Pam Erdman Hi Pam. You ask many questions and a reply that would answer them satisfactorily would need to be in the form of a disseration. I will attempt to give you a summary of the points that I think are relevant to what is happening in Europe today. Australia went through the common occurrance of having an ancient indigenous population that was colonised by a European power. At first the new government did not attempt to prevent further migrations but by 1900 it had decided it only wanted white migrants and passed those restrictions into law. After a referendum in 1972 the indigenous population became allowed to vote. Later in the decade Australia experienced its first government sanctioned refugee programme when Vietnames escaping from communist rule were able to migrate here. That programme despite experiencing some assimilation problems was eventually successful with the Vietnamese community becoming a valuable asset for Australia. At the same time the Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser decided he wanted to help the relatives of the Australian Lebanese Christian community who had been coming here for over 200 years (one exception to the White Australia policy, being Christian and almost white was enough), to escape from the Lebanese Civil War. He opened the door for anyone in Lebanon who had relatives here. PM Fraser allowed the Lebanese govt to decide who could come. After 11 months the Australian government realised the majority of the new migrants were quite dissimilar to those already here. Most were poor, illiterate and rural. They had poor personal hygiene and were of doubtful character. (The Australian, Jan/1/2007) The government reversed its permission and stopped the flow after about 100,000 had been allowed in. This group and their children have since become one of the major contributors to criminal activity in Sydney. They have aggregated mainly to about 6 suburbs which are known to be violent and dangerous, much of the second generation have studiously avoided becoming educated. Two years ago an Education Department report indicated that only 3% of the major Muslim public high school in Auburn carried on to teritary study. Approximately 25 of the first wave of migrants are in maximum security prison after being found guilty of preparing terrorist attacks in Australia. This group is now about 400,000 strong and is creating the most serious social difficulties for governments here, especially that of NSW. In 2007 under a new Labour government the rules for Middle Eastern refugee immigration were relaxed again and a further 50,000 were allowed in after minimal checking. Almost all of these migrants were advised to destroy their documents so that Australian officials could not positively identify them, thus making it easier for them to claim refugee status. In 2013 a Centrelink (department of social services) report said that 85% of that wave of migration was still on social security benefits. I think Pam, this shows the necessity of border control and the proper vetting of so called refugees. Whenever a mass movement begins, usually accompanied by the cries of the compassionate left, many of the migrants are indeed not escaping danger, just looking for a better opportunity for themselves. This is natural enough but orderly proper checks are needed. The young boy who drowned, Aylan Kurdi is a case in point. His father was in the process of applying to migrate to Canada. I heard his Canadian sister interviewed, she said he told her not to pursue the Canadian application, that he was going to Germany, where his new teeth would be provided free. Pam, my feeling is that the compassionate Left of the West sets our governments up to become playthings in the hands of the foolish…. ‘The Secret of Divine Civilisation’. Their caving in to the carping of the compassionate bleeding hearts is an indeological threat to the future of the enlightened West. Thanks for your interest. Lindsay.

Lindsay, thanks for your comments. I do not know what happened in the 1980 in Australia, but I would really like to understand the issue of migrants better, so could you give us a tutorial? Wo were the first generation of migrants? What were they like? Did they assimilate? Learn English? Find jobs? Did they soak up lots of national resources? what did they contribute? How did native-born Australians think about them? What problems did they cause? Same questions about the second generation. Thanks for taking the time to explain. I think about this issue a lot. Need more data.

There are Baha’i models (currently in practice) for community-based, self-run programs for the poor and others, along with application of principles of social justice so that people are not simply dependent refugees who overload the system for everyone. I see these programs as essential. One of their unique features is their ability to function in the midst of seeming utter chaos, such as what happened just after the recent cyclone on Vanuatu. Well-practiced young people from the Jr Youth Spiritual Empowerment Groups, both Baha’is and their friends, spontaneously arose and began to help neighbors rebuild and replant, as well as coordinate rescue efforts, before government and other entities could reach their communities. Impressive stuff.

This article lays out a strong ethical case for accepting immigrants in times of international crisis. I hope the author, in his continuing series on this important topic, covers some of its practical aspects as well as he did this principled one. IMO, of course.