Redistribution & Economic Justice

Redistribution - distribution of something in a different, fairer, way, typically to achieve greater social equality.

200 million migrants regularly send back money to support their families and communities. These cash transfers reach around 800 million people — about one in ten people globally.

I have given quite a bit of money to my family & to charities for years. I am fortunate, I can afford to do that. I don't come form a wealthy background. My parents owned their own house, but had no capital savings to speak of. But because both my husband & I had a grammar school education, we both also had well paid, secure, professional jobs with good pensions. In my own small way I have tried to put into practice Economic Justice - a set of principles that aims to create equal opportunities for all people.

Economic Justice sets out to eliminate glaring inequalities in wealth, income, and property. It's about fairness. That seems to be seriously lacking in our world today. I have been watching "Go back to where you came from" on channel 4. It is enlightening - https://www.channel4.com/programmes/go-back-to-where-you-came-from  None of the participants are "bad " people, but they have very different views on refugees & migrants, which possibly represent the polarity of view in the UK from the far right to the liberal socialist. 

The one fundamental thing I feel is at the root of so many problems facing the world today is inequality & unfair distribution of everything from the basic necessities of life to wealth, education, justice & health care. People who don't have those things don't need our sympathy. They need our empathy & following on from that our will to share more equitably.

I increasingly do not recognise the UK. I think we have become a populist travesty of ourselves. We want to reinforce our borders & keep migrants, whether refugees or economic, out. We seem to be getting more & more insular on our island. We are also becoming less & less tolerant, more & more frightened & angry.

I just wish every one of us could really put ourselves in the place of so many people in our world who do not have what we have - a safe home, enough food, access to basic services, freedom of speech & freedom to be ourselves whatever our sexual orientation. We are not living under dictators - yet. 

We cannot, as a country, take in every refugee & migrant who wants to come here. We only have a relatively small land mass & we are financially broke. But we can & should work with other free countries to help solve the root problems that are causing a huge mass movement of people around the world that is ever increasing.

The problem will not go away. We have to find a humane way to fix it in the countries of origin of the migrations.  We also have to have proper legal ways for people to claim asylum here in order to help stop boat crossings. Currently we are not generally considered to have a "good" asylum process for applicants. They are complex and strict, with many challenges for applicants, including long processing times, a high burden of proof, and recent legislation making it more difficult to claim asylum.