If you were an astronaut sitting out in space you would see a beautiful planet covered with land and sea masses. You would not see demarcation lines between countries, apart from possibly the Great Wall of China or Hadrians Wall. They only go to show that man has tried to create fiefdoms for millennia. Why? So that someone could rule, have power, wealth & subjugate others.
All through history, since the first humanoids, peoples have migrated to escape hardship, find food, or explore. Some have invaded to conquer & colonialise - including us. Nationality is an accident of birth. Borders are invisible in the landscape. Once you create them you create something which needs defending & fighting over. You also create cultural difference, yet human beings are essentially the same. We have the same needs & aspirations.
Despite the ever increasing population of the earth there is space for all. Our ever expanding knowledge & technological change means that we could produce enough for everyone if we shared more equally & more sustainably. But we don't. We want to keep what is "ours". We don't want to lose our advantage. We are selfish.
We see refugees & economic migrants as a threat. We see cultural & religious difference as "us & them". We don't empathise enough to imagine what we would do if we lived under threat of pain, suffering & even death or if we didn't have a fair share of life's goodies. We are in denial about what we should do as human beings. We want to retain our status quo.
Well it won't work. It is already coming back to bite us with a vengeance. Unless we all change, & pretty damn quick, the world will be engulfed in even worse horrors than today. There will be land wars, water wars, food wars, religious wars. The disposessed will not just accept the behaviour of the lucky few.
The role of big multinational companies & financial institutions is not blameless. Their twin "raison d'etre" is profit & shareholders. Workforces are exploited. Resources are plundered regardless of the cost to people & the environment. By the time the finite resources of our bountiful earth are at an end it will be too late. (Read "Collapse" by Jared Diamond if you don't believe me).
There will be a tipping point & there are more of "them" than us.
See Michael Sandel - BBC Radio 4 - Global Philosopher debate. I am not alone!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/the-global-philosopher
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