A la desnortada izquierda española

De un izquierdista inglés, LK, autor de Social Democracy for XXI Century

Two Problems about Europe’s Migrant Crisis the Left should consider

Two important points here:

(1) the evidence is building up that about 50%, or possibly even a majority, of the migrants entering from the Balkans are actually economic migrants, not genuine refugees (see here, and here). In essence, and even if it bursts the self-righteous bubble some people on the left like to live in, many of them are dishonest illegal immigrants. Isn’t letting so many people into Europe grossly unfair to the honest and law-abiding people from the Developing World who apply to immigrate legally and properly?

This is reinforced by (2) below.

(2) even worse, a significant number who claim to be from Syria are actually not, but are economic migrants using fake passports to gain access into Europe (see here, here, here, and here).

A spokesperson from the German interior ministry has even been reported as saying that the German government itself estimates that about a third of people claiming to be from Syria arriving in Germany are not from that country (here and here).

I won’t even dwell on unspeakable atrocity committed a few days ago by religious homicidal maniacs in Paris. We have all seen the news reports.

But now we learn that one of the lunatics gained access to Europe by a fake Syrian passport obtained in Turkey.

I wonder: do more and more left-wing people in Europe privately think that Merkel’s 800,000 was a disastrous mistake? That it was a terrible mistake on security grounds alone? That Europe’s social services and welfare states will be put under more and more strain? That it is a gift to the populist right?

Now the left in Europe is up in arms at the sight of the populist right soaring in the opinion polls all over Europe, such as the Sweden Democrats, the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), the French National Front, and UKIP (now the third most popular party in Britain in terms of percentage of the vote). All of them have something in common: they demand an end to mass immigration.

Finally, a hard question: is the populist right attracting left-wing votes? And if so, why?

None of this means a decent left shouldn’t accept a fair and reasonable share of genuine refugees (especially women and children), after careful vetting. But, as critics have pointed out time and again, why aren’t the oil-rich gulf states taking any of the refugees?