<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2023/feb/15/eu-far-right-migration-fortress-europe>
"European Union leaders want to reinforce their controversial “fortress Europe”
policies by clamping down even harder on inward migration. This reveals a deep
and self-defeating disconnect between the 27-nation bloc’s internal actions and
its international aspirations.
The EU’s self-image is that of a benign power and a force for global good.
European leaders spend a lot of time telling the world about the virtues of
“European values”. There is even an EU commissioner whose sole task it is to
promote the “European way of life”. Other countries are constantly taken to
task, often through the imposition of sanctions, for their failure to align
with international human rights standards.
Yet external perceptions of the bloc are determined not by fictionalised
narratives but by the real-life experience of African, Asian and Middle Eastern
migrants and refugees who seek EU protection. The EU’s image is also
increasingly judged against the treatment of its own black and brown citizens.
Regrettably, the record is poor on both counts, prompting justified accusations
that the bloc is guilty of double standards and has a human rights policy based
on selective outrage.
Internal squabbling, rising numbers of migrant crossings and racist far-right
narratives that demonise migrants and refugees have left EU plans for more
humane migration management in tatters. Instead, taboos are falling fast and
the previously inadmissible is becoming acceptable as a frightening disregard
for the human rights of refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East is
embedded in EU migration policy.
Having once denounced Donald Trump’s plans to build a wall on the US border
with Mexico as morally unacceptable, the bloc now has nearly 20 external steel
walls or razor-wire fences, running to a combined length of nearly 2,000km.
Twenty years ago there were no walls around the EU."
Via Birne Helene and Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
