There is nothing new about refugee crises. As my followers will know, I have, over the last 2-3 years, been exploring the appalling events that took place in Ireland between 1845 and the early 1850s. These events led to an exodus of people from Ireland to North America, and Australia.
Last week I was privileged to be a (minor) part of the 7th International Famine Conference which took place in Strokestown Park House, home of the Irish National Famine Museum. The event was truly international, with contributions from academics from the USA, Canada, Australia the United Kingdom and Germany.
My link will take you to a film by a Canadian documentary film maker, made as part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations last year, it describes the way ordinary Canadians responded to the arrival on their shores of ships laden with refugees from Ireland’s disaster. The film received it’s Irish launch on the opening night of the conference.
There are, surely, important lessons to be learned by legislators in the USA and Europe as they grapple with the 21st century refugee crises – not least the reality that we are all descended from immigrants or invaders. We are, indeed, the world. Closing borders is not a moral option.
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Reblogged this on charles french words reading and writing and commented:
This is another excellent post!
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Thank you for an excellent post.
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I see the problem in the borders themselves. Why do we “need” borders? Whom do they serve? Borders were established by conquerors, empires, dynasties, never by ordinary people. The partitioning of Africa and the world that used to belong to nomadic Arabs a prime example of the evil that are borders. If we are “the world” then we are “people” and that’s it. I could go on with this, but why? Nothing’s going to change until “the people” realize how seriously they’ve been had and hoodwinked by their rulers.
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My own thoughts exactly, Sha’Tara. No one has an inalienable right to occupy any place and everyone has the right to live anywhere (s)he chooses.
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This real-life disaster demonstrates that we humans are capable of rising to our higher selves as compassionate beings, capable of risking our lives to save others.
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I visited Ireland for the first time last year and was shocked to see all the famine memorials, but more so to hear that it could have been avoided by not shipping so much food off to England (not that the Irish had a choice).🤨
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I don’t think it could have been avoided that easily; in 1847, one of the worst years of the famine, more grain was imported than left. Without those exports there would have been no money coming into the country (apart from hand-outs) and there may well have been a famine in England (there was a banking crisis at the time). If you click the “publications” tab, above, you will find a link to my book.
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Oh, wow, I’ll check it out.
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I agree with Sha’Tara. Why do we have borders? Why do we even have an immigrant “problem?” It’s so disheartening to me that some of my fellow Americans and the current political climate are fueling hatred toward immigrants and people of differing nationalities when we should be coming together as a country, as a melting pot of humanity. There would be no borders in humanity if we treated each other as one. Thanks for sharing this story and participating in this month’s #WATWB.
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