Τυνησία - Λιβύη: Πολύνεκρα ναυάγια σκαφών που μετέφεραν μετανάστες

 
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Ο απολογισμός των θυμάτων του ναυαγίου πλοίου γεμάτου με μετανάστες, κυρίως υπηκόους χωρών της υποσαχάριας Αφρικής, που βυθίστηκε στα ανοικτά των ακτών της Τυνησίας νωρίτερα αυτή την εβδομάδα αυξήθηκε στους 61 νεκρούς, δήλωσε αξιωματούχος χθες Σάββατο. Στο σκάφος που απέπλευσε από το νησί Κερκένα το περασμένο Σαββατοκύριακο με σκοπό να φθάσει στις ακτές της Ιταλίας είχαν επιβιβαστεί δεκάδες άνθρωποι. Από την Πέμπτη, οι τυνησιακές έχουν κηδέψει δεκάδες από τα θύματα του ναυαγίου.

Η ακτοφυλακή ανέσυρε κι άλλα πτώματα, συμπεριλαμβανομένου αυτού ενός βρέφους, με τον απολογισμό να φθάνει έτσι τους 61 νεκρούς, σύμφωνα με αξιωματούχο της Πολιτικής Προστασίας. Ο προηγούμενος απολογισμός, που είχε ανακοινωθεί την Παρασκευή, έκανε λόγο για 55 νεκρούς. Πέρυσι 86 Αφρικανοί μετανάστες είχαν πνιγεί όταν το πλεούμενο στο οποίο είχαν επιβιβαστεί για να φθάσουν στην Ευρώπη από τη Λιβύη βυθίστηκε στα ανοικτά των τυνησιακών ακτών. Επρόκειτο για ένα από τα χειρότερα ναυάγια που κλήθηκαν να διαχειριστούν οι αρχές της Τυνησίας.

Η μη κυβερνητική οργάνωση Τυνησιακό Φόρουμ για τα Οικονομικά και Κοινωνικά Δικαιώματα έκρινε νωρίτερα αυτή την εβδομάδα ότι η νέα τραγωδία αποτέλεσε «αναπόφευκτη συνέπεια της περιοριστικής πολιτικής της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης ως προς τη μετανάστευση», καθώς οι Βρυξέλλες επικεντρώνονται περισσότερο «στην ασφάλεια» των κρατών μελών της παρά στην ανθρωπιστική αντιμετώπιση του προβλήματος «με δεδομένη την κατάσταση» στην εμπόλεμη Λιβύη.

Την ίδια ώρα 12 άνθρωποι αγνοούνται μετά το ναυάγιο της βάρκας στην οποία είχαν επιβιβαστεί μετανάστες που ήλπιζαν να φθάσουν στην Ευρώπη από τη Λιβύη, δήλωσαν επιζήσαντες χθες Σάββατο. Το ναυάγιο έγινε στα ανοικτά της πόλης Ζαουίγια, δυτικά της Τρίπολης, της λιβυκής πρωτεύουσας. Περίπου 20 από τους μετανάστες διασώθηκαν, ενημέρωσε ο Διεθνής Οργανισμός Μετανάστευσης (ΔΟΜ), που ανήκει στο σύστημα του ΟΗΕ.

Οι επιζήσαντες είπαν πως 12 μετανάστες αγνοούνται, συμπλήρωσε ο ΔΟΜ μέσω Twitter, χωρίς να υπεισέλθει σε λεπτομέρειες. Τα τελευταία χρόνια, η Λιβύη, όπου επικρατεί χάος μετά την πτώση του καθεστώτος του Μουάμαρ Καντάφι το 2011, έχει μετατραπεί σε μαγνήτη για τους μετανάστες που αποπειρώνται να φθάσουν στην Ευρώπη διά θαλάσσης συχνά με κίνδυνο της ζωής τους, με κάθε άλλο παρά αξιόπλοα σκάφη.

Xenophobia, xenomisia, and the failure of transformation

Khanya (Orthodox Christians from South Africa)

27 April 2015

 

Seven years ago there were outbreaks of xenophobic violence in various parts of South Africa, and this year (2015) we have seen more of them.
There has been some discussion about the accuracy of the term “xenophobia” to describe this, but it seems quite accurate to me, though I agree that we should perhaps add xenomisia. Xenophobia and xenomisia taken together mean “the fear and loathing of foreigners”, and that fear and loathing undoubtedly exists in some circles. This morning I saw a comment on Facebook, apparently intended in all seriousness, that the part of the Freedom Charter that reads “South Africa belongs to all who live in it” should be amended to read, “South Africa belongs to South Africans”.
South Africa is not the only country to experience xenophobia. It is found in most countries, and in some places it also leads to violence. See, for example, Neo-nazis are threatening an Orthodox community in Berlin / OrthoChristian.Com. In South Africa, the news media are generally against xenophobia, whereas in Australia and the UK the news media sometimes  actively promote xenophobia by using terms like “suspected asylum seekers”, thus implying that seeking asylum is a criminal activity rather than a human right.

