Greece is Being Filled with Economic Migrants, Not Refugees, While Merkel Orders More

By Joshua Tartakovsky

4 March 2016

First we had the Hotspots, where Greece was ordered by the EU to create locations where refugees and migrants will be placed. Greece was told the Hotspots would be there for a short period, and a government minister said refugees would be placed there for 72 hours only. But reality proved otherwise. A fence was constructed along the border with Macedonia and Merkel said the migrants must remain in Greece. The Slovak Prime Minister said Greece must be “sacrificed” and blamed it for not stopping the refugee flood from Turkey, as if it could do anything.

Now, the Greek islands are now full with migrants ,chaos is the name of the game and tourism has been sinking for months. Migrants are arriving at 5,000-7,000 a day and growing. But that was not enough. On Saturday, came the order. Chancellor Merkel, who refused to compromise with Greece on its debt despite the fact that it cannot ever recover economically without a stimulus and is sinking deeper and deeper into depression, said that Greece is not doing enough to accept refugees although the country cannot even provide for its own. Merkel ordered Greece to work at a “lightening speed.” An order is an order, when the Führer decides something, it must be carried out.

Lebanon also accepted refugees. In fact, 25% of the total population are now refugees. But Lebanon is a good member of the global society. It abides by international law. In Lebanon, migrants and refugees have freedom of movement. Not the EU. Migrants and refugees in the EU are confined not to international law but to EU law serving corporate profit. They do not enjoy freedom of movement but must remain in Greece. In Germany migrants will be paid one euro per hour for their work, with the government supposedly paying 7.5 Euro more. In Greece, migrants will be used as slave labor by corporations, explained Greek socialist economist Mr. Dimitris Kazakis.

The discourse regarding the refugee crisis has been very misleading. Many people feel bad for the refugees, myself included. But a visit to Victoria Square in Athens where the “refugees” are stranded revealed very quickly that almost of all of them if not all, appear to come from Central Asia, not Syria. They were not fleeing a war. That they could afford to come all the way to Greece and pay for the high smuggling feeds meant either that they are not poor but middle class or that someone paid for them to come. A woman I spoke to wondered how the migrants had the money to make such a long journey. She said that following the wars in Iraq and Syria refugees did not rush to Greece. “What has changed?” she wondered aloud.

Victoria Square exhibits children along with their mothers, young men and families. Of course, every sentient human being will feel bad for people without a home, especially for the children. But what will the migrants do in Greece? Greece’s economy has 48% of unemployment among youth. What kind of long term solution does Greece have for these people? None.

Victoria Square, Athens, March 4, 2016

Greeks, however, long accustomed to migrating themselves, feel bad for the migrants. A “Refugees Welcome” protest was held in Athens by well-meaning liberals over the weekend. A petition to this effect was organized by Trotskyists and pseudo-socialists. But in a country that already has severe unemployment, what is the solution of those who signed the petition for the migration crisis? For the large companies the solution is simple: Fire the Greek and hire the migrant. But why would the Left advocate such a thing?

The European Left has truly lost it. Socialism means working hard for a better society and ensuring fair rights for one’s own people first and foremost. It is not welcoming everyone when the economy is bad, giving free hand-outs, and not thinking about tomorrow – at a time when one cannot even take care of one’s own. This is not the 1950s and the German Wonder Years. The economy is in a structural crisis and unemployment will expand. Emptying countries of their middle class inhabitants, increasing unemployment in Europe for locals and employing migrant for slave labor, is a receipt for disaster and social conflict. Of course, migrants must be taken care of by the UN but as long as Greece is a member of the EU, migrants will be exploited by transnational corporations as they do not enjoy freedom of movement.

The Western Left forgot that before one can help others, one must help oneself first. That local conflict and sexual attacks may ensue at an unscreened acceptance of millions of Muslim migrants should be obvious when one looks at the examples of Sweden and Germany. And what kind of a solution is it to absolve oneself of responsibility for causing wars in other countries by accepting migrants who left their wives and mothers behind who will then be employed as cheap labor while locals become unemployed? A holistic solution to the problem would require a policy of non-interference and allowing countries to develop without exploitation. But such a solution does not match the vision of those who seek endless profit and do not mind destroying more and more countries. Such a solution would also not allow war-mongering liberals as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to feel good about their “humanitarianism” for accepting Syrian refugees into the US while they support terrorism in Syria and Palmyra is destroyed forever. No people should be forced to accept economic migrants when their own economy is in shambles.

Greek volunteer providing free hand-outs in Victoria Square. Free hand-outs for refugees (never to locals) is the new liberal imperative.

The hypocrisy of Merkel is particularly noteworthy. Not only has she been taking an active part in the destruction of Syria and refused to accept Greece’s modest proposals for alleviating the economic crisis, she now calls on Greece to accept more “refugees” at an even faster pace. The EU gave 3 billion euro to Erdogan, who has been sending migrants across the Aegean. Greece, an EU member, is supposed to get just 700 million euro for accepting the migrants.

It is time to speak openly on the migration crisis: they are not refugees, they are migrants. Of course, the financial elite would love to see more conflicts on European soil which is why people should not blame the migrants who likely were misled into coming into Europe based on false promises. In Germany some migrants already expressed their wish to return to Iraq after finding Germany not as idyllic as they thought. People should not fall into the “Refugees Welcome” fantasy. It will end badly.