedonistical and self-aimed regime only aimed at preservation of its own
empire– their methods match each other totally, when it comes to brutality and
bloodthirstiness.
Syria (and of course Iraq too) is the festering wound
of international politics, as the country has a pivotal position for some
countries (i.e. Russia, Israel and Saud-Arabia) and forms the summit of failed
Middle-East politics, carried out by the Western and Eastern blocks since the
Second World War.
There is simply no way out of this Syrian conundrum
that won’t bring many, many losers and massive, ubiquitous bloodshed. Both
intervention and non-intervention will cause more bloodshed and will respectively
help to reach or keep parties at pivotal positions, that have no compassion for their
fellow countrymen in the different political factions and religions whatsoever. It
is a gruesome snakepit and everybody knows that.
There are no easy solutions for Syria or the other
flashpoints in Africa and the Middle-East. The only way that these wars can
seemingly stop, is when all involved factions are just so sick and tired of the
war in their country, that one party surrenders or all involved parties start
negotiating with each other. This point in time will probably take a few years of endless violence more.
The harvest of these war-zones and especially this
festering wound, called Syria, is an endless influx of refugees that first
flooded the neighbouring countries of Syria – Lebanon and Turkey – and is now
starting to flood Europe: especially the South-European countries, neighbouring
with Turkey or the North-African countries.
While the pure motives of some of the refugees, to find
a safer life without war and violence for themselves and their families outside
Syria or other countries, are discredited by some media, the fact remains
that Syria and other war-zones are not exactly safe places to raise a family. That is the reason that you can’t blame these “fortuneseekers” – according to
many right-wing politicians – for trying to find a safer place to live, work
and raise a family. Irrespective of them being legal or illegal citizens in
Europe.
I know that most Dutch (and European) politicians feel
appalled by the dead end alley in Syria and Iraq (or Eritrea) and by the
uncertain fate of the tens of thousands of refugees that risk their lives on
the Mediterranean Sea, or during their long march from the Middle-East to
Hungary and Germany.
Nevertheless , there are always good, rational reasons
to justify selfish thoughts and behaviour within The Netherlands, The United
Kingdom, or as a matter of fact the whole European Union, against refugees. During
the past years most Dutch politicians (even the moderate ones) were seemingly more
than happy to ignore the enormous flows of refugees and leave them as they were
in Italy, Greece, Hungary, Germany or elsewhere.
“Yes,
it is a big problem and we feel really, really sorry for those people. Really!
Still, we have political issues of our own that are also very hard to solve. So
we rather assume the ostrich position and wait until Italy, Greece, Germany and
Hungary solved their problems for us. So that we don’t have to”.
This concept was expressed through logical fallacies,
like: “We are already an overcrowed
country… We cannot handle tens of thousands of refugees, as that would
destabilize our society and lead to civil unrest… We agreed within the EU that
refugees have to stay in their EU country of first arrival and now we should
stick to that, in order not to jeopardize the Schengen treaty…”
All these reasons were used by Dutch politicians in
order to defend their N.I.M.B.Y. stance.
Will poor Aylan Kurdi’s shocking death
structurally change this stance?! Probably not.
There is always a new domestic issue to solve and a new
political hype to pursue; politicians will be more than happy and willing to
follow these new issues and hypes and store the poor and pitiful Aylan Kurdy in
the deepest drawer of their mind, only to see him resurface once in ‘the annual
overview’ of the news channels.
Simply because there is no solution for him
anymore and no easy solution for the other refugees either, who are – luckily –
still alive.
It is a nasty truth that most politicians scare away
from the painful choices that must be made, in order to offer a safe haven for
these refugees, afraid as they are to be confronted with widespread protests
and bad polls in months ahead.
The circumstance that Germany currently is the moral
leader of the EU, with respect to offering hospitality to the African and
Middle-East refugees, is admirable and deserves to be followed elsewhere in
Europe.
Nevertheless, this current benevolent political and civil stance of the
Germans can hardly cover up the fact that latent racism and violence against vulnerable
minorities are always looming under the surface in the poorer/less successful parts and civil groups of
Germany (see
also this link).
Such incidents with a fatal ending happened in the early
nineties and they could happen again today. Not because of the fact that the
Germans are bad people – to the contrary I would say – but simply because there
are still many people in German society, who feel that they drew all the wrong
cards in the recent past and now look for a fall guy to blame their misery
upon. The refugees are becoming these fall guys now.
And The Netherlands?
The plan of Christian Democrat leader Sybrand van
Haersma Buma (CDA) to create ‘safe zones’ in Syria, through international “boots
on the ground” in that country, is in fact dead on arrival. The Netherlands is
not able to supply more than a few boots, due to the current sorry state of its
army.
Other countries have their own issues and military involvements and
cannot afford to have yet another, violent frontline and another endless war
with a heavy prospect for numerous military and civilian casualties.
Sybrand Buma, who knows this all very well, posted this
plan as a feeler; either in order to gain sympathy or to do ‘something’ about
the problem. This makes his plan an utterly casual one: nice for the stage and
without further consequences. In other words: this plan is just as viable as a plan
to put people on the moon within two year. It… won’t… happen!
Leader Diederik Samsom of the social-democrat party PvdA confessed, with tears in his
eyes, that he could not sleep with the image of Aylan Kurdi engraved in his mind.
He felt utterly sorry, but that was about it.
And PM
Mark Rutte? He said that he wanted to administer a ‘dominant contribution’
to the European debate, regarding the influx of refugees. What that contribution
contained, he could not or would not say.
No possible solution for the refugee
problem… no generous gesture to host 50,000 refugees… no plea to the other
European countries to be solidary with the countries, which have to deal with
the highest amount of refugees… No, nothing!
So that is the sad conclusion: the utterly sad and
unnecessary death of Aylan Kurdi and the unsolvable Syrian conundrum in general
led to a mixture of futile words, feigned compassion and crocodile tears.
Further, The Netherlands will firmly remain in its ostrich position.
“We feel sorry, but we can’t do anything
about the whole situation. Next issue, please!”
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