LET me trot out an old cliché: people do not leave their homes unless they feel compelled to do so. But there can be several types of compulsions borne out of multiple factors such as paucity of resources, war, civil strife, racial confl ict, religious persecution, political repression, lingo-cultural differences, foreign intervention and natural calamities.

It is ironic that people fl eeing from the crisis situation wittingly and unwittingly create new crises for the places they land up in. But this is the way the process of historical development takes place leading to socio-economic and cultural transformations in almost all societies. Societies insulated against foreign infl uences invariably emit miasma of stagnation and intellectual backwardness. But accepting and assimilating aliens is neither easy nor friction free. So what we currently see in the West - Europe, UK and the US - is nothing new or surprising.

We are all aware of arrival of pastoral Aryan tribes in the land of Sapta Sindhu (the land of seven rivers mentioned in the Rig-Veda i.e. Indus Valley) with its highly advanced society, occupation of a part of the West by Iran, conquest of Europe by Romans, Arab/ African penetration of southwestern Europe, colonisation of Americas and occupation of vast swathes of Africa and Asia by European nations.

One can assert that without delving into the history of migration, we cannot understand and analyse the dynamics of human development which has made us what we are. So the effort to stop the people’s movement across the globe is neither desirable nor possible. It would be tantamount to stemming human progress.

Enlightened segments of western society are well aware of such a reality but an increasing number of citizenry is fast turning hostile to the phenomenon of migration/immigration in their countries as they are forced to deal with seemingly unstoppable fl ow of illegal immigrants or asylum seekers, to use the legal parlance. There is a loud noise about the illegal immigrants in the UK these days that may lead some to misophonic condition. Starved and battered, they come in boats perilously crossing the English Channel to sneak into the UK which has traditionally been comparatively liberal and generous towards aliens seeking asylum. But the paradox is that the UK being the most sought after destination because of its generous tolerance of aliens is what is provoking a political uproar among large sections of its society. Humaneness is seen as weakness and generosity as wastage of taxpayer money on a potty project. In case of the UK citizens, resentful of immigration policy, they usually raise the following concerns.

One, illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are being dumped in small towns and villages without the consent of their residents which already suffer from paucity of resources and slow economic growth.

Immigrants would put unbearable stress on the local amenities, social services and jobs.

The available medical facilities are already in short supply.

Any additional burden would stretch them to a breaking point.

Two, Illegal immigrants are absolutely aliens as locals have no clue about their economic background, social norms and cultural habits. Their interaction with the locals is what is feared most because there are apprehensions that it would lead to a cultural confl ict, and raise the simmering racial tensions.

Letting them loose would result in social disharmony instead of their being assimilated in the local community.

Three, locals have serious concerns about the gender of the immigrants and asylum seekers; they are all men, mostly young. Local women are not at all comfortable with sight of their streets and shops fi lled with alien young men unacquainted with the western values especially with the ways of interacting with women. It would create a serious cultural crisis if they behave with the local women the way they do with their female folks in societies they come from. In a nutshell, the factors that underpin the outburst of resentment and anger against the illegal immigrants are multiple as they encompass economic, social and cultural dimensions. Some of the outburst no doubt have the undertones of racial bias, a result of the construction of multi-faceted but controversial idea of colour. The politics of colour has a long history and still plays a role at economic, social and cultural levels.

But one cannot afford to ignore the other side of the story. The illegal immigrants may be culturally and racially different from the white people but they are neither savages nor criminals. They are victims of wars and civil strife ensuing from geo-politics and international power relations over which they have no control at all. Iraq fell victim to big powers lies and was pushed into stone age on the pretext that it had weapons of mass destruction. Libya was destroyed with the promise to liberate it from dictatorship resulting in utter anarchy.

Intervention in Syria led to a bloody civil war creating an unmanageable humanitarian crisis. Who can forget Afghanistan? We fi nd examples galore. Added to such chaos is total apathy of ruling cliques towards people’s plight in their home countries. They are predatory in nature; they treat their countries as hunting grounds and people as their quarry. Such an attitude is largely a legacy of colonialism that relied on brutal ruling methods and ruthless exploitation of indigenous resources and workers. In the post-colonial society super powers especially the US assumed the role of a master and extracted from the poor nations like the colonialists.

Consequently people are provided neither meaningful education nor jobs. Their extreme sense of insecurity in their homeland makes them dream of western societies which in their imagination are paradisiacal.

Denial of political freedoms add to their misery. The lure of better life is what makes the young to take extreme risks and embark on a perilous journey which ends up disastrously on the shores of the western world. The remedy is not to let their ramshackle boats sink in the Mediterranean or dumping them in camps or caging them in a barge. Jeers and whistling will not stop the fl ow of immigrants either. The only way out is to force the regimes of poor nations to improve economic and political conditions for their people so that they don’t leave their homeland in search of impossible dreams. And the West has the clout to get things straightened up. If they can change regimes in the developing world, why can’t they force the regimes over there to deliver on the high-sounding promises they make to their people? — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2023