History past and present

Hardly a day goes by that we do not read opposing opinions regarding illegal and clandestine migration. It is unfortunate that many do not seem to have any idea of the cause of such movement of people. The "mistakes", if any, occurred during the colonisation period. Colonisation of various countries is part of humanity. Even in the remote past people moved to new areas seeking better land, so there was nothing wrong as such when the Europeans moved into Africa.

I will never claim that the Europeans were angels, hardly; they were not ready to appreciate cultures so alien to theirs. At the same time, Africa was made up of many small tribes, more often than not at loggerheads with one another. In drawing new boarders, the colonialists grouped such warring tribes together. Age-old animosities were always simmering, ready to boil over. To them, hatred was more important than learning from the whites. The problem was further exacerbated in the second half of the last century when certain trends developed, insisting that all colonisation was wrong without bothering to find out if the natives were ready for independence.

The colonialists were not good educators, but neither were the natives keen to learn. Tribal customs and religious intolerance were far more important than the acceptance of "Western" civilisation. It was a time for everybody to jump on the bandwagon. When Ian Smith of Rhodesia made his unilateral declaration of independence the United Nations imposed an embargo. He was eventually replaced by Robert Mugabe who instead of bringing democracy imposed a far worse regime. The land was taken away from the whites to be given to his lackeys, who in turn had no idea of modern agricultural management. The result was a complete fiasco with the bulk of the people finding themselves to be far worse than before.

There are other instances of the whites being replaced by savage dictators, such as Idi Amin. The United Nations, so keen to be seen as being purer than white, has not followed with educating the masses. The result is that fertile land has been ruined and the people want to move away. Illegal migration under any guise will not solve the African problems. The shout of "Africa for the Africans" is further complicating the issue. Such catch phrases will not educate those people how to let old differences die and learn to live and work together.

The movement towards Europe is only making things worse. This is leading to ethnic cleansing. Even worse, these people are jumping in at the deep end as they are not ready or willing to accept Western civilisation.

Their tendency is to group in ghettoes and seek the lowest types of jobs possible. The various international organisations, instead of preaching to us, should seek long term solutions. To all those who advocate unorganised migration I would say, go ahead and put your money and efforts to proper use. There are still some islands and land that could be used to house these people. The Israelis have shown how a nearly desert land could be cultivated. Instead of criticising Malta, they should teach and educate. People moving at random can only aggravate the untenable situation. Let Malta be, and help these poor individuals to move into the 21st century without the trauma of leaving their homeland.