The Inequality of Rescue
Rich people on a foolhardy adventure attract extensive, expensive rescue efforts. Poor migrants fleeing desperate poverty are left to die.
[Updated on June 24, 2023]: I’ve been struggling with how to frame the horror of two recent tragedies.
One is the death of five wealthy adventurers (including a British businessman of Pakistani origin – a scion of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families – and his teenaged son) who perished when their submarine apparently imploded at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near the wreck of the Titanic.
The other is the death of hundreds of poor migrants, including more than 100 from Pakistan, seeking refuge in Europe when their overcrowded boat sank in the Mediterranean. This recent reader comment to an article in the New York Times sums it up:
A little submarine with some rich folks who wanted to have a look at the Titanic sunk.
All possible means, all possible efforts are taken to try and save the unfortunate tourists.
In other news, a boat with 700 people seeking a better life has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea while the Greek coast guard was towing the boat to Italian waters so that Greece would not have to deal with the "issue".
No means are available, no effort is undertaken.
Marc Panaye
Belgium
It doesn’t take a genius to understand what accounts for the difference in response. The image at the top from a German public radio and television broadcaster shows the difference graphically. The billionaire’s sunk submarine prompted attempted rescue operations from multiple sources from the United States, Canada and France. Preliminary estimates indicate that the cost of the U.S. government’s efforts alone have already exceeded one million dollars.
Who went out to help the migrant boat? Nobody.
I mention the Pakistani connection simply because it underlines the stratification in which human lives society values and which humans are devalued. There really is little more to be said. But there is much more to be done to fight against this inequality.
#MigrantLivesMatter