Something To Think About.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Italy mourns after scores of African migrants die in boat sinking off island of Lampedusa

Italy has declared a national day of mourning after a boat packed with African migrants caught fire and sank off the island of Lampedusa, killing at least 130 people. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-04/italy-delcares-national--mourning-migrant-boat-sinking-lampedu...

No pointing of fingers, no suggestion thatf "it was their own fault' or 'they knew the risks' just a coming together in a national outpouring of grief  in a country which has a bigger problem with asylum seekers than we do.

Thank you Italy - you put us to shame.

[i-need-a-martini]

Whilst the far right in Italy (who are generally laughed at by Italians as a dumb joke) love what they call the "Australian Solution" (ie turning back the boats), Italians generally (and specifically southern Italians) accept any person seeking a better life. And that is simply the way they view these people - people seeking a better life.

I have listened to nothing but Italian news this last week (as I have been travelling with some Italians friends) and there has been no finger pointing. The only critical discussion has been that more needs to be done to help these people, particularly as they are anticipating huge influxes of people affected by the Syrian crisis.

It was embarrassing (and quite frankly difficult) to explain Australias appalling attitude toward refugees to my Italians friends this week. 

[izabsmiling]

absolutely  agree ...this is something to think about 

[izabsmiling]

Why should we care about lives lost at sea?

By Claudia Tazreiter

Posted 5 hours 4 minutes ago

A state funeral will be held for asylum seekers who drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa last week. What can Australians learn from the way Europe responds to such boat tragedies, asks Claudia Tazreiter.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-10/tazreiter-lives-lost-at-sea/5014526

TGSE, In the above is a part of a poem which I hope you don't mind me c&ping here in full.

As people in this country mourn the death of a convicted criminal....

the concept of the words  'if we take them in they will steal our bread' is something to think about I think .

Refugee Blues

Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.

The consul banged the table and said,
"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?

Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.

Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die":
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.

Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.

Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.

Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.

Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.

Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me. 

WH Auden, 1939 

[polksaladallie]

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@freakiness wrote:

In noticed they were in coffins too. Nice classy looking wooden coffins.  Yes, it does put us to shame.

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Teddies on tiny coffins and the harrowing sight of 107 other migrants whose dream of a better life ended in tragedy as search for the 250 more missing Africans is called off

• Flotilla of fishermen drop bouquet of yellow flowers near spot of shipwreck

 

I wonder if we will ever treat our asylum seekers with such respect.

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