Men in the sun
I woke up yesterday to the news of the sinking ship that had on board 51 illegal immigrants in the Mediterranean. I held my breath, expecting the worse… they are dead because no one could save them. But they were under the mercy of God, a fishing boat was around and was able to fit them in. I took a deep breath.
I had to hold my breath again… the nearest land, which is Malta refused not only to receive them but they also refused to receive the legal fishing boat that saved, because Malta has more immigrants than they can deal with, and they are under strict rules by the EU in dealing with this emerging xenophobia.
So these immigrants are stuck in the sea under the sun, without food, without water and without hope!
I left quickly to reach the German embassy to apply for visas for the students participating in exchange porogram that Lina and I are organizing in Muenster Germany… Our biggest challenge so far has been the visa. However challenges are going up and down like the stock market with the changes in the political climate. We had all the papers organized and ready, but we could not even get someone to give us an appointment and for days we went back to stand in line with the tens of people standing under the suffocating sun in jabal Amman waiting to be looked at, some of them have been coming back for weeks and have been sent home day after day.
We obviously had a different case as we are a group of students who are going for 15 days to have fun, while these tens of people mostly Iraqis are waiting in line to immigrate to start a life, as they are suffering in their country and they can’t find jobs, and they can’t afford sending their children to private schools.
We finally were able to get an appointment due to Lina’s insitence and resourcefullness and because we got the German hosting comapny to call the embassy from Germany, and we were not only in, but we were treated with priority as well.
In the waiting hall, I saw an iraqi woman crying her heart out, begging the officer to allow her the visa, saying her husband is sick and he needs her and he is there. It was distrurbing to see such a dignified woman begging. I saw a man screaming his heart out at another officer in desperation telling them that they have taken 5000 JD that he deosn’t have.
It was a very stressful day emotionally as I was waiting hour after in the waiting hall and realizing that I probably was the luckiest one there, as everyone has a story and some of them are reaaly dramatic that might involve life and death situations..
Immigration has risen as a political problem relatively recently. It was inherited as a third world problem after the de-colonization in the sixties…. because colonialism had this dream of creating nicely organized nations where the same people live in the same places, forgetting that human beings move by nature and so the concept of bournadaries appeared. Charles Tilly claimes that the refugees are a problem that appears because of wars and problems created and kept alive by the first world…
The result are these people I saw today waiting in the sun hoping for a better and brighter future.
This remindes me of Ghassan Kanafani men in the sun… the only thing I would say about this book, if you are already depressed don’t read it…when I did, I stayed home for a whole week, unable to deal with the harshness of this world.
![IMG_0039[1]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7121/6962859922_2342ea8985_m.jpg)
Yab.
Reply
Do you know where the illegal immigrants came from? I hope that some country will at least see to the humanitarian needs of these people.
In the U.S., as you may know, there is a serious problem with illegal immigration from Mexico. I live in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is quite far from Mexico! Still, everywhere I go in the city, I see Mexican people and hear them speaking in Spanish. Now, I really don’t have anything against these people. I know that most of them are very hard working and they just want to make a better life for themselves and their families. The U.S. government is currently debating new laws that would punish illegal immigrants. Well, I don’t think that is the way to help solve the problem. These people come to the U.S. because they are destitute in Mexico. Some would starve there if they stayed. The real problem is that in Mexico, there is a gigantic gap between the richest and the poorest people. These ultra rich are profoundly immoral people! They don’t care how many poor people die as long as they can continue to live their luxurious lives. Eventually, it may take a second revolution in Mexico to bring about the necessary degree of social justice. If that happens, a lot of the Mexican aristocracy would either have to flee or face death. Revolutions don’t have to happen, but many humans are just so greedy that they can’t see the utility of sharing some of the wealth!
It says something very positive about you Madas that you cared about the people at the Embassy. I would feel empathy for them too.
For the past week, I have felt rather depressed about what is happening to Lebanon. I had a good friend in college who was from Lebanon. He had lived in the U.S. for 10 years when I met him and he is a U.S. citizen now. He talked to me many times of Lebanon, and how beautiful it was in his memories.
Reply
David, your comments always please me. At the university I read a very interesting study by Heyman and it Putting Power in the Anthropology of Bureaucracy: The Immigration and Naturalisation Service at the Mexico-United States Border’. Current Anthropology 36: 2: 261-287. So you can find it if you are interested. Basically it says how this problem on the boarders of Mexico is one of the biggest acts in the world. On the one side the US needs to sell the idea of a bounded nationality to its citizens, but on the other hand they need these immigrants, because they are cheap labor who have no insurace and no rights (sorry to disappoint you, but this is capitalism) so they put these police men on the boarders and give them strict instructions to catch these Mexicans, but once they do they take them to prison and give 2 options. the first is to stay in prison and go through the legal system and the second is to be taken back immediately to the boarders. ( they are enoucraged to do this) and when they are there, they try to get again and again, till they make it!
Reply
Yab indeed
Reply
David , I totally agree with all what you’ve said above. America is tolerant and it accepts anyone, but when it comes to illegal immigrants from MExico it’s more tolerant than it should be. I’m on a visa and every year I have to go to different places and pay 300+ dollars to stay legal and i’m not complaining i think rules are rules although i sometimes believe life might have been easier if i was illegal MExican. I feel sorry for many Mexicans who live a crappy life in Mexico but that’s the situation of at least 50% of the world’s population. My friend is Jordanian and he came to study in the US and only one week after his visa expired the INS called him and he was about to de deported.
Everyone running for the elections whether Republicans or Democrates are very cautious in dealing with this issue because they don’t want to lose the Latino vote. I just hope that all immigrants are treated the same and for America to stay tolerant.