 

Quite a lot has been written about the causes of xenophobic violence, though usually in terms of rather vague and abstract things like unemployment, poverty, or capitalism. This may be true, but it would be useful to have more specific studies of what prompted particular attacks.
In February 2008, for example, there were xenophobic attacks in Mamelodi in the City of Tshwane. These were not much noticed by the media, because they did not take place in Johannesburg. There was anecdotal evidence that the attacks were instigated by businessmen seeking to get rid of rivals who happened to be foreigners. A few weeks later there were similar attacks in Atteridgebille, and especially in the informal settlement of Brazzaville, on the other side of town. Some claimed to have seen combi-loads of people being brought in from Mamelodi who instigated the violence, in which some local people then joined. If these riots were started by businessmen seeking to get rid of rivals, then the cause could be said to be “capitalism”, but capitalism working in a particular way, and it is that way that needs to be examined more closely.
Perhaps such research has been done, but if it has, I would be interested in knowing the results — how many incidents of xenophobic violence were sparked off by this, how many by that? Other anecdotal explanations have been that someone was shortchanged in a shop run by a foreigner, an argument ensued, and it escalated from there. Or some crime takes place, and the perpetrators are heard speaking a foreign language. There is a hue and cry against “foreign criminals”, but how do you distinguish between criminals an non-criminals in such circumstances? And I don’t think hashtags or bumper stickers saying “Say No To Xenophobia” will do much to prevent it.
Some have asked why most of the xenophobia and xenomisia are directed at black immigrants from elsewhere in Africa, and not at whites in South Africa, who are themselves descended from immigrants, and have historically exploited black people in South Africa. I think this article, well worth reading, gives a clue to the answer If you come from another African country, you can never become fully South African | Africa is a Country:

The violence strikes at what is at the heart of post-apartheid South African identity. For all the talk of hospitality and “ubuntu,” xenophobic violence is a reflection of how the ruling ANC and most South Africans understand the boundaries of “South African-ness.” As commentator Sisonke Msimang suggests, what binds black and white South Africans together is a kinship based on their shared experience of colonialism and apartheid.

 

I discovered that for myself when I went to study overrseas in 1966 at the height of the apartheid era. I met a black South African friend who had arrived a few weeks after me, and we compared notes about our culture shock on arriving in Britain, which were very similar, and we both found it hard to get used to not having to look up when entering a post office or railway station or other public building to make sure that we were using the ethnically-correct entrance.
But a shared sense of South-Africanness does not necessarily lead to xenophobia and xenomisia, nor does it necessarily lead to violence, though it does lead to prejudice, which I am sometimes shocked to find in myself. I’m introduced to a Nigerian and the thought “drug dealer” surfaces. I’m introducted to a Bulgarian and the thought “car thief” surfaces. My rational mind intervenes and says “Don’t prejudge people by their nationality. You know it’s stupid.” But the thought is there, and comes, unbidden.
But if we are looking for the big abstract causes of xenophobia, then I think one that stands out is the failure of transformation. There’s a lot of talk of transformation, but little has actually changed. And when I speak of transformation I’m not talking about cosmetic changes like defacing or removing statues.
Take education.
Zimbabweans are a lot better educated than many South Africans, and as a result they tend to get better jobs. Because they are better educated, they often make better teachers, and we ought to welcome them with open arms, because they might be able to help us to transform education.
Why are Zimbabweans (and Congolese) better educated?
Because they never had Bantu Education, and the theory of Christian National Education, and the theory of Fundamental Pedagogics that underlay that.
I have been told that the one responsible for the transformation of education in Zimbabwe was Sir Garfield Todd, and his obituary seems to confirm that: Obituary: Sir Garfield Todd | Politics | The Guardian:

In 1946, Todd won the Shabani seat for the United Rhodesia Party, the most liberal of the groupings in the field. After rising through three ministerial postings, in 1953 he became prime minister and party president. He proceeded to introduce various progressive measures, including, in 1955, a five-year plan to give elementary education to every African of school age.

