Immigration, obligation and tolerance

In reaction to the recent aggressive confrontations against immigrating Iranians behind Greek borders.

In the history of human kind, immigration has been one of the ways to protect one’s life and hold onto minimum standards of livelihood; and when masses were facing insolvable problems in a short period of time, immigration was probably their only option; problems such as war, drought, fatal diseases or invasion were some of the factors that could render life impossible and so they headed for more fertile lands.

Today people might immigrate not solely because of famine, drought or war but because of their goals and purposes. They consider immigration as the only resolution to accomplish or achieve what they want. In the meantime, we sometimes find disgusting behavior with immigrants around the world. In the recent case, the treatment of asylum seekers by the Greek maritime and coastal police (which sought to sink and overthrow their boats), though these were illegal, was a non-humanitarian act far from all international protocols. . A reaction that could have been made in accordance with the protocols agreed between the countries in this regard, and would not hurt such sentiments all over the world, as if human beings are wolves and their backs are killing their own species.

In these circumstances, actions like beating and intimidating immigrants and burning their tents, malfeasance due to cultural differences against people who have just been through numerous hardships is a behavior based on selfishness that will only lead to more hatred and conflicts. Aggressive deeds of Greece government’s against these immigrants is inhumane and Imam Ali’s Society condemns any violent behavior in this area and calls on international communities to address the issue.