Latest post of the previous page:
not really, and this leads onto a bigger question of what socialism (or any form of political egalitarianism) is and entails. Since "the people" you mention are in fact the inhabitants of a particular nation state, there is no necessary connexion between leftwing national political structures and a concern for the welfare of foreigners, and although leftwingers probably do tend to be more internationalistic and altruistic than rightwingers, it ain't necessarily so (you personally for instance are in your own way extremely idealistic and altruistic, you just differ from many of us here on the means rather than the ends).Nick wrote:Well, yes, I'm not France's greatest fan, and yes, France is not wholly socialist, even, as you say, the President puts himself forward as socialist, but it does seem to belie the idea of socialism, by ignoring the poor and wretched. Maybe governments of any shade are equally morally obliged to help refugees, but not to do so if you set out to claim to care for the people is more hypocritical, wouldn't you say?animist wrote:Even assuming that it's accurate to call France "socialist" (which it scarcely is even if the government goes by that name), there is no reason that a leftwing government should be more obliged to help refugees than a liberal capitalist one
I don't see how this analogy works. The Calais jungle exists because refugees want to end up in Britain; there is no reverse flow and it is impossible to surmise what might happen if there wereNick wrote:[
This seems to be exposed by stories in the press of orphans wandering around Calais, seemingly ignored by the French authorities, to the extent that British charities were operating in France to cover that deficiency. Of course, it may be an unbalanced picture, I don't know, but I would think it rather strange if groups of French charities started, say, setting up soup kitchens in London. ISTM that the French authorities were much more interested in allowing refugees to pass through, than in following the Dublin convention. I really don't see the UK government allowing "jungles" to exist in Britain for months on end.