This week Rishi Sunak went to Dover to talk about "small boats". He reported a "success": apparently the number of people risking the Channel-crossing in the past 5 months has dropped by 20%.
His pledge to "stop the small boats" is the last of his 5 promises. His first 4 - halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists and reducing the national debt, have got absolutely nowhere so far...
But sadly for Sunak, the cost of living and the state of the NHS - not the slow trickle of desperate asylum seekers - happen to be the public's priorities. And how can they not be, when food prices are still up nearly 20%, wages remain "cut" and 7m are waiting for NHS treatment?
As Sky news reported the very same day, polls show that when it came addressing the cost of living, "60% said the government was doing a bad job". Indeed, if the rest of us do worry about refugees on small boats right now, it's not because we are against them, but out of human concern! Why is there no safe route for them to get here? How can Sunak even contemplate putting them on a plane to Rwanda?
Indeed, his policies can only be described as bizarre and inhumane: rather than offer asylum-seekers safe passage in large seaworthy boats, he has hired two large seaworthy barges in which to detain them, after they've survived drowning...
Of course, not one politician addresses any of the real questions. They would not dare to, because it implicates and condemns them all. As for Starmer and his followers, they just claim they'd be better boat-stoppers...
Fleeing war and Western plunder
One can only wonder what has really changed in this world since colonial times. The cause of the poverty, the wars and proxy wars, the destitution which drives the refugee crisis right across the whole world today - be it in Latin America, the Caribbean (Haiti), South Asia, the Middle East or most of Africa - is still the same plunder for profit.
Today, just as in the 1800s, the political leaders of the rich countries - the Sunaks, Bidens and Macrons - are providing the cover and military support for the world's billionaire capitalists, to exploit the poor world. They fuel conflicts, as in Ukraine, when they don't actually start them. And with the same ulterior motive, that is, to exploit these countries' wealth at all costs, driving more and more among the populations to flee for their lives!
Indeed, where do the lithium, cobalt, or the so-called "rare earth metals" come from, which are crucial today for smart phones and electric cars? Not to mention all the raw materials used in the "old industries" - or not-so-old, like oil, iron, gold, diamonds... or poppies?
Today a civil war rages in Sudan, Somalia and Tigray; it ignites and reignites constantly in Congo and in Libya. There is ongoing military repression in Myanmar and war against Yemen's Houthis. As for so-called natural disasters, they're driven by the same over-exploitation of the planet, forcing whole populations to seek refuge.
The big picture is not one which governments, whether under Sunak or anyone else, address - in part, or even wholly - because they have no answers whatsoever to offer.
The world without borders
Today, the symptom of this world capitalist system in terminal crisis is felt through the pain in our pockets. And the only way that the working class can alleviate this pain is to withdraw its labour and go on strike... whether it be for higher wages, against attacks on jobs and conditions, or against factory closures. That may not seem like a big deal, but in fact, it's the first step towards changing everything!
Yes, because unlike the government, unlike the capitalists, the working class does have a potential answer to the crisis and the destructive mayhem taking place all over the world. Owning nothing substantial, except the ability to work, may not seem like a lot, but it also means that when the working class goes into battle it has little to lose - and everything to gain.
Today the stakes of this class war are higher than they've ever been. Its aim, unlike capitalism's wars, is not to preserve a system, but to construct a new one. And on the only viable basis, i.e., on a world scale, so as to allow everyone to benefit from the planet's resources. And fundamental to it, is the eradication of all borders between countries... and a final end to the "refugee problem"!
The strikes today are a start. As Marx said; "Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries unite!".