14 April 1994

Immigration and Refugee Matters

The issue is not compassion versus hatred, hard-heartedness, and so on.  The issue that the above covers up is the real reasons for governments allowing immigration.  The correct, scientific, and rational way to proceed is also the compassionate way.  This is similar to doing "compassionate" things -- like "feeding kids" -- in order to avoid doing what needs to be done -- making hunger obsolete by redistributing power in society.

As for refugees, a "genuine refugee" (a person that the Canadian government cares a lot about) is a person who is persecuted by a government, that is, usually some kind of activist.  Removing such a person from the context of their activism amounts to that person's political death, and helps to weaken the opposition.  This may explain why Western liberal governments are so pro-human-rights, and so eager to remove refugees from politically volatile situations abroad.

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