| The photograph of Syrian three-year old Alan Kurdi washed up face down on a beach in Turkey flashed in the media across the globe on September 2. The photo reveals the naked inhumanity of current conditions in the world. For Canadians, it also revealed the stark inhumanity and racism of the Harper government as well as Canada's criminal role in international affairs. The current refugee crisis is said to be the greatest in the history of the modern world, even greater than the exodus caused by the ravages of World War II. To divert from what is causing this catastrophe, it is called a "European crisis." Disinformation seeks to absolve the U.S., Canada and other NATO powers from responsibility. To deepen the diversion, the refugees from the war, nation-wrecking and anarchy unleashed by the U.S. imperialists and NATO powers including Canada against Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and now Yemen are called "migrants."[1] The term suggests that millions willingly leave their homelands for Europe for economic reasons, dying accidentally en route from hunger and dangerous sea voyages.[2] This obscures the causes for which they are starving, persecuted and subjected to the most brutal, violent, inhumane treatment on the part of the allegedly civilized Western interventionists from the U.S., Canada and Europe. A suggestion is given that they are escaping from "something" but the "something" is not clearly revealed other than some dark group called ISIL. Ignored is the reality that Anglo/U.S. imperialism for a century through predatory wars and other means of interference has not allowed West Asia and North Africa to cast off the remnants of colonialism and embark on modern nation-building projects. Since the end of the bi-polar division of the world in particular, every time the peoples have advanced their projects, the interference, bombs, troops and mercenaries of the Anglo/U.S. imperialists have smashed them. Following World War II, to destroy the modern path of nation-building, the imperialists introduced the spirit of sectarian and racist violence throughout the region using the backward banner of Zionism. A select number of Jewish refugees from Europe were diverted to Palestine to establish themselves there. On this basis a racist state was created, first on a small area of Palestine that soon expanded in all directions generating millions of new refugees, at first mostly Palestinians. As Anglo/U.S. imperialism became more desperate to control the region for itself, it staged a coup d'etat in Iran and imposed the brutal Pahlavi dictatorship. Then after 1990, to establish its own unipolar striving for domination, the U.S. unleashed direct wars to smash Yugoslavia and contend with the Germans and French for control over the Balkans and then Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Syria. The Palestinian refugees scattered in camps in various countries have been joined by millions more as these states disintegrate under the predatory wars of the U.S. joined by their NATO thugs including Canada. A critical mass has been reached with over two million Syrian refugees in Turkey alone and millions more in Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere with few resources to deal with the situation. Desperate to escape the anarchy and violence and certain death that the imperialist wars and their well-financed and armed thugs have brought to their homelands, they have begun the perilous journeys in search of safety in Europe. Notes 1. The Guardian newspaper recently carried an editorial which pointed out that the legal distinction between refugees and migrants has become blurred. A refugee is a person seeking sanctuary from imminent danger while a migrant comprises the wider category of people who migrate in search of a better future for themselves and their families, the Guardian said. However in many countries today, there has been a breakdown in economic activity, law and order so that the line between the two categories is now "technically and ethically hard to draw," the Guardian wrote. 2. There are three main routes that individuals seeking asylum in Europe take to get there: the eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece and the Balkans, the central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy and the western Mediterranean route from Algeria to Spain. UN data suggests the route from Turkey to Greece is the most used -- a shift from past years that saw the more dangerous route from North Africa to Italy used most often. According to the UN, Syrians are using the eastern Mediterranean route the most, followed by Afghans and Kosovars. For the western Mediterranean route, Syrians again are the largest group followed by Afghans and Pakistanis. For the central Mediterranean route, Eritreans fleeing the civil strife in their homeland make up the biggest contingent, followed by Nigerans and people from other sub-Saharan countries. |