At last, someone who is telling it like it is on the question of mass migration. Simon Jenkins’ unsentimental article (26 June) describes the harsh, often cruel, realities of dealing with the unstoppable crisis of human movement across the globe. As an assistant to an Australian Federal politician dealing with migration issues in the early 1990s, I read then that the UN considered mass migration one of the top concerns we would face in the next century. What did we do to prepare for this? Nothing it would seem. Now the crisis is staring us in the face.
We know the drivers: climate change, collapsing states, war, lack of opportunity, hunger and the least recognised problem underlying a lot of it, overpopulation. At the last Global Greens meeting in Dakar, Senegal, population control was not on the agenda for discussion as it was considered too controversial. As one would expect, Pope Francis didn’t touch on population in his climate change encyclical either.
The problems we face now are solvable, but likely draconian in the short term. China implemented population control, others countries have tried with some success but sub-Saharan Africa’s population is still growing rapidly.
This latest wave is just a curtain raiser of what is to come unless we all are prepared to tackle the issue at the root cause. Too many of us in too crowded a planet with lifestyles too high for a minority.
Susan Hartley
Wynyard, Tasmania, Australia
• Left-of-centre politicians are indeed failing to provide credible alternatives to the anti-foreigner populism of right-wing demagogues, as the report on the recent Danish election (26 June) makes clear.
The ever-increasing numbers of desperate people trying to find a new home in the developed world are a godsend to conservative politicians, as we in Australia know only too well.
This rising migratory tide is an unstoppable force which will significantly transform developed countries in the decades ahead, so it is not surprising that the citizens of those countries are apprehensive.
What would Germany, or Australia, or Japan look like after 30 years of large-scale immigration from the developing world? Is it possible to manage such a huge transfer of population in a way that would achieve positive outcomes for all, or can it only be a zero-sum game?
We need sophisticated economic and social research to help us answer these questions if we are to combat those who peddle fear and xenophobia. Unfortunately none of our politicians will be brave enough to commission such research.
John East
Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia
• The future of the world’s refugee problem lies in taking steps that curb population increases. The west may think that it benefits from using refugees to solve its problems of ageing, but it has too many unemployed youths that it must do something about.
The population of the world is multiplying too quickly. Are we six million now and nine million in the next generation?
How can we reduce our future numbers? You can pretend that there are enough resources in the world – I do not believe this.
China faced the problem by demanding one only child per couple – drastic, and not allowing for couples’ vicissitudes. Two children per couple for west, east and refugees needs to be put forward as the ideal for humane and ecological reasons.
Valerie Yule
Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia
• Long-term climate change mitigation could provide a uniting interest across multiple divides. Could Europe offer to fund the development, in Greece, of mass production of solar panels, wind turbines and so on? With the latest batteries, the Greek climate might produce renewable energy to be exported to the whole continent. This could kickstart the Greek economy, employing its young people and enabling it to repay its debts. It could be paid for from Europe’s greenhouse gas reduction funds.
Constance Lever-Tracy
Adelaide, Australia
Rights and representation
It was interesting to read opinion pieces by Jonathan Freedland and Suzanne Moore together (26 June). Freedland’s was about the history of race relations in the US and Moore’s about Rachel Dolezal, a civil rights activist accused of having misrepresented herself as being of African American descent.
Freedland describes how the US is still saddled with 18th century attitudes to race. When the constitution was written the free were predominantly “white” Europeans and the slaves “black” Africans. America has had trouble moving on from this for the last 200 years. However, sociologists argue persuasively that, for the rest of us, the concept of race has morphed from its original basis in physical appearance to become a social category.
In Australia, official forms regularly ask: “Do you identify as an Indigenous Australian”. This is as it should be, although conservatives (both black and white) still argue that on the one hand you can be “too white”, or on the other you can’t prove you have enough “Aboriginal blood” to be “really indigenous”.
Dolezal was brought up with European-American parents and African-American siblings. As she grew up she identified, as is normal, with the culture of her siblings and their peers, not that of her parents. That many Americans and some others find this difficult to accept is a symptom of how cemented in the past their racial attitudes still are.
I hope we will all soon look back on this current fuss and wonder what it was all about.
Geoffrey Watson
Brisbane, Australia
The solution to everything
Within the article A very English revolt (26 June) is shown the key to addressing all (Yes! All!) of the thousands of social and environmental issues on the planet.
For years, I have been advocating that we need a worldwide movement to counter the power that business interests have over people and planet interests. The “Frome movement” suggests that to this, we need to add a political party element.
There are many voices that advocate change through revolution or civil disobedience to promote change. In Frome, these ordinary citizens have shown that what we need is people participation with the goal of making democracy work for both the people and planet.
How about we form a global support and advisory movement with a name like Civis Mundi? “World Citizen”(envision this in all language equivalents) is something we can universally rally under. And how about a political movement called Terra Cotta; as “burnt earth” seems to convey the message and urgency for some people-backed changes.
Just one suggestion: No prayer before meetings.
Matthew R Foster
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Briefly
• I read “In praise of Shakespeare in school” (26 June) the day after attending a performance of Hamlet at my granddaughter’s school. She is nine years old and had written a version of Hamlet that her classmates performed. The 8 and 9 year olds had studied both Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet during the school year and a version of each had been written and performed with great enthusiasm by the children, proving Lyn Gardner’s point that no child is too young for Shakespeare.
Avril Taylor
Dundas, Ontario, Canada
• Marina Hyde (26 June) should have included Holyrood, the home of the Scottish parliament, in her suggestion for a northern tour of parliament during the period of restoration of the Palace of Westminster. A fresh perspective might be of inestimable benefit to MPs on both sides of the border.
Dr Mary Bliss
Sevenoaks, Kent, UK
• My husband informed me after reading the article headed Haitians go into hiding from Dominican authorities (26 June) that there was mayhem in Dominica. The authors of the article should have made it clear from the start that the article was about the Dominican Republic and not the Commonwealth of Dominica.
Jane Costello
Sydney, Australia
• Kate Kellaway’s charming review of Mark Laird’s A Natural History of English Gardening (26 June) convinced me to order it at once. The error in subediting out the subtitle “1650-1800” could have given me second thoughts - but having produced a programme with Cyril Luckham on Gilbert White’s “Natural History of Selborne” for the Earl to raise money for the museum in the 1980s, I have no regrets!
Edward Black
Sydney, Australia
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