Reply
Nice post, why did you choose the immigrants and not Beirut for your theme?
Reply
Thank you for your comment. I dont feel I have anything to add about this unjustified war in Lebanon. Everything has been said and analyzed smartly by other bloggers. However that does not mean that I am indifferent about it.
Reply
Madas, first I am glad that you like my comments.
I am appreciating your posts and comments, as well.
Your description of what is happening at the U.S./Mexican border is interesting. It is certainly a very different story than what the average American is being led to believe. However, it would not surprise me if it were true.
You have not disappointed me. I may have a certain degree of idealism in my thinking, but I am not blind to the realities that poor people must deal with. Generally speaking, every group of immigrants to the U.S. has been worked hard and paid small wages. My father’s grandparents were all immigrants in the early 20th century. They had to struggle when they got here, but they took advantage of educational opportunities and managed to better themselves, or at least help their children to do better. However, they were legal immigrants. They had the advantage of U.S. laws to protect them, and the hope of eventual citizenship. Illegal immigrants are in a different boat entirely.
I am not against capitalism, I just believe very strongly that it needs to be regulated by the government to prevent sociopathic predation. One sad thing about the state of the U.S. government is that ordinary people have less and less access to their elected representatives. Corporations fund the re-election campaigns of all politicians. With that money they buy influence on how the laws are written. I just wish that average Americans could wake up and realize that the democratic freedoms that they believe are their birthright are being slowly taken away.
Reply
Hello Hareega,
I certainly hope that the U.S. will remain tolerant, too! Since the 9/11 attacks, there has been a sort of zenophobic reaction that has greatly increased the difficulty of getting a visa to come here. Also, it has become much harder for people with visas to remain here once it has run out. Some of this I can understand, but I think it has gone too far. Was your friend able to renew his visa?
Reply
lol! are you sure you are American? You definitely dont’t fit the profile of the average American. Your comment is both true and sad. It saddens me to see the whole world trying to be Americanized, and trying hard to follow the lead of the American idea or dream, which is an idea that is not able to keep itself going, and which is slowly becomming an illusion.
Anyway… Have a nice day
after this heavy dose of Jordanian wisdom!!!
Reply
David… thanks for asking. Yes he was able to renew his visa. He spent one night in jail and had to pay 10 grands to get out and he reapplied and got it. I totally understand the increasing security checks that people go through before getting a visa, but the invasion of orivacy of people living in America makes the US look like any other Arab or Middle Eastern country!
Mariam…. it’s good to be americanized in many things, but I find many Americans admiring many things that we have in our culture, like the strong family ties and respect for the elderly. I am starting to believe that there’s a no typical american or typcial Jordanian anymore, especially with the world becoming smaller everyday.
Reply
I agree with you Harrega, I am not againist the American cultlure or people or what the culture stands for, on the contrary i think one hing i love about Americns in their optimism… it is really resreashing and it is great. That was not what i meant. I meant dreaming about living in the States where it is believed that people have absolute freedom and democracy and they live in peace and they are accepted. The state will provide social wellfare, you have all your rights… and we both know it is not true. I guess what I am trying to convey is that America is failing to apply and be what it stands for… and by following its lead, countries are importing the bad but never the good.
Reply
Madas, I was indeed born and raised in America.
I agree with you that I don’t have a lot in common with the average American (whatever that is). However, I think there are millions of Americans that I could generally agree with. Unfortunately, our numbers are not large enough to prevent someone like Bush from being elected! Are you familiar with Ralph Nader? Some people think that his running for President in 2000, lost the race for Al Gore. Well, Ralph has been a very effective social activist since the 1960’s. I have a great deal of respect for him, but I think it was a mistake for him to run for President. However, he was very vocal during the campaign about the dangers of corporate America gaining too much power and influence!
I agree with your last comment to Hareega. America can be very hypocritical! Our Constitution says some great things, but our government often does some seemingly contradictory things.
Reply
Well, I think there is something of a trap in holding up and pushing high ideals, because the world does not work in a way that rewards idealism, so if you are going to have high ideals AND be successful/rich/powerful, odds are pretty high you’re going to behave hypocritically.
I’m American but I’ve been living for quite some years in the Czech Republic. It’s a fairly small country, not at all poor but not rich, and almost powerless. The politicians here are the most disgusting lot of incompetent, corrupt schemers imaginable but I think most Czechs, though unhappy about the situation, are relieved things are not much worse rather than outraged over the betrayal of the Constitution. And you never meet Czechs who take the opposite, Panglossian tack seen so often in the US of saying they’re the best country on Earth and simply have to work a bit to perfect the ideal society.
Anyway, have you ever heard the Czech Republic accused of hypocrisy? No. Have you ever heard of Czech hegemony in anything besides ice hockey?…
I would tend to agree with Hareega that it is difficult to say anyone is a ‘typical’ anything in these days where you can hardly live without exposure to ideas and ways of living from ‘others.’ It might be easier to be isolated, in fact, if you are American, simply because you can cocoon yourself in purely US suburban worldview media and not even know that you’re doing it.
Having said that, I myself had the grief title on a BB of ‘Typical pan-European Yank.’
Reply
hmmm… I am not sure what to reply to your comment
but I will tell you one thing about me as a person, I have been realizing that maybe i hold things and people to higher standards and that maybe i am hypocrate too… It is very easy to criticize someone else and not looka t myself… saying that i have a question for you, they say prague is the most beautiful city on earth, is this true?
Reply
It is not the most beautiful but for sure it is one of them.
Reply
I did not get your comment!
forgive me but Thursday afternoon is not my mental peak day!
Reply