WHERE HAVE ALL THE STATESMEN GONE?
This is the moment for a Statesman to stand up and let his/her voice be heard. Now is also the time to make your voice heard. We are 11 days from a general election, momentous events are happening and not one would-be Coalition Leader or would-be Prime Minister has the vision to address the following world issues….
Murder in the Med.
More than 1,700 people have died in the Mediterranean so far this year: i.e. 14 people a day. The decision to scale back the search and rescue programme in November 2014 in the belief that if rescue was unlikely, attempts to reach mainland Europe by sea would dry up was at best misguided. At worst it was cruel and recklessly experimental. People fleeing for their lives have no real choice but to risk death at sea if they face almost certain death at home. To turn one’s back on such people is inhumane, immoral, shaming and a scandal. How many more people will have to die before a political leader has the courage and vision to take positive steps to rescue those in fear of death and to offer asylum to those fleeing persecution and war?
I cannot prove it, but my hunch is that the failure of leadership is a result of fear of electoral unpopularity because the electorate may confuse humanitarian rescue with a failure to control immigration. A statesman would address this issue head-on: not allow more people to drown for fear of losing votes.
What sort of a world do we want to live in? Not one that allows desperate people to drown or increases the chances of drowning in order to deter others from attempting to fleeing from war and persecution.
Open season on Christians/muslims in Middle East.
Christians are being martyred in Iraq and Syria and are fleeing in huge numbers because to remain in ISIS’s path is suicidal. Muslims too are being killed and seeking to escape.
England has so far accepted only a few hundred Syrian refugees. This is an inadequate and shameful response. Again it raises the question, what sort of world do we want to live in?
It seems as if our would-be leaders’ focus has become so myopic that the demands of common humanity have fallen out of view. It is time to correct their vision. Why not email those standing in your constituency and ask them what they will do to address these issues if you give them your vote? You will find your candidate’s contact details via this link.
April 27, 2015 at 6:07 am
Good post Graham. Did you get a response from Vince when you contacted him? I’ve contacted him a number of times on not-unrelated issues and he’s always responded. He hasn’t always agreed with my points but he did always take the time to explain his position.
By the way, you didn’t elaborate in your post but I infer from what you wrote that you think there were, in the not too distant past, statesmen in politics, in this country. I’d be interested to know who fitted into that bracket for you, and why?
April 27, 2015 at 8:57 am
I only emailed the candidates on Sunday so they have had little time to reply. I will have to think further about past statesmen and the wisdom of naming them in a blog which I want to remain non party-political…
April 27, 2015 at 9:18 am
Maybe you could restrict yourself to picking statesmen that represented multiple parties 🙂 Didn’t Winston Churchill go that route?
I take your point about wanting to avoid being party political though. That said I see great advantage in pointing back to good examples of statesmanship – it makes the topic less abstract and more understandable / grounded. Perhaps if you focussed more on specific examples of historic statesmanship without focussing so much on the personality who did it (who may not want to identify with in other ways).
April 27, 2015 at 7:58 am
Great post and be great to hear your response to John. If no statesman can be identified who is speaking out for the refugee and the christians in these countries?
April 27, 2015 at 9:04 am
Neither group has an effective representative though increasingly media attention is helping to raise awareness.