It seems that he left a legacy that not even Smith or Mugabe could destroy.
But at the very time that that was being introduced in Zimbabwe, South Africa was introducing Bantu Education. Yet in the last 21 years since the birth of our democracy, I am not aware of any serious attempts to undo the damage caused by Bantu Education and Christian National Education, which might bring about real transformation, rather than cosmetic changes. The people who might be able to initiate transformation in education, like John Samuel, were sidelined. See The disaster that is education in South Africa | Khanya
The other place where there ought to have been more transformation is policing.
We complain about xenophobia but we now see the police harassing foreigners as if they were conducting a 1950s pass raid.
And with armed mobs beating up foreigners, with comparatively few arrests, perhaps the xenophobic gangs get the idea that the police are conniving at what they do.
And then the police do the same to South Africans at Marikana.
Not much transformation there.

See also
 
The Kingdom of Heaven, where racial discrimination has no place  
Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa (& the Decolonization of Africa)
How “White” is the Orthodox Church?
The Orthodox Church in the Republic of South Africa 


Orthodox Christian Clergy Against Racism
Racism: An Orthodox Perspective
Christians and the immigration issue (& Orthodox Church of St Nicholas of Japan in Johannesburg)
Racial Identities and Racism by Mother Katherine
Grace and “the Inverted Pyramid”
The Heresy of Racism
Racism (tag)

"The African man is the stranger of our time... He is the man whom our Lord Jesus Christ describes"

The Orthodox Arusha church of “Evangelismos” lived on Sunday one of the most majestic and dignified moments in its history. It is a relatively small parish of a hundred local people coming from Orthodox traditions.

It was a strong spiritual moment of unity in Christ, common witness (martyria) and hope, as archpriests and priests from almost all Orthodox WCC member churches celebrated the holy eucharist [photo from here & here]. The serious orthodox missionary work that started in Tanzania with Archbishop of Albania Anastasios is continued today from the Orthodox Metropolitan of Arusha Agathonikos and several priests.

“We are here to teach – only in sacrifice - love and truth by example, we are here to support organically those in need. In Africa we are truly carrying the cross of mission and there is no easy path to follow”,  Agathonikos said.

The church was founded in 1953 and is delivering important work in the field of education, by operating at the same space the “Saint Constantine International School”. Students from several African communities and others coming from several orthodox countries are following a very high-level international curriculum that equips them with important assets for their future. A place of giving and promise for a better future in Tanzania based in knowledge and faith.

World Council of Churches

See also 

ENTHRONEMENT CEREMONY OF HIS GRACE BISHOP OF AROUSA AND CENTRAL TANZANIA

 

"With Bishop Agathonikos of Arusha and Central Tanzania to explore development in new diocese... 30 churches and 18 clergy..."

Greeting
by Theodoros II
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa
to the International Congress on Mission and Evangelism,
of the World Council of Churches, on the topic:
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25)
(8 –13 March, Arusha Tanzania)
Orthodox Archbiscopic of Zimbabwe & Angola

Pope & Patriach Theodoros. Photo from here.

 

Dear Delegates,
On the occasion of the deliberations of the World Conference on Mission and Evangelism of the WCC on the African Continent, from the See of the venerable Ancient Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, the Great City of Alexandria, we greet the delegates coming from all countries in the world, from the five Continents and pray with you, with God’s help, for the success of the issues to be addressed by the Congress, for a better future for the Global Community, with the contribution of Christians, for the peaceful coexistence of Peoples and social well-being.
The contribution of the World Congress on Mission, which began in 1910, was the first important step to bring to maturity the initiative of our Churches, after the great tragedies experienced by Humanity with the two World Wars, to establish the WCC in the same year that the UN was organized, in 1948, for the protection of Global Security and the peaceful solution of complex problems through dialogue.
As rightly emphasized by my Predecessor of the Presidents of the WCC, the late Patriarch Parthenios of Alexandria, "The proponents of the Ecumenical Movement, as genuine disciples of Christ, realized their responsibilities for the unity of Christianity and the strengthening of the visible unity of the Church". The deliberations of the World Congress on Mission and Evangelism, which took place for the first time 60 years ago in Ghana in Africa, were also based on this framework. 

