Yes, this means that many a person who has based her future on 'saving Africa' will be out of a job. That is a good thing, the paternalistic (or, to be more precise, maternalistic) attitude towards Africa is both unwarranted as well as an example of the type of hubris which got 'us' here in Europe in this situation to begin with. Find another job, stop trying to impose your maladjusted visions of societal bliss on Africa and elsewhere, go do something useful instead.
[1] https://www.visualcapitalist.com/map-true-size-of-africa/
Aren't parts of the EU already encouraging them to migrate to plug labor holes in their demographically top-heavy systems and keep wages down? Wouldn't that outweigh these efforts?
the oligarchs, who are the power behind the throne in every country on this planet, don't care what color the underclass is - they simply want lower wages for their peasants and higher value for their properties. the politicians and the media they own will always find a rationale to do their bidding.
Whichever is true, we all benefit, so why agitate over it? Conflating the two issues will not generate a single iota of good so drop it.
There is no significant migration of subsaharan africans to the north of Africa. They want to go to europe, and pay smugglers to get them there.
The article is out of touch with reality. That said, mass migration due to climate change SHOULD of course be a great fear for europe.
But back to us Europeans: Since we already have "basically" everything we want (including low inequality), we can afford to look forward to dangers that lurk only on the horizon. Also, our politicians do listen to their voters (at least sometimes) because media is less corrupt and votes count. This all helps.
Nonetheless, Europe is still too slow and we are heading right into the climate desaster anyway. But at least we did and do something. Yes, it lets me sleep better.
guywithahat•2h ago
I don't think the politics of the average person think this many steps ahead, but if they did it would be a legitimate concern, especially given the struggles Europe has experienced trying to assimilate the migrants it currently has.
zahlman•2h ago
When pundits in the modern era speak of this sort of fear, the point is not necessarily "the thing that others are afraid of would actually be good". The point is more likely "this won't happen, thus the fear is groundless and the people with the fear are irrational".
(Although I'm sure there are at least some people who consider that there is no good reason to put an upper bound on immigration, or ever turn anyone away; I'm not going to try to explain such a mindset, because it's beyond my own comprehension. In many cases, people may simply not have thought about - or not currently be thinking about - the numbers, and simply operating on a moral principle of uplifting people by admitting them into a geographic region with higher GDP/capita.)
Of course, the argument often depends on highly subjective definitions of "this". And of course, different people have their own reasons to extrapolate observable trends differently, depending on their own level of trust in institutions, which will depend at least a little on their personal history.