DiEM25 has clearly pointed out that the continental-scale social, economic and environmental crisis exploded in the XXI century require a continental-scale political organisation pursuing policies across the board, in a unified platform. More importantly, DiEM25 has backed up its correct intuition, defining such policies in the Green New Deal (GND) and giving life to a network of thousands of activists and multiple organisations in the European Spring (ES). These key elements represent a formidable ground to build on: internationalism as a method and the GND as a political platform. However, it must be acknowledged that the EU elections in May ended with an overall disappointing performance for the ES, and no elected MEP directly associated with the ES. The causes at the root of this insuccess are mostly organisational and strategic: these are the elements that need to be fixed, to pursue the GND across the European Union and beyond.

1-  A brief analysis of the EU election results.

DiEM25 was born with the explicit objective to become the glue that would keep together the numerous left-wing European national parties, helping them to collaborate in the generation of a shared platform for a radical transformation and democratization of the EU. This attempt mostly failed during the year 2018, as many of the targeted national parties (e.g. Podemos, France Insoumise, Bloco de Esquerda) became somewhat convinced of the necessity of a nationalist perspective. Indeed, an increasing number of activists in these parties saw a return to a national dimension as the only way to grant access to the surging anti-EU sentiment, or a necessary step to fight economic neoliberalism and austerity measures, which are deemed ingrained in the EU institutions. Even where an alliance was indeed established (e.g. in France, Denmark, Poland), the results have been underwhelming and all ES-related parties have failed to reach their respective national electoral thresholds. Finally, and with the exception of the Greek campaign which was really close to reach its main result of electing one MEP, also the experiments carried out with DiEM25’s own electoral wings did not produce positive results. Importantly, the campaign in Germany, where the most prominent among DiEM25 activists have invested a substantial amount of their efforts and the little economic resources available to the Movement, ended with a disappointing 0.3%, one third of the required threshold. Here, DiEM25 missed its target both in the attempt to build an alliance and in the subsequent attempt to run alone, as the electoral campaign did not succeed in the symbolic goal to elect Yanis Varoufakis among the German MEPs.

This general strategy was used consistently across countries, and it was not adapted to the local national context. In this sense, the case of Italy represents an interesting example of why plasticity is necessary across the continent. In Italy, the initial attempt to form an alliance not only had to overcome the difficulties posed by the anti-EU sentiment and nationalist surge that are affecting the left at the continental level. It also involved various pre-existing small parties and local personalities who came from years of reciprocal vetoes and personal hatreds. Unsurprisingly, such an attempt stalled the action of the Movement in Italy during quasi-impossible negotiations and ultimately failed. Overall, the intention to overcome both macro and local political difficulties on the basis of Yanis’ charm offensive was generous, but naive: it led to negotiations with (sometimes only supposed) leaders from a position of weakness, as the ES seemed to need them more than they felt they needed us. 

Finally, once the electoral campaign started, in the months leading to the election day, it was characterised by little European coordination, making of the ES an “electoral cartel”, rather than a coalition. This is probably due to two unresolved issues:

• Both the ES and DiEM25 have only vaguely defined the type of electors they are meant to represent in the (i.e. the social classes they speak to and for). From the outside, they have probably been perceived as a left-leaning movement of intellectuals, akin to a think tank.
• DiEM25 is structured around a mechanism that can be defined as “anarchic centralism”. The activists at the local level are free di set their own paths and make their own decisions, but the CC can at any time (and does) impose significant changes of direction, independent of any previous agreement and without an efficient top-down communication system. This leaves local activists surprised about decisions that affect them directly, and deprives them of credibility in their future efforts. This confusion affects the political strategy used to pursue the objectives of the GND, and it is further increased by the presence of decision making bodies with overlapping or not-clearly defined functions (e.g. Electoral wing vs National collective), which has also resulted in open conflicts among activists of the Movement.

2-  What is to be done?

To overcome the temporary set-down we experienced in May, it is necessary to act on multiple levels at the same time.

• The organization. DiEM25 has to give itself a properly federal structure, with the aim to allow the coordination of few, widely shared continental-scale actions, to foster the exchange of ideas, methods and information among countries and regions, and help the growth of local activism. At the same time, it must grant autonomy to the National Collective of each country, giving them sufficient freedom, within the political space offered by the GND, to set their own strategy, define local alliances, communication methods and empowering their ability to choose where to point the spotlight (again, within the GND) and how to open their social conflict.

This increase of autonomy has to come at the price of a more structured organisation, to allow for the accountability of the elected bodies at the regional, national and European level. History has shown the XX century party structure has its problems: it slows down the ability of a political movement to react to changes in the environment, due to excessive internal red tape, and it limits leadership renewal. However, a form based purely on assembly-style decisions easily becomes dysfunctional when numbers grow, leaving few organisers with an unchecked and unaccountable decision power.

