A little off topic, but it's interesting how the issue of refugees parallels the issue of access to education - and how the arguments offered by philosophers parallel the arguments offered by educational adminstrators, everything from the 'lifeboat ethics' position argued by biologist Garrett Hardin (the logic of the elites) to funding poor countries to take in refugees by Peter Singer (the logic of the development agencies). I have argued locally that New Brunswick should offer to take in a substantial number an seek support from the rest of Canada to assist; it's an approach that would be beneficial to everybody.
But philosophically, I admit that I fall into the 'open borders' camp. As Joseph Carens writes, "Citizenship in Western liberal democracies is the modern equivalent to feudal privilege—an inherited status that greatly enhances one's life chances. Like feudal birthright privileges, restrictive citizenship is hard to justify when one thinks about it closely." And it is even more difficult to justify in an era of globalization, free trade and free markets, international movement of capital, and all the rest. If money and goods can flow freely about the globe, people must be able to do so as well; to do otherwise is to condemn them to exploitation and brutality.
p.s. if you're not familiar with it, Quartz is a terrific round-up of international news and a must-read on my daily agenda.
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