Migrants

Refugees arriving in Greece from Syria

Migrants. Migrate. Birds famously migrate; so do shepherds and their flocks. Salmon and trout, fisherman will mention, so do eels, to the Sargasso Sea.

And as famously, so does the human animal. Starting in Africa’s Rift Valley and moving to all compass points as pressure of population encouraged them, maybe forced them to seek out more space.

That’s the key to this particular point in history; the weight of population. It’s nothing new; think Rome and the barbarian tribes; think Attila and his Hordes on their little horses, Genghis too coming out of the east. Think of the more recent migrations; unprecedented numbers arriving in Northern America during the last century, freely slaughtering the indigenous people to make the most aggressive and warlike country on this planet.

The real catalyst is population growth, leading to pressure. Consider: China is 1.3 billion people, India is 1 billion. Cities like Cairo, Mexico City, Djakarta and Sao Paulo are 50 million plus; larger than almost all European countries.

All but a very few of these people live lives very different from ours. Life expectancy is much shorter, health care and education nothing like ours. They aspire to dream the American dream and failing that, Europe will do for now. 

What is happening now is simply a taste of things to come. If you don’t believe me look up your Gibbon: “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. Presently they are being polite and asking to come - playing our game of visas and asylum, but soon they will simply arrive; weight of numbers, like the white settlers destroying the Native Americans.

We should be thinking how we can all share the resources available; how new immigrants can enrich and embolden our crumbling societies not building sandy defences against an unstoppable tide.

Alaric the Goth's sack of Rome