• Alliances. We need to use the platform of the GND to set and open a series of social conflicts, at the local and the European level, discussed and agreed among National Collectives and Coordinating Collective. These conflicts will allow also to discern allies from people or organisation who are simply planning to tag along for a short time for their own advantage. Electoral alliances often have a short life, conversely, movements that join forces to reach common political objectives are more likely to keep working together and show unity at the time of elections.
• A medium term strategy (2-3 years). The GND provides a complex platform that is difficult to present to the wide public in its entirety. In similar conditions, in the US, the social-democratic left (Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez etc.) uses a method that can be applied to the European context as well. They rely on a core of policies, decided after highlighting their social targets, as campaign spearheads for the entire platform. In the US, where working class and lower middle class in the past have been overlapping, this core has been identified in recent years in a universal health care reform and federal minimum wage, which immediately impact the lives of tens of millions of people. Once the spotlight is captured, the agenda can be set also on issues like housing, cancellation of student loan, immigration policies, free education, anti-discrimination policies, basic income and more. This strategy has helped propelling Sanders from the far left fringe in the Democratic Party to the position of most recognisable contender in the primaries in both 2016 and in the current cycle. More importantly, the change in the discourse has  reshaped in just 2 years the political agenda, creating a fertile condition to elect further representatives who support similar policies.

I believe in the EU, such spearhead can be represented by a European Union job compact, that would aim at setting the minimum standards for the entire EU, including: a minimum wage, 35 hours per week, union protection, automatic inflation adjustments, anti-discrimination policies (e.g. gender gap), leave policies (parental leave, sick leave, vacation etc.) and more.

It is important to stress that such a strategy would not imply that DiEM25 is neglecting other parts of the GND that require immediate attention, like the existential threat posed by climate change. It rather means that we need a tool that allows us to smash through that rubber wall that has been built by the economic neoliberalists and is currently presided by the populist, authoritarian or plain neofascists. In other words, we have to get rid of the Orban and the Salvini-like, as well as the Macron and Merkel-like, to be sure to move towards carbon neutrality. We could tailor a EU job compact exactly for this purpose, starting from a European Citizens’ Initiative (https://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/welcome):

• It clearly cuts through the nationalist logic, as (for instance) the minimum wage has to be applied for the entire EU to avoid social dumping and outsourcing.
• It breaks the logic of the migrants as responsible for the poor work conditions and salaries in the EU, showing all workers are on the same side of the fight.
• It marks the difference between the third space approach and both the internationalism of the economic neoliberalists and the nationalism of the authoritarian, populists or neofascists, forcing them to show their true colors.
• It allows a clear-cut division between allies and adversaries in the left.

La prima metà di giugno ha regalato al mondo degli esempi concreti di come qualcosa di negativo possa facilmente trasformarsi in qualcosa di orribile. [An English version of this post, here]

Per primo, si è espresso il Procuratore Generale statunitense Jeff Sessions, che ha chiarito come al confine tra Stati Uniti e Messico sia perseguito uno specifico obiettivo politico tramite la separazione di bambini anche molto piccoli (fino a pochi mesi di vita) dai loro genitori. La diffusione via stampa di bambini in lacrime e terrorizzati mentre vengono strappati ai loro genitori e ai loro fratelli o sorelle sarebbe infatti utile come deterrente per altri futuri migranti-richiedenti asilo che volessero tentare di raggiungere quel confine.

A distanza di pochi giorni, alla nave Aquarius, gestita e finanziata da una agenzia non governativa, è stato impedito di avvicinarsi ai porti italiani sostanzialmente con un editto a firma di quell’immensa merda nella forma del ministro degli interni italiano Salvini. La nave aveva in precedenza salvato 600 tra migranti e richiedenti asilo nelle acque dello stretto di Sicilia ed è stata costretta ad attraversare mezzo Mediterraneo, affrontando condizioni meteo non semplici, per raggiungere la Spagna e ottenere finalmente assistenza.

