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The Tilbury stowaways highlight the need to build a better world for all The Tilbury stowaways highlight the need to build a better world for all
(35 minutes later)
This weekend, 35 people including 13 children were found in a shipping container at Tilbury docks in Essex. Most were suffering from dehydration and hypothermia. One was dead. It seems they are Sikhs from Afghanistan. At the weekend 35 people including 13 children were found in a shipping container at Tilbury docks in Essex. Most were suffering from dehydration and hypothermia. One was dead. It seems they are Sikhs from Afghanistan.
These things happen every so often and this case is far from the most shocking. In 2000, 58 Chinese people were found dead in a lorry at Dover, the vent supplying air to their hidden compartment behind a load of tomatoes having been closed at Zeebrugge. The driver of the lorry was jailed for 14 years. In 2004, 23 illegal immigrant cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay. A Chinese gangmaster was jailed for life for manslaughter.These things happen every so often and this case is far from the most shocking. In 2000, 58 Chinese people were found dead in a lorry at Dover, the vent supplying air to their hidden compartment behind a load of tomatoes having been closed at Zeebrugge. The driver of the lorry was jailed for 14 years. In 2004, 23 illegal immigrant cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay. A Chinese gangmaster was jailed for life for manslaughter.
And every so often a body is found after someone tried to get into the country in the undercarriage of a plane. In 2012, a man was found dead in the street in Mortlake, south-west London, under the Heathrow flight path. In 2002, two boys, perhaps as young as 12, were found dead in the undercarriage of a flight from Ghana.And every so often a body is found after someone tried to get into the country in the undercarriage of a plane. In 2012, a man was found dead in the street in Mortlake, south-west London, under the Heathrow flight path. In 2002, two boys, perhaps as young as 12, were found dead in the undercarriage of a flight from Ghana.
The public rarely hears about this desperate, dangerous parallel world until things go wrong. At that point, there is much sympathy for those who suffered and sometimes died in their pursuit of a better life. One sees that they were brave and resourceful people, travelling in hope – their hope often laying them open to exploitation and abuse. It’s so easy to imagine oneself in that awful situation, helpless as your own life and the lives of those around you start slipping away.The public rarely hears about this desperate, dangerous parallel world until things go wrong. At that point, there is much sympathy for those who suffered and sometimes died in their pursuit of a better life. One sees that they were brave and resourceful people, travelling in hope – their hope often laying them open to exploitation and abuse. It’s so easy to imagine oneself in that awful situation, helpless as your own life and the lives of those around you start slipping away.
What’s hard though is imagining how the world could be a better place, one in which opportunity and prosperity are shared. That involves thinking not about individuals, but about millions. And that’s the point at which sympathy is replaced by fear. That’s the point at which people start thinking about themselves again and the point at which immigrants, legal or illegal, become the faceless, threatening objects of hostile, populist rhetoric – people who will “swamp” Britain, people who want to take what we have got. What’s hard though is imagining how the world could be a better place, one in which opportunity and prosperity are shared. That involves thinking not about individuals, but about millions. And that’s the point at which sympathy is replaced by fear. That’s the point at which people start thinking about themselves again and the point at which immigrants, legal or illegal, become the faceless, threatening objects of hostile, populist rhetoric – people who will “swamp” Britain, people who want to take what we have.
The party benefiting most from the deployment of such rhetoric is, of course, Ukip. Maybe this is a good time to note how great the irony of that is. Whatever else one may wish to say about the EU – and there are few so enthusiastic that they harbour no frustrations or criticisms – it is the largest and most successful experiment in the creation of a social and economic free market that the world has ever known.The party benefiting most from the deployment of such rhetoric is, of course, Ukip. Maybe this is a good time to note how great the irony of that is. Whatever else one may wish to say about the EU – and there are few so enthusiastic that they harbour no frustrations or criticisms – it is the largest and most successful experiment in the creation of a social and economic free market that the world has ever known.
It isn’t hard to understand how overwhelming the troubles and brutalities of the world can seem, or how tempting it is to believe that if you build the wall high enough, the problems of the world can be held at bay. Yet, at times like these, one clearly sees that no wall can ever be high enough to daunt dreams, or to daunt those who wish to profit from the ambitions of dreamers.It isn’t hard to understand how overwhelming the troubles and brutalities of the world can seem, or how tempting it is to believe that if you build the wall high enough, the problems of the world can be held at bay. Yet, at times like these, one clearly sees that no wall can ever be high enough to daunt dreams, or to daunt those who wish to profit from the ambitions of dreamers.
Ukip isn’t interested in solving problems, just in hiding from them. Tilbury reminds us that hiding places can easily become cold, dark, airless dystopias.Ukip isn’t interested in solving problems, just in hiding from them. Tilbury reminds us that hiding places can easily become cold, dark, airless dystopias.