Saturday, December 8, 2012

Why immigration is a human right

Someone asked me to elaborate on why I think immigration is a human right. I’m not a legal scholar & don’t take a juridical approach to a single issue--especially since laws are made by the dominant class in their own interests. I could go into the history of the nation-state & the formation of nationalities but that would be a bore. More current, I could go into the predatory economic & political relationships the US & other plundering nations have with plundered nations causing massive immigration. And of course, if I were arguing in a court of law, all that would be necessary. But stating my view here I can take the broader approach to the matter: immigration is a human right because human beings are all brothers & sisters, no matter where the hell we come from; because survival for yourself & those you care for is primary; because legalities don’t mean a damn thing when you need to eat & feed your loved ones. But mostly, immigration is a human right because human beings are born to care about each other & extend the hand of friendship & solidarity to all in need. That isn’t bleeding heart sentimentality; it’s become the iron law of survival for working people. When they have us warring with other needy working people, they take the heat off themselves & the predatory policies creating not just mass migration but economic devastation for all of us. When you join ranks with immigrants as brothers & sisters, you increase the possibilities of resistance & for creating a world suitable for men, women, & children to live & love in. So that’s why immigration is a human right! I leave it to the lawyers to draw up the legal brief.

3 comments:

  1. Sorry, off topic but...

    Best line of the day!

    "Khalid Mish`al yesterday said that he wants to be a martyr. Who is stopping you?"

    http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/12/khalid-mishal-wants-to-be-martyr.html

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    1. Well he came close:

      "On 25 September 1997, Mashal was the target of an assassination attempt carried out by the Israeli Mossad under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet. The assassination was intended as retaliation to the 1997 Mahane Yehuda Market Bombings. At the time of the assassination attempt Mashal was considered Hamas' Jordanian branch chief.

      Two Mossad agents carrying fake Canadian passports entered Jordan, where Mashal was living. The Mossad agents waited at the entrance of the Hamas offices in Amman. As Mashal walked into his office, one of the agents came up from behind and held a device to Mashal's left ear that transmitted a fast-acting poison.[5][6][7] However, Mashal's personal chauffeur saw what was happening and hit the agent with a newspaper on his hand. Mashal's security guard then chased the agents and was able to note the license plate number of the car in which they had escaped. The security guard boarded a passing car and pursued them. The agents were unaware that they were being followed. After some 300 meters, they stopped their car and left it. The security guard chased them and, with the help of a plain-clothes policeman, managed to overpower and apprehend them. The agents were taken by the policeman and the security guard in a taxi to the nearest police station, and placed under arrest.

      Immediately after the incident, Jordan's King Hussein demanded that Benjamin Netanyahu turn over the antidote for the poison. At first Netanyahu refused, but as the incident grew in political significance, American President Bill Clinton intervened and compelled Netanyahu to hand it over.[8] Clinton described the Israeli prime minister with the following words: "I cannot deal with this man (Netanyahu), He is impossible." The head of Mossad, Danny Yatom, flew to Jordan, with the prime minister's consent, bringing with him an antidote to treat Mashal.[9]

      Mashal was given the antidote, thus saving his life. In the negotiations subsequently conducted for the release of the agents, an agreement was reached with the Jordanian authorities whereby, in exchange for the release of Shaykh Yasin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, and a number of other prisoners held in Israel, they would release the Israeli agents and allow them to return to Israel.

      After the incident Mashal told Third Way Magazine: "Israeli threats have one of two effects: some people are intimidated, but others become more defiant and determined. I am one of the latter.""
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Mashal

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  2. Yeah, he has been a real Horatius at the Bridge for the Palestinians ...from Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, and Qatar.

    "I have been dreaming of this historic moment my entire life, to come to Gaza," Meshal told reporters as he stood alongside Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzouk and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. "I ask God to give me martyrdom one day on this land."

    If others could get through the tunnels all those years, he certainly could have fulfilled his wish a long time ago. And what is stopping him from living in Gaza now?

    One day ...

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