Asylum seekers: turning back the ocean tides

…your real "enemy" is not the other human beings across the border or the persons of another race against whom you have been inflamed. In the deepest sense, the "enemy" is not a person….You realise that you are living in a civilisation under a political-economic system of which your nation and the enemy nation are alike a part, and which is going to pieces. It may once have served progressive human ends, but its foundations were largely laid in greed and injustice and violence; and, at any rate, it is now everywhere unable to function unless basic economic changes are made.

Popular readiness for basic economic changes hasn't yet crystallised, but it is long past the time when politicians and a compliant media have to accept the personal consequences of their politicisation and exploitation of what is fundamentally a humanitarian issue. Dehumanising and then demonising asylum seekers may confer political advantages but at what cost, both to the welfare of the refugees and to the humanity of the manipulated peoples of the destination countries?

The Europeans have at least recognised the need for a Common European Asylum System based on common standards with a high level of protection, dignity and human rights, but its success depends on how the Dublin III Regulation is implemented at a national level.

Australia, behind as usual, has at least recognised the need for a regional solution. Is it too much to ask that our government forsake spin and political point-scoring and instead focus attention and effort on gathering support for a co-operative regional, if not international, approach to dealing with asylum seekers and refugees fairly and above all with humanity?