"Lest we Forget" Peter Sobey's letter "treat fellow human beings with compassion"

Dear Editor, Nambucca Guardian

One of the most common phrases in use in society is “Lest We Forget”. It is most commonly used to remember the sacrifices that so many people made in so many wars over the last hundred years.

More than sixty million people died in WWII – that is around 30,000 people a day for six years. This conflagration had a huge cost and we would be extremely foolish to forget the lessons learned.

In 1939 the boat St Louis left Europe with 937 Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. They were met in Cuba and Florida by anti-Semitic demonstrations and refused permission to disembark. The ship had to return to Europe and many of the people ended up being murdered in gas chambers.

One of the lessons learned from WWII was that people fleeing persecution should be shown compassion and offered asylum. This lesson was codified in the UN Refugee Convention to which Australia duly signed and ratified because it was the right thing to do.

Today, in the Straights of Malacca, thousands of people are floating around in the ocean, dying of starvation and thirst, because no nation will grant them asylum. Malaysia and Indonesia have been emboldened by the Australian stance of pushing boats back out to sea. Our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has even seen fit to congratulate them for doing so.

The issue of asylum seekers is a complex issue that can not be usefully addressed with asinine three word slogans. It can not be solved by persecuting asylum seekers with conditions that are worse than what they are fleeing. That path will just diminish us. It is morally bankrupt.

If one would like an example of someone who has lost their moral compass witness any government politician seeking to justify the imprisonment of children in our gulags in Manus Island and Nauru.

When the Government claims that it is stopping people dying at sea, what it is really saying is that it is better that these people die somewhere else where we do not have to take any responsibility.

There is a truism that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. All the more reason that we should ponder the words “Lest We Forget” and seek to build a world where we treat our fellow human beings with compassion and respect.

Mike letters to Guardian News

Peter Sobey’s letter (Guardian News 21st May) is a timely and important reminder to us not to lose sight  of our moral, ethical and international responsibilities in these turbulent times. Do we still remember: “I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink”? I would like to believe that we do, and that we are still capable, as a nation, of showing compassion and generosity of spirit.  It is clear, however, that our political leaders prefer the easy option of resorting to jingoism and sloganeering rather than grappling with the complex issues relating to people fleeing their countries by whatever means, in a bid to seek safety for themselves and their families. These wretched souls would, of course, like all of us, prefer to remain at home in their familiar surroundings, and would surely do so if they knew that they would be safe, and free from persecution or starvation. Our leaders, sadly, knowing that there are more votes in taking a hard line than in demonstrating some compassion and leadership, persist in demonising asylum seekers and in peddling the lie that their sole purpose in refusing to help is to save lives at sea. Let us ask them just three questions:

• Are the policies that they have adopted – both Coalition and Labor – compatible with their oft-proclaimed Christian beliefs? 
• Are the recent pronouncements by our Prime Minister about the thousands of asylum seekers adrift at sea compatible with his much-vaunted leadership role in the region? 
• Are the actions of the Coalition government compatible with our responsibilities under the UN Refugee Convention, to which our government is a signatory?

Sadly, the answer is “nope, nope, nope”.

We deserve, and asylum seekers deserve, better than this.

Mike 

Mikes letter to Coffs Coast Advocate

Dear editor,

Peter Sobey’s letter (Advocate 23rd May) is a timely and important reminder to us not to lose sight  of our moral, ethical and international responsibilities in these turbulent times. Do we still remember: “I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink”? I would like to believe that we do, and that we are still capable, as a nation, of showing compassion and generosity of spirit.  It is clear, however, that our political leaders prefer the easy option of resorting to jingoism and sloganeering rather than grappling with the complex issues relating to people fleeing their countries by whatever means, in a bid to seek safety for themselves and their families. These wretched souls would, of course, like all of us, prefer to remain at home in their familiar surroundings, and would surely do so if they knew that they would be safe, and free from persecution or starvation. Our leaders, sadly, knowing that there are more votes in taking a hard line  than in demonstrating some compassion and leadership, persist in demonising asylum seekers and in peddling the lie that their sole purpose in refusing to help is to save lives at sea. Let us ask them just three questions:

• Are the policies that they have adopted – both Coalition and Labor – compatible with their oft-proclaimed Christian beliefs? 
• Are the recent pronouncements by our Prime Minister about the thousands of asylum seekers adrift at sea compatible with his much-vaunted leadership role in the region? 
• Are the actions of the Coalition government compatible with our responsibilities under the UN Refugee Convention, to which our government is a signatory?

Sadly, the answer to all three questions is “nope, nope, nope”.

We deserve, and asylum seekers deserve, better leadership than this.

Mike