Our World Of Misery  

Are the people of this planet today living or just existing? I read a book when I was in primary three titled 'Life and Living'. It showed a combination of plants and animals in harmonious co-existence. The interdependence of the two animate creatures of nature and how the demise of one could lead to the demise of the other was portrayed in this book full of very beautiful pictures of varying and beautiful species of nature. Human beings in their state of nature perhaps lived happier and less stressful in the days of yore than in these days of technology and what we consider advancement and civilization.

Over the past few weeks, I have followed such massive human crises which have been considered issues of migration by the poor to Europe in their quest to survive and live, perhaps in the image of God. Thousands of women, children, men, young people from Africa and Asia are risking their lives to live as human beings in foreign lands. Migration is as old as creation and it is not limited to human beings. Animals migrate in search of 'greener pastures' within geographical areas. Birds migrate across countries and in some cases across continents. Migration is a rational behavior of the world of animals including man in this definition.

Recent global situations are compelling a massive illegal migration among the poor in the world in a manner that risks the lives of the migrants. The Mediterranean has been a route for many African migrants in their quest to reach Europe to look for decent livelihood. Many West Africans use the Sahara desert as the first route towards their European destination. Many of them die before they cross the desert. Many more get robbed on the way by citizens of nations across the desert. The recent report by the International Migration Organization (IMO) indicates that 18 bodies of migrants mainly from West Africa who were trying to reach Europe have been found in the Sahara Desert in Niger. The 17 men and one woman were suspected to have come from Niger, Mali, Cote d' Ivoire, Senegal, Central African Republic and Liberia. They died in a sandstorm, allegedly. This was just a tip of the iceberg.

Those who manage to get to countries like Libya are subjected to slavish labour in the most gruesome manner. Over time, they attempt to move to Europe via very risky boats, and in the process hundreds lose their lives through reported cases of boats capsizing. Today, the phenomenon is not limited to only African migrants; Asians have joined the fray in this very life threatening journey for survival. Each time I watch some of these scenes on T.V., I am unable to control my tears because it could have been me, my brother, my son or my niece or nephew!

So risky and deadly have these voyages for survival been such that the target nations in Europe by the illegal migrants, which under normal circumstances should tighten their territorial borders, have instead engaged in humanitarian acts of saving the lives of the thousands of people who by international laws should have been repatriated to their home countries. European governments have agreed to accept many of these migrants who were distressed on the high seas, starving and dehydrated. The IMO estimates that 1,865 people so far have died in the Mediterranean voyage to reach Europe.

It is a well known fact that Greece is one of the European nations in serious economic crisis today, however on humanitarian grounds, that suffering nation is receiving some of the migrants. There is a very serious global human crisis on our hands, poverty driving people into their untimely deaths. Civil strife in many other countries had also driven people out of their countries to nowhere. Footages of women and children and the aged trying to hold themselves together by walking long distances away from modern instruments of mass murder cannot fail to draw down the tears of any other human being. To many of these categories of the human race, life is not worth living. They are still alive because they believe and hope that 'this cup will pass over them' one day.

In other cases, people who have been employed by fellow human beings are given treatments below those of the dogs of their employers. Many Asian and African migrants in the Emirates live under criminal slavish conditions in this age and time and the world looks on. The big question is what is forcing people to embark on such risky and deadly journeys to other lands?

The simple answer is that governments have failed to make life worth living for their nationals. The continent of Africa controls about a third of the world's natural resources yet this continent has the record of quarantining over 98 percent of its nationals in a labyrinth of extreme poverty and need. Many of us on this very resourceful continent have been made to accept poverty as an irreversible condition of life. That the hunger, disease, thirst, ignorance and the massive illiteracy which have been our lot are ordained and destined by our maker.

Nay, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhene of Essikado is of the view that 'the responsibility for the wretched bankruptcy of Africa lies in the mis-educated mind-set. An enslaved mind-set cannot create wealth for itself.' He further posits that the mental efforts of these mis-educated African leaders just churn poverty, ignorance, hunger for Africa and wealth for the cultural sources of their mis-education. The children, wives, brothers, fathers and mothers of those who control and manage the resources of these nations are not part of these migrants who die on the high seas or on the deserts.

The world is looking on unconcerned as ordinary citizens from very poor countries embark upon economic and socially induced mass murder of themselves. After all there is this Akan proverb which loosely translates 'death is more preferable to opprobrium'. The irony of this human catastrophe is also the fact that a few 'mis-educated' leaders in the third world countries are themselves far richer than the leaders of the wealthy and developed countries of Europe and the Americas.

Europe, the South and North American countries are countries where these economic vampires, calling themselves leaders suck the blood of their compatriots and push them onto the 'Deadly Voyage' for survival, keep the stolen monies of their nations which when properly used, could have improved the lives of their people and stemmed the tide of frustration and fear of failure which have driven them through the dark alleys and tunnels of death to their death. There is a proverbial saying in Ghana 'kakra beka wo', to wit, you can't escape the outcomes of a decision you are privy to' be it good or bad.

Europe today has a moral duty, in spite of its own mounting economic and social challenges to deal with victims of criminal leaders in Africa and Asia whose loot Europe is harbouring. As long as Europe and the Americas continue to be safe havens for criminals parading as leaders in Africa and Asia, poverty will be the legacy for the majority of the people of these 'accursed' continents, and the few who would not want to accept poverty as an irreversible condition of life will move out there, no matter the risk, to ensure that they live in the image of God if indeed living in the image of God is having the basic necessities of life. Should Europe be their final destination, so be it, if not, they prefer to die in their effort to free themselves from the shackles of poverty than to remain 'enslaved' in their country.

Those who have the powers to stop the fratricidal murders in various countries should wake up; the human suffering is a blot on the conscience of humanity and civilization. The poor victims do not know the causes of the wars, they may not even know government, they may not know the issues which triggered the wars, but they have to leave their already poor homes for much poorer conditions of life. This is unacceptable! If the resources of the world are not enough to take care of hardworking decent citizens of the earth, then nature must place an embargo on procreation. The human suffering globally is beyond comprehension.

Hmmmm, let me take three shots of my mahogany bitters in memory of victims of economic survival.

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By Kwesi Biney