Morecombe Bay

I notice in the continuing search for somebody to blaim over the tragic death of 19 cockle collectors in Morcombe Bay both the English and the Chinese Government, via the media, are doing their level best to ignore or quash a few big issues.

For those of you who have not been reading the papers this month, 19 people, 15 of them Chinese migrants, drowned in Morecombe Bay English, an area known for its rich harvests of cockles and for its treacherous beaches. Most, if not all of the Chinese victims were illegal immigrants, either smuggled into England by Chinese “Snake Head” gangs or by other traffickers in human misery. Despite a great deal of talk neither the English or the Chinese Government is publicly addressing the most important issues. The most notable of these being why were the cockle collectors forced to work in such dangerous conditions for so little money, and why were they there at all.

It is only recently that the English language papers here have breathed a single word about the dead being illegal immigrants smuggled out of the country by Chinese gangs (I would like to add here that most of the exploitation of illegal immigrants in England is not done by the majority white population, but by their own countrymen or by others of that minority race. Whites are now the least likely group in the world to use slave labour, not counting the use of third world labour in clothes factories which is virtually slave labour). Nobody is addressing the issue of why so many Chinese see escaping abroad as a means of escaping poverty, it is clear to most people that an uneducated labourer will only be able to get work as a labourer no mater where they escape to or from, and it is widely known in Europe that the life of an illegal immigrant is often worth nothing at the hands of the smugglers who bring them into the continent.

The sweatshops and brothels of Europe are home to untold thousands of India, Asia and Eastern European workers smuggled in to a myriad of countries hoping to escape persecution or poverty only to find themselves with no means of escape from the gangs who smuggled them in. Women are promised jobs as cleaners, maids or other work that requires very little ability to speak the native tongue and no education. The fortunate ones find themselves in factories packing vegetables or sewing trousers, and the rest find themselves being forced to become sex workers. Men are promised labourers positions and though they often receive labourers’ positions they are often the poorest paid or most dangerous positions imaginable. They often find themselves on building sites or in land clearing teams, where because they are illegal immigrants, they receive no state medical aid for the injuries that are far to common in these roles. Why do they come? Because European Governments are not willing to reveal the true scale of the problem, and when they do decide to do something about it they don’t send the people back as a warning to others. Though I cannot say for sure, I doubt that the people most likely to become the next shipment of, what are effectively slaves have any idea of what is waiting in Europe. Maybe if England were to deport the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who were not fleeing from persecution, and thus have no legal claim to remain in the country and remind them to spread the word about slavery and what it means to be an illegal immigrant living outside the sheltering dome of the generous welfare schemes set up to protect the minority who are genuinely vulnerable refugees, we would be able to put an end to the scourge the is people smuggling.

Among the other issues that are not being addressed are why are people still fleeing China, if they are fleeing from poverty then there are many ways that Europe, who’s aging population will soon no longer be able to support its self financially, could import labour from China. If people are fleeing persecution, then why aren’t America and the EU putting pressure on China to clean its’ house. Well, for the UK Government, both of these issues would eventually get back to the heart of the matter, what were these immigrants doing in England.

To enter a claim of persecution, you must stop in the first safe country that you come to. Now Russia, Germany and France are all between England and China, in fact it would be very difficult to enter England without coming through one of these countries, the only other route is around or across Spain and its neighbours, all of which are safe countries (baring the Balkans, which in its self is one of the major sources of smuggled labour). They come because there is nothing to discourage them. Illegal workers can simply disappear into the ethnic communities of Europe, usually long enough for them to reach England, where the Government actively promotes its self as being a safe port for refugees to seek aid. Unfortunately it takes so very long to determine who is a refugee and who isn’t that by the time somebody figures out that your only here to find work or to join one of the vast networks of organised gangs that has grown up around the minority heartlands, you have disappeared amongst the untouchables of the refugee action comities or become part of the underground ethnic community.

It is tragic that so many people have to die before a story like this is allowed to reach the free press, but what will cooperation between Europe and China actually do, what effect will tighter restrictions actually have. While people still believe that life is better in Europe, and while Europe does little to reveal the truth about the life of an underground worker, people will continue to flock to the largest economies in Europe in the hope of a supporting themselves and their families.

Now for an interesting question, why don’t illegal immigrants try to claim safety in Spain and Greece, after all many of those fleeing from India, Africa and south Asia are from hot agricultural regions, wouldn’t they be far better suited to life in a hot agricultural country. No, if these people are only seeking freedom from persecution and hunger, why do they only want to come to a rich nation.

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