We especially congratulate the Members of the Mission and Evangelism Commission, the Members of the WCC and the Central Committee, on the subject and the preparation of this important congress, which, as we know, will move in four directions.
Α. The ministry and Theology of Mission today and its role in the unity of Christians, the re-evangelization of those who are called Christians but whose works are far removed from the works of Jesus Christ and His Disciples, as well as the evangelization of People who have not yet had the opportunity of hearing the Word of Christ.
Β. The Ecumenical Dimension of the Conference on the Role of Mission and Evangelization, to strengthen the visible unity and cooperation of the Churches to address the problems currently threatening the cause of world peace and the prosperity of the People. All Christians must reflect on the role of mission, reconciliation, social justice, eradication of poverty, equal opportunities for education, health and nutrition for the needy and orphaned children, as well as the priority of a dialogue of love and understanding of mutual respect and tolerance for dealing with, and preventing, ongoing war and violent conflicts.
C. This important conference, being held in Africa, is an opportunity for the voice of the African continent to be heard, not only to highlight the problems that the African People are currently facing, but also to realize the reasons that cause them, so that the social injustices we are currently experiencing on our Planet against millions of defenseless children, particularly in Africa, are eliminated.
D. It is important that among the participating delegates at this Congress, our young people have a special presence and, for the first time, a remarkable initiative of organizing a Theological Seminar, for a hundred new theologians from all Continents, in order to staff our Ecclesiastical Schools, for Christian education.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Matthew 25: 34-36, from the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (the 3rd Sunday of Triodion in the Orthodox Church - see here). The icon from  In Communion (page in Facebook).

On the occasion of my communication with you, allow me to turn your attention to the responsibilities of Christians for the problem of Immigrants and Refugees, which is today a top problem in the world we live in, and we should all, through our missionary ministry, give priority to it, not just as a Christian duty, but as the self-evident moral responsibility of every person. I am glad that, as the representative of our Patriarchate and us, has informed me, His Eminence Seraphim Metropolitan of Zimbabwe, a member of the WCC Central and Executive Committee, this issue will have a central role in the deliberations of your Congress. I would therefore like to emphasize that for every Christian who wishes to experience the theme of your conference, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25), we should, with the virtue of discrimination, to view every immigrant and every refugee, as a blessing from God.
Christian teaching shows a particular sensitivity towards the migrant and the refugee, Besides, its founder, our Lord Jesus Christ, begins His earthly life as a refugee when the holy Family flees to Egypt to be saved from the threat of Herod (Matthew 2:13-15) and continues His earthly activity, as an immigrant, having nowhere to lay His head. For this reason, the respect of the human person, the recognition of Christ Himself in the refugee and the migrant, and therefore the rejection of any form of conduct that offends, degrades, harms or threatens the refugee and the immigrant, who is made in the image of God, becomes a question of the authenticity of his faith and the attestation of his proper path in the steps of Christ, the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church.
So who is the "other", the immigrant, the refugee, the "stranger" for the Church?
The "other", the immigrant, the refugee, the "stranger," is my brother/sister.
Therefore, since he is my brother, then there must be no opposition and quarrel, not even in the area of intellect: “Do not hate your brother in your heart” (Leviticus 19:17). And not only do not hate, but do not even cultivate the lie at the expense of your brother. On the contrary, you should open your hand and help him: ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor” (Deuteronomy 15:11). The "other", the immigrant and the refugee, the "stranger," are Christ Himself. In the face of "the other", the "stranger" I meet Christ Himself. The "other" is my salvation, and my entry into the Kingdom of Heaven depends on the relationship I have with him. Christ places Himself in the face of "the other", the "stranger," of my fellow man.

The Lord taught us that the only criterion for every believer to be next to Him, in His Church, is Love. In particular, he taught us that, as Christians, we must feel the need to give unlimited love to our neighbor, especially the suffering, especially the refugee and the immigrant, the "stranger", whom we are called to "draw in" and care for.
Our philanthropic care towards refugees and immigrants must be one of the most important tasks of the Christian because it is motivated by love for the neighbour.
But what is the meaning of “neighbour”?
Neighbour “according to Christian teaching is not only one who is locally or socially close, a relative, a compatriot, of the same faith and religion (…). A neighbor is not identified by external elements but is created with love and served with contribution and sacrifice. Christ came to the world as Messiah, in other words as Saviour and intercessor between God and man. And he accomplishes this work by approaching mankind as a neighbour. He appears as one who is hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, ill, imprisoned, one who needs help, hospitality and support. It is up to mankind to accept to respond to His coming. And if mankind offers Christ food, drink, a home, help, then Christ Himself will become for us food, drink, a home, help and eternal life. On the face of our neighbor is Christ Himself. That is why any offer to the neighbor is ultimately an offer to Christ, just as any refusal to offer to the neighbor is a refusal to offer to Christ. The real life of mankind lies in the face of his neighbour".
Let us come now, to the Africa of today, an area within our jurisdiction. The African man is the stranger of our time, an immigrant because of poverty, drought and disease and a refugee due to the ongoing warfare and terrorist phenomena. He is the man whom our Lord Jesus Christ describes.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, through its presence throughout the African continent, is far from intolerance, chauvinism and propaganda. Its basic aim is to unite all in multiformity and diversity, cultivating respect for the human person, harmonizing the polar oppositions of societies and peoples, "in the bond of peace", and by basing the love of Christ "who is the bond of perfection".

