2015/09/10

THE REFUGEE CRISIS: A MUSICIAN'S PERSPECTIVE

Like many people I’ve spent the last weeks in dialogue with both myself and those around me about the Refugee Crisis in Europe and beyond. There has been a public surge of engagement, humanity and even idealism since the body of the little boy Aylan Kurdi was washed up on the shore in Turkey. It is reflective of our modern world that it takes such happenings to shake us out of our slumber. Yet if the energy of people is renewed, then at least this little boy’s tragic death will not be in vain.

Many people have been asking themselves the same question – what can I do? And it is upon this question, I believe, that this moment will revolve.

There has been a sense of idealism that I have never experienced in my life. A sense of the “brotherhood of man” that Lennon sang about when Imagine was recorded in 1971.

For better or worse our idealism is always married to extremes of suffering. I don’t know why, but it too often takes tragedy to reawaken our humanity.

And in that is the danger of this moment. Do we forget that barely 6 weeks ago, Europe was united, momentarily, in empathy with the economic crisis and its impact on the people of Greece? Any yet now, you struggle to hear a story of the every day plight of working Greek people.

I am old enough to greet idealism with both hope and skepticism. Hope that it may endure into lasting action. Skepticism to know that our activism is more often than not spurred momentarily by new cycles – and the pictures that briefly stir our humanity.

This moment is an opportunity. Will we seize it? Will we chose to play our part? Will we find a way to engage? Will we allow our own perspectives to renew, to shift, to be transfigured by the moment? Will our old prejudices open themselves to the possibilities of new understandings? Will we take a moment to be glad for what we have, and use some of the energy provided by stability, employment and wealth for the lives of others?

My heart has pumped a new beat to the tune of some of the things I have seen. People opening up their homes to refugees. People greeting refugees with cheers at train stations. Signs of “Mum” held aloft by refugees who perhaps see before history the legacy of Angela Merkel.

Most markedly for me has been the reaction in football stadiums where there have been signs of “refugees welcome” held aloft by fans.

As someone who believes in the significance of little things, and of small actions, these have been huge signs. We always turn to politicians for the solutions, while in the very same moment point fingers and find blame figures. Often valid, yet often distractive.

We too often turn the blame onto someone else. Human suffering exists, and I believe that our ability to deal with it begins by overcoming blame……and rather turns on the question of “what am I myself willing to do?”….“How can I contribute?”

The realities of what is happening in the world are macro forces beyond even politics. No matter what policy politicians come up with, there are forces at work beyond our control. The world’s populations is expanding in my life time from 6 to 9 billion people. We read in the papers how technology will solve our problems, but the earth’s resources are finite, our clashes of belief too fundamental, our inability to exist harmoniously with one another too tenuous.

For me the key question is not in our policies, but in our humanity. Yes of course we need to find solutions, but if these solutions are always based on our philosophy of blame, and of pointing the finger at “the other”, we will never reach a greater basis of understanding, of action, and ultimately, of overcoming.

It begins in ourselves, in the questions we ask, and in the actions we chose to make. That is why my music is based on the language of the spirit. A continual movement of the heart into little actions will always be greater than a U.N resolution which struggles in its wording of a thousand languages and the challenges of implementing policy beyond borders.

To be clear – this is not an anti intellectual article. I believe in the importance of the U.N, in its significance, even if like many institutions it crushes itself in its own dialogues and ability to be effective. It is the best of what we have.

But I do believe that what has changed – at least for now (and which is only in its inception) is that there has been a turning towards individual responsibility in Europe. For me that is a break through in itself, and where the future challenge ultimately lies.

800,000 migrants will arrive in Germany this year. What is important is not now how high the signs we raise today are, but the longevity of today’s murmurs in our hearts. Will today’s empathy survive the test of reality? Of a shrinking Europe, of huge expansions in ethnicity, in a population boom, in the problems which exist in integrating huge quantities of migrating people into new societies.

The problem in many ways is not just of now – but of the future. Can our flag waving translate into a spirit of welcome and change as the landscape of our culture changes?

I believe it can, and beyond that, it has too. Because the world is changing, and the problems we are witnessing are not going to disappear.

Resource war, food shortages, clashes of ideology are the characteristics of the wider world.

Can empathy, brotherhood of man, co-existence and love of others be the characteristics of our inner world?