Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Holier than Thou

We have grown used to "the West" lecturing the rest of the world on standards of living, education, economic development, health and safety, human rights and, well, almost everything else. Africa in particular is given a very unsavoury image in the Western media and public perception. It is presented as a continent of aghast poverty, ravaged by disease, ruled by dictators, still practising slavery and child trafficking and having no regard to the value of human life. When the Western media became obsessed for months with the fate of Madeleine, the little Scottish girl who went missing during a holiday in Portugal whilst her parents were having a good time outside the house, all fingers were pointed to Morocco. An innocent girl belonging to a Moroccan family had her face plastered all over European newspaper because some tourists thought she looked like Madeleine. When she turned out to be one hundred percent Moroccan, no apologies followed. Meanwhile the fate of dozens of innocent children abducted from their families by so-called aid workers in Chad for the purpose of selling them on in France has all but been forgotten only a couple of weeks later.

Like drug trafficking, child trafficking is not a localised phenomenon. Supply is usually driven by demand, and the demand originates in the countries of the West. After a Unicef warning that the British government is failing to protect vulnerable youngsters brought into the country the Guardian newspaper revealed that during 2005-6 a total of 88% of Chinese children illegally trafficked into the UK have gone missing AFTER having been identified and cared for by Social Services. A similar story emerges for children brought to the UK illegally from Nigeria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Russia or Eastern Europe. Of course, the children brought to the attention of Social Services are only the tip of the iceberg. But at least one would have thought that once they were being looked after by the State, they would be safe. However, the majority eventually disappear never to be traced again, and Social Services are probably glad to have them off their books. As Unicef observes, the care and protection for these children is inconsistent, ad hoc and, in some regions, completely absent.

Some of the children are brought into the UK for sexual exploitation, others as domestic household helpers and child labourers. Their individual stories are a lot more heart-rendering than the plight of Madeleine's parents grabbing world headlines, yet little is written about them since this would tarnish the polished veneer of the "leading civilisations" of the world and reveal an ugly underside beneath the skilfully applied make-up. Until Europeans sort out their own problems of child slavery and trafficking, they should stop lecturing the rest of the nations on human rights and freedoms. If the European media were as interested in the dark side of European sexual appetites and child exploitation as in the fate of little Madeleine, and if the UK government was as proactive in dealing with the problem as it is with deriding, for example, Zimbabwe, then maybe they deserved to be listened to when talking about universal values, human rights and the future of the planet.

4 Comments:

At 14 November 2007 at 20:00, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with your comments about western self projection about themselves. But lets face it, it is pure myth created for the ignorant 'well informed' masses. Most really informed people know that what goes for learned discourse in the mass media and public sphere of the west, is meaningless prattle, mostly lies and myth making, not facts.

The amusing thing is that so many stupid people still accept such myths as true.

 
At 14 November 2007 at 21:25, Blogger Ardent said...

I live in Australia and we were continually bombarded with the plight of Madeleine. Although I am not happy that she has gone missing, surely there must be other international stories that can also be delivered.

The story of the French aid workers stealing the Chad children was only televised one night, not on the commercial news stations but on SBS World news.

The Chad mothers crying and pining for their children bought tears to my eyes.

http://www.mediascrape.com/News/ViewNewsItem.aspx?newsItemId=35242

Perhaps the western media thinks it is not a big issue to steal Chad children, that perhaps these Black, poor, rural women do not love their children.

 
At 18 November 2007 at 23:04, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Greetings Mustaquim and all sane users of this blog,

Well said Mustaquim, but let's not forget the profitable organ harvesting and general child sacrifices!

It may be hard to believe that evil resides in high places and i'm not one to cast an accusatory finger at that mysterious place Balmoral, but the rich do have their places where the press never go and apparently Bohemian Grove in California US was one such place.

Ever since i discovered the Jew-ish Lord Greville Janner, is top of Francis Laurence's hit list of paedo's, on her charity movement, i realised that perhaps the he was above the law, one for being Jew-ish and two because....Well kiddie porn and organ donation are the first things that came to my mind, as well as where is the Jew-ish connection in this story and of course it was Saracastic, er er i mean Sarkosy!

 
At 11 January 2008 at 14:11, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good point, could it be put down to the varying values of life. Where a western/white life is of immense value and anything else is just cheap.

 

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