Photo from The Orthodox Vineyard of Africa

Today, Europe is shudders and balks at the wave of refugees and immigration, but the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria is experiencing this everyday on the vast African continent, where warfare, civil conflicts and biblical natural disasters create waves of impoverished refugees and immigrants.
This terrible need is experienced by tens of thousands of our African brothers in Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Congo, South Sudan and many other regions. Homeless and persecuted, refugees and migrants in their own country. Seeing these souls of God, the thousands of children who look at you with their great tearful and frightened eyes, we see the need for Church involvement in addressing and solving social problems. And this is natural, because the purpose of the Church is not to remain on the outskirts of life, but to approach man in all aspects and manifestations of his life.
Only in this way does he minister according to the example of Christ, who did not come to serve, but to serve and offer his life "as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45).
The purpose of Mission is the salvation of all people in Christ. At the same time, Mission cannot be indifferent to its contribution, to the extent that it is able to, in addressing the social problems of our fellow human beings. We must as Christians take care of solving the problems created by the current way of organizing and operating economic, political and social life. Exploitation, social injustice, violence, tyranny, unemployment, war, terrorism, migration, racism, environmental pollution, etc. are essential social problems that are naturally of concern to the faithful. And the interest in them remains mute, unless it is founded on man as a person "in the image of God"
Therefore,
As Christians, we must accept the stranger and the immigrant as a blessing and a gift from God.
To acknowledge that we are all made in God's image and have the same human rights for life, work, freedom.
To support the pain and sorrow of the victims of discrimination and to pray that Churches will welcome people of every race, color and nationality.

With prayers and love in Christ
Theodoros II
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

Note of our blog
For our brethren from the World Council of Churches, with love in Christ the posts:

Protestants ask: Why be Orthodox?

Getting to Know Your Church Fathers  

During the time that Luther and Calvin were formulating the Reformation...  

African Initiated Churches in Search of Orthodoxy...

Three popes and a patriarch
Basic Points of Difference between the Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church

The Road to Rome? Why Orthodoxy Deserves a Look 

I love the Pope & the Roman Catholic faithful, but...

Roman Catholics met Orthodoxy (blog)  

See also

 

The Orthodox Christian Church in Zimbabwe 

The Orthodox Church in Angola, st. Eleftherios (the "Man of Freedom") & st. Paisios of Holy Mount

The Kingdom of Heaven, where racial discrimination has no place 

Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa (& the Decolonization of Africa)

Ancient Christian faith (Orthodox Church) in Africa 

  

Forced slavery and self imposed slavery in Nigeria and beyond

By Afe Babalola
Vanguard

“We think this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our oracle and the priests. They say that your country, however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself”

In mid November CNN broadcast a video showing how black Africans were being auctioned at slave markets in Libya. Since then there has been a global outcry against what many see as confirmation of a gradual decline in global values. However, as noted by the New York Times, the reaction has been muted partly because there is a general consensus that the recent events are due to the hardline policies of the European Union against migration across the Mediterranean sea from Africa. To combat the endless waves of migrants that daily attempt to reach Europe from across the sea, European Countries have assisted Libyan authorities to intercept and return such migrants to Libya where they are kept in detention centres and subjected to numerous abuse. As alarming as this is, blaming the Europeans is not the solution. To combat this development, African leaders must go beyond rhetoric. To dares it effectively, they must however understand the underlying factors that have brought it about.

Origin of slavery

Slavery is as old as mankind itself as it is referred to in almost all religious and historical texts known to man. Prior to the transatlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans were shipped across the Atlantic ocean to the Americas, slavery was reported to have been rife in almost every ancient civilization and society including Sumer, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Ancient India, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Hebrew kingdoms of the ancient Levant, and the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas. In the course of the transatlantic slave trade however, Africans who in most cases had been captured by fellow Africans and sold to the Europeans, endured harrowing journeys by sea to various destinations. The slaves were chained and denied of the most basic of amenities such that an estimated 2.4 Million slaves did not survive the journey by sea. Such was the depravity of it all that the king of the then empire of Kongo, in a letter addressed to the King João III of Portugal stated as follows:
“Each day the traders are kidnapping our people—children of this country, sons of our nobles and vassals, even people of our own family. This corruption and depravity are so widespread that our land is entirely depopulated. We need in this kingdom only priests and schoolteachers, and no merchandise, unless it is wine and flour for Mass. It is our wish that this Kingdom must not be a place for the trade or transport of slaves…As soon as the captives are in the hands of white men they are branded with a red-hot iron.”

