Sir, - We are predictably being told already about the "profoundly evil trade" which supposedly led to the deaths of 58 asylum-seekers in Dover. The British Government - and no-one is better at cant and hypocrisy than the present British Government - as well as our are perfectly sure who is responsible for these deaths. I am less sure.
People do not leave their homes and countries on a whim. One would not normally choose to travel in the back of a sealed lorry either. Nor can I imagine that people would choose, If more attractive alternatives were available, to go to places where they are likely to be reviled as criminals, "illegals" and spongers.
Maybe we should ask why they leave in the first place. Was it not the British Prime Minister who recently boosted the election chances of a blood-soaked Putin by publicly welcoming him to Britain, in spite of the savagery of Russian behaviour in Chechnya? Did not Mr Clinton recently extend most favoured nation status to China at the behest of the corporate sector, ignoring the upsurge in human rights abuses which is leading people to flee in increasing numbers? Did the British and the French, among others, not arm dictators around the world for decades past, from Saddam Hussein to the Indonesian Government? What is responsible for wars across Africa, from Sierra Leone to the Congo: "tribalism" or the interference of Western oil, diamond and mineral interests - which actually have an interest in promoting instability and weak government?
Each time we buy a cheap football in a supermarket for our children, it will have been sewn by other children whose blighted lives leave little room for sport or childhood. The bananas we eat are picked by people whose lives are controlled from cradle to grave by multinationals. In a global world, we are the winners, they are the losers.
The criminal gangs are indeed evil, but they are a symptom, not a cause. Through our silence and acquiescence in the inequalities between north and south, we are parties to all of this misery. The alternative is to build north-south links and to work for a more equitable world. It will hurt and we will have to give up a lot of our privileges, including that of asserting our exclusive right to a disproportionate share of the world's resources. A more open immigration policy and a more generous development policy would be a good start. - Yours, etc.,
Piaras Mac Einri, Director, Irish Centre for Migration Studies, National University of Ireland, Cork.