Politicians in the United Kingdom are struggling to reduce
the flow of people coming into the country across the English Channel. There
are recognised, or “legal”, ways of applying for the right to move to Britain,
and there are unrecognised, or “illegal” ways of arriving in the country, often
used by those who do not qualify for the “legal” means. Many thousands of
people each year are leaving unhappy countries, particularly in Africa and the
Middle East, and sadly a certain number of them are dying at sea between France
and England. Similar migration attempts are made to reach the United States,
Australia or Europe, and, as we have seen recently, many also die crossing the
Mediterranean. Clearly, not everybody in the world can live in the same few richer
and safer countries, so it is imperative to tackle the underlying causes which
drive people to take such risks, and to make everywhere a good place to live.
There is no single reason which leads people to try to reach the United
Kingdom, suffering danger, privation and even death in the process. But most of
the people in this continuous migration are escaping either persecution, war or
poverty. Sadly, the problem will only get worse, because climate change is
likely to increase migration. It is the poorer countries which are likely to
suffer from climate change the most. As areas become uninhabitable because
people are unable to grow enough food – due to heatwaves, droughts or floods - they
will be forced to move elsewhere. This is happening already. As this increases,
it is bound to cause conflict. These, then, are the underlying problems which
we should be setting out to solve.
So, how do we solve the problems of persecution, war, poverty and climate
change? How do we make the world a better place? This is something which is
very close to the heart of a Bahá’í. Bahá’u’lláh,
the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, described the purpose of His revelation like
this: “My object is none other than the betterment of the world and the
tranquillity of its peoples.” This is the aim of all the Bahá’í spiritual and
social initiatives. Bahá’u’lláh also urged every individual to: “Let your
vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self.” If our
priority is the good of the world, we will not always be thinking of our own
narrow interest. In any case, we should know that ultimately the good of the
individual lies in the good of the whole.
The first problem mentioned above is persecution. Recognition of the fact that we
are all one human race will go a long way towards removing this problem. In the
Bahá’í writings it says, “O Thou kind Lord! Thou hast created all humanity from
the same stock. Thou hast decreed that all shall belong to the same household.”
Likewise an acceptance that all genuine religions come from God should lessen
the amount of religious persecution in the world. They all teach us to love God
and to love one another. Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “It is clear and evident to thee
that all the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of God, Who have appeared
clothed in divers attire. If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou
wilt behold Them all abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in the same
heaven, seated upon the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming
the same Faith.” Acceptance of every human being as part of our world family,
and every religion as part of God’s plan, will help to ensure that we treat
everyone equally.
The second problem is war. This is a difficult one for individuals to influence
in the short term, but there are still some things that we can do. In the words
of the song - “We need peace, let it
begin with me”. Bahá’u’lláh put forward a plan for a world peace conference
and for collective security, which I have described in some detail in another
blog (“It doesn’t have to be like this”, February, 2022). We can press for this
world peace conference through our political representatives, and can also
press for changes to the United Nations Organisation, to make it fairer and
more representative of the world. These are things which the Bahá’í
International Community continues to do. In our individual lives, we can make
sure that we are friendly to everyone, listen to their point of view and agree
to disagree where necessary, ensuring that we never make enemies and that we
remain on good terms with everyone we meet. Peace between individuals leads ultimately
to peace between nations.
The third problem is poverty. Greater economic freedom for the individual
should encourage personal initiative and also investment in the less developed
countries. Bahá’ís actively encourage social enterprises in many of these
countries, generating income for people in the poorer parts of the world. At
the international level, as long as every country seeks to gain advantage for
itself, it is always likely that others will be disadvantaged as a result. This
disparity between richer and poorer countries is a root cause of the drive
towards migration, as people look for opportunities for a better life. Bahá’ís
initiate, encourage and support grass roots social development projects in
every country and in every area where they live. In many places, training is
provided for people (especially women) who want to run their own micro
business, and micro finance is made accessible through community banks. If
people are empowered to improve their own lives, there will be no need for them
to move elsewhere.
The fourth problem is climate change. Taking only what we need from the earth,
rather than buying or using things which we don’t really need, will help avoid
the worst of climate change. We can all contribute – we all know we should
“reduce, reuse, recycle”.
The above are some of the steps that we can take to bring about the betterment
of the world and so remove the reasons for people to take great risks in
migrating to other countries. We need to
be pressing for all our fellow human beings to have greater freedoms:
political, religious and economic. All this means raising our awareness to a
higher level, and not restricting ourselves to our own personal situation. We
need, in our communication with our elected representatives, in our private
conversations and in our daily actions, to always promote the good of the whole
world, and not just our own little portion of it. If we really want to save
people’s lives, we have to work actively towards solving the fundamental problems
in the world, which lead people to risk their lives in small boats.