ABOLITION OF SLAVE TRADE

With growing opposition to the trade, the UK Parliament in 1807 passed the Bill that abolished the trading of slaves. However, not unsurprising some did not welcome the abolition. The King of Bonny was so horrified at the abolition that he reportedly exclaimed that:
“We think this trade must go on. That is the verdict of our oracle and the priests. They say that your country, however great, can never stop a trade ordained by God himself”
Over 200 years later, it appears that the oracles and the priests of the King of Bonny were right after all. It appears that despite the advent of modern religion in Nigeria as evidenced by the existence in Nigeria of virtually all denominations of the Christian faith and spread of its Islamic counterpart, that the “God” mentioned by the King of Bonny has maintained his ordination of the slave trade. How else can one explain the fact that after over 200 years of its abolition, Africans, and particularly Nigerians appear determined to continue the slave trade in one form or another? As reported by the U.S State Department, modern slavery takes several forms including:
“….the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion…using a number of different terms, including involuntary servitude, slavery or practices similar to slavery, debt bondage, and forced labor. Human trafficking can include, but does not require, movement. People may be considered trafficking victims regardless of whether they were born into a state of servitude, were exploited in their home town, were transported to the exploitative situation, previously consented to work for a trafficker, or participated in a crime as a direct result of being trafficked. At the heart of this phenomenon is the traffickers’ goal of exploiting and enslaving their victims and the myriad coercive and deceptive practices they use to do so.

However the difference between slavery as practiced then and the modern variants of it is that while slaves were formerly captured and sold into slavery against their will, people who in modern times end up as slaves do so out of actions taken willingly of their own free accord, either out of ignorance or out of sheer desperation. This is mostly applicable to Nigerians. For decades Nigerians have been plagued with the “check out” syndrome by which many Nigerians felt a need to flee the country in pursuit of greener pastures in foreign lands. In the 80s it was so profound that the authorities came up with a popular TV advertorial admonishing Nigerians to remain in the country and work towards its development. 
However what makes the Nigerian situation peculiar is not really the fact of migration to other countries, but more of the means and objectives of the said migration. Nigerians have been known to exploit any means available including outrightly illegal ones to migrate from the country. Nigerians have been known to dare great odds including long and perilous foot crossings of the sahara desert to dangerous crossings of the Mediterranean in unseaworthy vessels. In October 2016, the European Union reported that 22,500 Nigerians had crossed the Mediterranean into Europe between January and September 2016 while in 2015 a total of 23,000 made the crossing. As at October 2016, the UNHCR reported that 3,740 migrants had lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Africa into Europe and the said figure was just short of the 3,771 reported for the whole of 2015. That Nigerians were part of the dead is without doubt.

Account of two brothers

In February 2016, the Sun Newspaper published an account of two brothers who attempted the journey leading to loss of one of them. The publication read partly as follows:
“The two brothers from Edo State – Monday and Osas Amanmien – had embarked on the deadly voyage across the angry Mediterranean Sea, intent on hitting Italy where they hoped to make a better living. But the trip turned sour midway, leaving Monday dead. He drowned in the sea following a boat wreck. Although Osas miraculously survived the disaster, he had to endure one hellish hour, hopelessly floating on an empty keg and being brutally buffeted by the bullish, restless waves. And now, he lives with the eternal trauma of the last words of his brother. Monday had said, in a desperate tone: “My keg dey leak ooo,” before he finally went down. Osas says his brother drowned so that he might live. He recalled that when it became obvious that the boat was destined to go down, Monday summoned courage and seized two empty water kegs beside him. One was good, the other was bad. He gave his younger one the better keg so that he would be afloat and live while he struggled with the bad keg. He eventually drowned, Osas said. Not even his dead body was retrieved.”

See also
 

Slavery today!
Cocoa child slavery
Mutilation and torture for the blood diamonds!  

People for sale - Exposing migrant slave auctions in Libya!

