There has been much in the press in
the recent period about the "Problem" of bogus asylum seekers coming to the UK
in large numbers, becoming a drain on the country’s resources, and getting
involved in criminal and fraudulent activity etc.
As a Socialist and a Marxist who
works within the civil service I see these people as yet another group to be
targeted by the ruling class and their friends in the capitalist media who seek
to blame them for the failings in their own capitalist system. The fact these
people are taking such desperate measures to reach here in the first place
should make us begin to question the underlying reasons for this phenomena, and
to provide a straight forward answer to those people who would seek to make
Asylum seekers scapegoats for the ongoing problems, that are a result of the
general crisis within the capitalist system itself. Asylum seeking and economic
migration as the spokespeople of capital call it is yet another symptom of the
general breakdown of the capitalist system on a global scale, and in some parts
of the world the crisis is of a much more acute nature than in others. The
object of this article is to explain to ordinary people that Asylum seeking, or
to put it in a more precise way economic migration is taking place, not just in
the UK, but across Europe, and in the US as well.
Globalisation Of Capitalism
The last 20 or so years has seen a
transfer of wealth to the rich capitalist countries of the west on an
unprecedented scale. The gap between the haves and the have nots has widened,
and become so acute, that roughly 90% of the world’s wealth is now controlled by
about 5% of the world population. In the less advanced economies of the south,
especially Africa, central Asia and the Pacific regions this super exploitation
of the masses by the rich multi-nationals of the west has plunged whole regions
of the world into starvation, desperation and despair. Also, the lack of any
mass revolutionary party in these regions, plus the difficulty of even being
able to organise the masses in some areas has exacerbated the feelings of the
masses that there is no way out, other than to migrate to the west. Of course
this has been compounded by organised criminal gangs of human traffickers who
have jumped on the bandwagon and are exploiting the situation and making huge
profits for themselves in the process. The way it works is these gangs
offer individuals a way out to the west, but at a huge cost, which at some point
has to be paid back to the criminal gangs. The "Asylum Seeker", is then forced
by his or her circumstances to do whatever it takes to gain entry to the western
country, whether it be Britain, Europe, or the USA so they can then work, and
pay back their "debts" to the organised gangs.
This is yet another symptom of
capitalism in decay, where even people are traded around the world like cattle
and commodities to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. These issues though
are conveniently ignored by the spokespeople of capital, with their hypocritical
diatribe against these terrible asylum seekers, and the lies and deceit they are
exhibiting to get into "civilised" Britain. As Socialists have always explained,
people react and behave according to the conditions they are forced to endure.
As Marxists we do not condone deceit or criminality. I must make that clear
here, but we recognise that criminality and deceit are but symptoms of a
capitalist system that forces some sections of society down the criminal path in
order to survive. When a man or woman cannot feed their family then from a
purely dialectic standpoint they will do whatever it takes. This is forced on
them by the material conditions of the capitalist system that cannot even
provide the basic necessities of life for masses of the world population at the
beginning of the 21st Century.
This explains more clearly why
"society" is breaking down as they keep telling us. When an individual is robbed
of their dignity and self respect, on a daily basis by a system that seeks to
exploit and profit at that individuals expense then it is no surprise that there
are masses of people, particularly amongst the youth who feel left out and
dispossessed, hence the "break down in society". If the material conditions were
different, for example we had a successful socialist revolution, and individuals
would be able to fully participate in society and realise their potential then
such anti-social behaviour would become a thing of the past, because people
would react more positively to the more favourable conditions of socialism. A
basic dialectic analysis, that the capitalists do not understand, or cannot
afford to understand, because to admit the correctness of scientific socialism,
in essence of Marxism would be to admit their system is failing, and that they
will never do. They will attempt to hang on for as long as they can, and the
only reason they have hung on this long has been the lack of the "subjective
factor", that is the mass revolutionary party of the working class. The
current crises that are rocking country after country, are symptomatic of the
global breakdown of capitalism, which the process of globalisation over the last
20 years has exacerbated, and has forced all the contradictions inherent within
the system to the surface with a vengeance, hence events at the current time.
Solving The Asylum "Problem"
This is not a problem that is going
to be solved by unfairly launching attacks on economic migrants, but like all
the other issues we have to face as Marxists, we have to approach this issue
from the same class perspective, and explain to the masses here in the UK, and
in the other Western Countries why this process is happening and how we can
solve it.
Firstly we have to explain that
these people are coming here because of sheer desperation. Society in their home
countries has often broken down. Many of the countries in question are
controlled by corrupt dictatorships, and gangsters who have no respect for human
life, or human rights, and are often supported by those wonderful organisations
of democracy, "The World Bank", and the "International Monetary Fund", whose
austerity policies the Governments of these countries carry out with enthusiasm,
because if they do not then they are starved of new loans and finance. This is
how western imperialism functions to keep control of these economies. Of course
the masses in these countries are then forced into a desperate struggle to
survive, and many see the only way out of their situation is to migrate. Our
task as Marxists is to explain to the masses in these countries patiently that
the way forward is the building of a revolutionary party of the masses, to get
themselves educated in the ideas and the philosophy of Marxism, so that they may
effect a transformation of society, and hence the need to migrate would
disappear. Like was mentioned previously, people adapt and conduct themselves in
relation to the environment and the circumstances they find themselves in.
Economic migration is but yet
another symptom of the bankruptcy of capitalism on a world scale, yet another
contradiction that cannot be solved on a capitalist basis. The only way to solve
this, like all the other issues, is the socialist transformation of society,
here in Britain and Internationally, which would remove the need for economic
migration. Then we will be able to truly live in peace, and all our brothers and
sisters, wherever they may be in the world will be able to make a positive and
meaningful contribution to the world we all live in and live as one, free from
the exploitation and the barbarity that so blights the lives of so many of our
fellow human beings at the present time.
