Well, it didn't take long for our prediction to come true.
We warned back in September 2015 that sympathy for the Syrian/Arab/Muslim refugees would be transformed into hate to fuel geopolitical motives. Just four months separates the
'refugee rape epidemic' that, apparently, spontaneously broke out across Europe on New Year's Eve, from the date when 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach. Like the 'horde' of Syrians fleeing their NATO-torn country, Aylan's family tried crossing the Aegean Sea in a rubber dinghy, in dire weather conditions. Aylan, his 5-year-old brother Galib, and their mother Rehana, drowned.
Just to remind you of the chronology of events here. A photo-journalist happened to be at the beach Aylan washed up on; Western journalists suddenly noticed refugees were dying in droves; and the public expressed outrage for the 'collateral damage' pouring out of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. Whether or not Aylan's fate was deliberately used as political capital, public sympathy flowed for those fleeing the shadow of imminent and violent death. So many other events have transpired since that dark day in September. These days, you can barely register sadness for the loss of innocent lives before fresh atrocities make new headlines.
Death tollBut children drowning in the Aegean soon became yesterday's news, to be replaced more recently by growing public anger at and hatred towards those same people. Does anyone feel like they're being manipulated?
Over at the
Greek edition of SOTT.net, however, we didn't forget because we couldn't. Reports of new drownings came in almost daily. We kept track of them as best we could. Since Aylan's death, more than 180 child refugees are known to have drowned in the Aegean Sea. In most cases of mass drownings, a majority of the fatalities are children who don't know how to swim, and who are too small for their life-saving vests. For some of the refugees, even the parents, it was their first, and last, time seeing open waters. This list (with links to Greek reports) is long, unfortunately:
Comment: While the the city adds insult to injury by demanding residents pay for their own poison.