St. John the Russian, the Free & Wonderworker Slave (May 27)
A family of slaves opposes an Empire: the Holy Martyrs Zoe & Hesperus, and their children sts Cyriacus & Theodulus
The Church as the Liberated Zone: "All we Christians are terrorists..." 
Fr. Moses Berry, a descendant of African slaves, Orthodox priest and teacher in USA

Christians and the immigration issue (& Orthodox Church of St Nicholas of Japan in Johannesburg)

Khanya (Orthodox Christians in South Africa)

Photo from the article Xenophobia and load shedding

[...] Actually, immigration is not one issue, but many, all of which are sometimes hotly debated.
If we look at history, we find that sometimes countries encourage immigration, and at others they discourage it. Many countries encourage immigration of people with skills that are in short supply among their citizens. But they are less welcoming to people who are unskilled, or whose skills they don’t require, and who will merely come to swell the ranks of the unemployed. And sometimes it works both ways. Here in South Africa, for example, we see trained medical people — doctors and nurses — emigrating to countries where they will be paid more. And we find doctors and nurses from countries where they are paid less wanting to come and practise in South Africa.
This has led to some strange things. For example, before the mid-1970s a lot of medical services in rural areas were provided by church hospitals and clinics. Often the doctors came from overseas. They could have been paid more in their own countries, but many of them saw their work as part of their Christian calling, so they wanted to be of service, even if the money was less. The government of the day did not like church hospitals, and in about 1973 most of those in the so-called “homelands” were nationalised, so that they could be under the ideological control of the government. The supply of overseas doctors dried up, and South African doctors did not want to work in the rural areas, where the money was not so good. So many of the former church hospitals were staffed by medical students who had been conscripted into the army.
Many immigrants, both skilled and unskilled, are refugees or semi-refugees. They are often prepared to do any work, whether it fits with their skills or not, and they are often prepared to work harder than local people, and to do work that the local people are unwilling to do.

I had a brief experience of this myself, back in 1966. I had finished my university degree in South Africa, and had a bursary to study in the UK, but because the South African academic year finished in November, and the UK academic year only started the following October, I had about 10 months to fill in while waiting. I worked as a bus driver in Johannesburg, and was trying to save money for my fare to the UK when I got a phone call from a security policeman who wanted to see me the next day, so I skipped the country, and landed in the UK almost penniless. I applied for a job driving buses for London Transport, but had to be able to show the immigration authorities that I would not, by doing so, deprive a British citizen of a job. At that time London Transport was short of 7000 bus drivers and conductors — more than the entire operating staff of the Johannesburg Transport Department, which had about 1300 drivers and conductors altogether. There were all kinds of bureaucratic hoops to jump through. In order to get a job, one had to have permission to work, but in order to get permission to work, one had to have a job. So I got a taste of the kind of thing that most immigrants have to go through (and, in that time of apartheid, South Africa discriminated in similar fashion against the majority of its own citizens).

 

Father Frumentius, the priest in Atteridgeville (from here)

In South Africa in 2008 there were outbreaks of xenophobic violence between February and May. They started in Mamelodi, where we go to church, and spread to other places. Foreigners were beaten up, chased out of their homes, their homes were sometimes set on fire, and some were killed. And the complaint was that the foreigners were taking jobs. The strange thing, though, was that, as Father Frumentius, the priest in Atteridgeville, noted, when the foreigners had been chased out, there were no South Africans moving in to provide the goods and services that the foreigners offered (see No bread, no matches, no candles — thanks to xenophobia).
There is also a perception that immigrants, legal and illegal, are responsible for the high crime rate, and this leads to resentment of immigrants and fuels xenophobia. How much truth there may be in this perception I can’t say, but there is also a suspicion that much of the xenophobic violence of 2-3 years ago was sparked by criminal gangs who were threatened by foreigners muscling on on what they saw as their territory. There were reports that they arrived by minibus taxi and began attacking foreigners and calling on others to join them.
All these things, and lot more, help to make immigration a contentious issue. Sometimes the contentiousness gets quite irrational, as I noted in a post on my other blog a few months ago, which is perhaps worth repearing here: Notes from underground: Which country are we talking about here?. It referred to a letter that appeared in the Cyprus Mail:

Surely I’m not the only person to see the irony of British expats in Cyprus making comments on the UK elections last week such as: “I’ve got nothing against immigrants but there are too many and it’s getting out of hand” and “Immigration concerns me. It’s only a little island”?
Coming over here… can’t speak a word of the language and the colour – pink as lobsters, some of them.

And the comments on that blog post referred to several other instances of this irony — British ex-pats living in Spain with similar complaints to those in Cyprus and Danish immigrants to Argentina complaining about immigrants from other places living in Denmark. But best of all was the story that Pauline Hanson, an anti-immigration politician from Australia, who had herself immigrated to Britain. So it seems that some of the people who are most vociferously opposed to immigration are themselves immigrants. As the old Fidonet tagline put it: “Illegal immigration is a problem in Australia; ask any Aboriginal.”
So how should Christians respond to “the immigration issue”?

