“All migrants who arrive in Europe are penniless, without work, without dignity...This is what the Church wants?” he asked. “The Church can not cooperate with this new form of slavery that has become mass migration.
Yes, slavery.
It is "voluntary" slavery, but poverty is the cause of many of those trying to migrate.
And the good Cardinal points out that the solution is not encouraging individuals to migrate as a cheap source of labor (which break up the family structure) but to improve the country of origin by making the place safe, by eliminating corruption, and by encouraging local jobs as an alternative.
He says a lot more in this interview, which is long and nuanced as to the root of the crisis in the west that puts banks and profits over families and communities, and how the stress on individuals being free to make their own reality, rejecting the wisdom of the past, is based on a rejection of God and ultimately is destroying the family as the main pillar of human existence.
In Europe, the "refugees" tend to be young men, who don't speak the language and have problems assimilating (not to mention the universal problem of men without women, causing frustration, often resulting in turning to religion, sometimes the jihad type of religion, or sometimes turning to crime). But no one seems to be asking why they migrate.
In the USA, policies that insist migrants with children can't be jailed, led to migrants bringing vulnerable children along as a way to guarantee they won't be deported, putting the children at risk.
Yet even legal migration is a type of slavery: because often there is little help for those who are exploited by employers, either monetarily, by overwork, or sexual exploitation.
MigrantRights Org has a lot of stories about migration: why people migrate, what they work at, and the problems they run into in their new jobs.
Immigrants work hard and often at lower wages: And this is a problem not just for the country that sends them but for the host country. For example, Saudi deported a lot of legal immigrants because their own youth had a high unemployment rate. But of course their own men don't want to work as hard for such low wages... Why not just raise wages? Ah, because capitalism...
(nor is this problem limited to Saudi: why all those guys in their parents basement instead of working in construction or doing farm work, or all those snowflake feminists complaining they owe thousands of dollars for a useless degree when a short caregiver course or two years in a community college will get them a well paying nursing job?... here, people become nurses to work overseas: and if they can't pass the RN exam, often they can get a well paying job as a super nanny in nearby Asian countries.)
in the Philippines, our 11 million Overseas Foreign workers (and those who work on ships) keep the economy going, and support much of the families left behind. But at what cost?
Men working overseas leave wives and children behind, often leading to broken families when they find a new common law spouse... women work as nurses or nannies or maids, often risking mistreatment and sometimes sexual exploitation. And then, who cares for the children?
But what is the alternative? These commercials show the family member giving "stuff" to the kids, but actually the wages sent home often is used to buy a better home, decent food, and especially school fees. And education is seen as the way out of poverty. But without local jobs, the cycle repeats itself.
one alternative is to get local jobs, e.g. invest in factories etc. in the home countries. And to do this, you have to get rid of the culture of corruption. The Catholics, alas, are pushing the green agenda and socialism, with little clue about economics or human nature. Which is why so many turn to more rigid religions such as Evangelical protestantism or fundamentalist Islam, since both these religions stress strict rule following when it comes to lying, stealing or taking bribes.
Yet even supplying local jobs this can lead to family breakup, with both parents working all day in a city without extended family to watch the children, who are left on their own, which for poor children means often ending up as street children seduced by petty crime and drugs.
So the alternative is to let the children in the provinces to be raised by grandparents.
Even in China there is major worry about the "left behind" children raised in the home villages when their parents move to the cities but cannot bring the children (or bring their parents to babysit).
So modern capitalism and globalism and modernity results in stresses for families: But what is the alternative? Living the traditional life is hard and won't support the growing population.
Sigh.
This is a local Filipino commercial.
the company describes the scene:
Joy, the country’s most beloved dishwashing brand, celebrates the self-sacrificing love that Filipino parents have for their children. This is especially true in the case of OFW parents who constantly struggle with having to spend most of their time away from their loved ones – in the hopes of giving them a better future.
the better future is shown as a middle class existence, but also the chances of an education so one's children do not have to live in dire poverty and working so hard that you are old and arthritic by age 50.
So running water (not getting it from the community pump and hauling it back to wash dishes and clothes and yourself, and less danger of diarrhea and other water borne illnesses that are a common cause of children dying). Electric lights, a TV to watch in the evening, fans (and maybe even an air conditioner), a decent bed, and maybe even a bedroom without ten people sleeping with you. Instead of walking you have a motorcycle or tricycle to get around to shop or visit friends.
And the house is now made from concrete, so fewer bugs (less danger of dengue). and a decent roof that keeps you dry in monsoon season (and will probably survive the periodic typhoons we have here).
what makes this work is the presence of the extended family: but modernity stresses individual freedom over responsibility, so what comes next?
.....................
No comments:
Post a Comment