Last week I was touring the Black Forest, which is mainly in Germany but also spills in other countries. The beauty of the natural environment is breathtaking. One beautiful postcard follows another.
But all this serenity was destroyed by a report I read on my iPad. A refrigerated truck was found abandoned in Hungary. It was full of corpses in advanced stages of decomposition. First reports said that there could be 50 bodies. Others reports quoted a smaller figure. The final countdown was71! Seventy one men, women and children were condemned to the cruelest death by asphyxiation. Their only crime was that they dreamt of a better life in Europe. They paid the ultimate price even though they were denied their dream.
A day or two later, another piece of news informed us that 200 had drowned in the sea off the Libyan coast. These were not a statistic but human being like you and me. Instead of freedom they found a watery grave.
I could not but remember Bob Dylan’s protest song: Blowing in the Wind. Its lyrics seemed so appropriate:
“Yes, how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? Yes, how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind.”
Meanwhile on Facebook there was a discussion about whether it was ethically correct to upload the photos of the corpses of little children washed on the shore.
The effectiveness of such photos can be deduced from a directive given to the state broadcaster in Hungary.
Journalists were ordered not to broadcast pictures of child refugees. The broadcaster said that the directive was issued because of ethical reasons. They said that they wanted to protect the privacy of the children. What hogwash! Not even the proverbial drunken marines would swallow that banal excuse given by Europe’s most fascist government.
Our collective stupor has to be shocked into action. The photos of the dead children on the beaches can perhaps provide that shock. Please flood the internet with such images.