I think of our Church of St Nicholas of Japan in Johannesburg (photo from here), and there is irony there too. We started it at a time when most Orthodox Churches in and around Johannesburg were immigrant enclaves, where South Africans were (and in some still are), regarded as “xeni”. We chose St Nicholas of Japan as out patron saint because he was a Russian missionary who went to Japan and planted a Japanese Church, not a Russdian one. We wanted a South African church and a South African Orthodoxy that would be multicultural as South Africa is, and not an ethnic enclave. 
But somehow we have always had a fairly high proportion of immigrants in the parish. Some of them have been birds of passage, stopping temporarily on their way to somewhere else. We had a Russian family that moved to Australia (and a couple of Russians who went back to Russia). We had a Syrian family that went to America, a Romanian family that went to Australia. We’ve had Americans who have gone back to America, and Brits who have gone back to Britain. We have several Romanian families who have stuck around, Zimbabweans, Kenyans, Serbs and Congolese, and some from Greece and Cyprus. So we are not just multiethnic and multicultural, we are multinational as well. I suppose that makes us more sympathetic to immigrants, at least most of the time. We did at one time have a Bulgarian immigrant who joined the AWB and wanted to chase all the black South Africans out of the church! In his case the sympathy wore a bit thin.
As Christians we are members of a “parish”, which makes us “parishioners”.
But what is a “parishioner”. The word comes from the Greek pariki, which means “beside the house”. The usual explanation is that the “house” is the parish church, and so the pariki are those who live around it. But if you translate it into Afrikaans, pariki becomes bywoners, which literally means “those who live next to”, but is usually applied to sojourners or squatters. In other words, people who are not permanent residents, but are birds of passage, temporary residents.

 

From the site of the St Nicholas of Japan Orthodox Church

In this sense, St Peter addresses all Christians as “parishioners” when he says “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” — ᾿Αγαπητοί, παρακαλῶ ὡς παροίκους καὶ παρεπιδήμους, ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν σαρκικῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, αἵτινες στρατεύονται κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς (I Peter 2:11). Parikous = strangers.
As the Epistle to Diognetus puts it:

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking (literally, “paradoxical”) method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners (literally “parishioners”). As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring (literally, “cast away fœtuses”) They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all.

The word translated as “sojourners” is, again, pariki. And, as Christians, we are all sojourners, squatters, temporary residents in this world. While “immigration” may be an issue for the world, for Christians there can be no issue about how to treat immigrants.

• Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt (Ex 22:21).
• But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God (Lev 19:34).

Since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 the notion of the sovereign nation-state has dominated the understanding of the way the world works. It is one of the characteristics of modernity and the modern worldview, with the concepts of passports, frontiers, citizenship, immigration and emigration. But as the Epistle to Diognetus makes clear, such things are to sit lightly with Christians, for whom every foreign country is a fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country. We are all ex-pats, we are all sojourners, we are all resident aliens in this world. So we will not get too excited about supporting the restrictive immigration policies of governments, especially when they are manifestly unjust or require us to behave unjustly towards foreigners.
As Christians we believe that “the earth is the Lord’s and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein” (Ps 23/24 v. 1). National boundaries and frontiers, citizenship and immigration and emigration are of temporal and not eternal significance.
“The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me” (Lev 25:23).`
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This post is part of a Synchroblog, where a group of bloggers post on the same topic on the same day, so that people can surf from one to the other and get different views on the same basic topic. You will find links to the other synchroblog posts here.

Note of the author, deacon Steve Hayes, from here: Christians can talk about xenophobia, preach and teach about it, and remind people that xenophobia is a sin that needs to be confessed. For Orthodox Christians a good opportunity to do this will be on the 5th Sunday of Pascha, which is the Sunday of the Samaritan woman.

NOTE of our blog

Please, see also

Saint Nickolas of Japan & the samurai Fr Paul Sawabe Takuma 

The Kingdom of Heaven, where racial discrimination has no place  

The Heresy of Racism

The Orthodox Church in the Republic of South Africa

How “White” is the Orthodox Church? 

Orthodox Mission in Tropical Africa (& the Decolonization of Africa)  
Outreach to the refugees and migrants currently in Greece 
The Church as the Liberated Zone: "All we Christians are terrorists..."

Outreach to the refugees and migrants currently in Greece

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Outreach to the refugees and migrants currently in Greece

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