Non siamo arrivati a questo punto in un giorno. Sia l’Unione Europea che gli Stati Uniti adottano politiche anti-immigrazione restrittive e anti-solidali da diversi anni ormai. Potremmo quindi essere tentati dall’idea di considerare questi due eventi nel loro contesto generale e quindi concentrarci sulla battaglia più ampia contro le cause prime che sono alla radice di questo razzismo. Potremmo puntare il dito contro l’uso della brutalità contro i migranti come capro espiatorio, utilizzato per nascondere la causa reale del degrado economico-sociale nei rispettivi Paesi: la riallocazione di risorse economiche dai lavoratori al più ricco 1% della popolazione, tramite la diminuzione dei salari, delle protezioni sociali e del lavoro, dei servizi offerti dallo Stato ecc. Le reazioni emotive sono spesso malviste all’interno del contesto dell’analisi politica di sinistra, perché facilmente portano a rappresentazioni ipersemplificate della realtà, che troppo facilmente vanno ad incoraggiare proprio quella narrativa offerta dalla estrema destra populista. dopotutto, queste politiche razziste e crudeli sono proprio basate su semplificazioni, fallacie logiche o fatti distorti o mal descritti. L’idea che i migranti siano responsabili per la disoccupazione o per il peggioramento delle condizioni di lavoro o ancora per i bassi salari (per usare alcuni esempi molto diffusi) è facilmente attaccata facendo ricorso alla realtà dei fatti. Per esempio negli USA al momento si registra uno dei tassi di disoccupazione più bassi della storia recente, in un trend iniziato ben prima dell’introduzione delle politiche restrittive sull’immigrazione. In Italia, la disoccupazione ormai cronica non mostra alcuna correlazione con i flussi migratori, anche analizzando i trend dagli anni ’90 (inizio del fenomeno dell’immigrazione in Italia), ad oggi. Paesi come la Germania, la Francia o la Svezia sono caratterizzati da condizioni di lavoro migliori di quelle presenti tanto in Italia che negli USA, nonostante i numeri ben più consistenti in termini di rifugiati e migranti (in termini di percentuali sulla popolazione) che hanno raggiunto questi Paesi negli anni del post-crisi economica. In altre parole, i flussi di migranti possono aumentare, diminuire o anche diventare negativi e il tasso di disoccupazione, le condizioni di lavoro o in generale gli indici che marcano le diseguaglianze di un dato Paese si muovono come fattori completamente autonomi. Se possibile, ancora più ridicola l’idea che i Paesi più ricchi del mondo possano affrontare difficoltà economiche nell’aiutare anche alcune decine di migliaia di migranti per anno, soprattutto in considerazione del fatto che in questo stesso periodo sono state rese effettive (in USA) o vengono apertamente discusse (in Italia) iniziative di legge dedicate ad immensi tagli delle tasse mirati unicamente a favorire i ricchi. Per finire, una menzione speciale per la presunta correlazione tra l’ingresso di migranti ed il tasso di criminalità: sia in USA che in Italia il numero di crimini è in costante diminuzione da circa 35 anni. Nessuna correlazione ipotizzabile con flussi migratori che nel frattempo sono aumentati, diminuiti o rimasti costanti, a seconda dei periodi.

[NB su questi temi ho inserito un po’ di links, soprattutto in Inglese, alla fine di questo post, dopo le immagini]

In poche parole, i dati e la narrativa neo-fascista/nazionalista non solo non si supportano, ma sono in aperta contraddizione. Tuttavia ci sono momenti in cui dati, numeri e fatti concreti non sono sufficienti a comprendere l’enormità criminale di una politica e combatterla.  Diventa invece tutto molto più chiaro nel momento in cui si e’ posti di fronte ad alcune fotografie. Come accaduto per un’altra fotografia scattata in giugno (1972), le emozioni si tramutano nel classico pugno nello stomaco. Al tempo, il mondo fece i conti con le orrende conseguenze associate all’uso del Napalm in Vietnam. Oggi vediamo cosa succede a bordo della Aquarius o sul confine tra USA e Messico e prima che sia possibile anteporre una forma di ragionamento, come esseri umani proviamo tristezza, paura, rabbia. Non possiamo evitare di identificare in queste fotografie altri esseri umani in uno stato di sofferenza e trattati in modo crudele. Anche per quelli che in un momento successivo dichiarano che non saprebbero come intervenire e che preferirebbero che quei migranti non intraprendessero il viaggio così da evitare il rischio e la sofferenza con con questo viaggio sono associate (come se chi parte avesse una scelta), anche queste persone che cercano una spiegazione che giustifichi l’azione crudele e razzista, nel profondo comprendono che quello che sta succedendo è sbagliato, doloroso, ripugnante.

Queste reazioni di pancia, emotive, automatiche sono causate da meccanismi neurali che ci consentono di riconoscere la sofferenza e l’angoscia di un bambino (quando non di un adulto), in modo tale che si possa innescare anche la reazione istintiva di intervenire per interrompere questa sofferenza. Non abbiamo bisogno di spiegare a noi stessi il motivo per questa reazione, ci limitiamo a sentirne l’urgenza. Nonostante nella psicologia popolare le emozioni siano solitamente rappresentate come in contrapposizione con la logica e la ragione, in realtà queste reazioni emotive sono dei processi di decisione razionali codificate in termini genetici. Un esempio classico e’ quello fornito dal modesto ratto di laboratorio: anche nel caso in cui un singolo esemplare derivi da generazioni di ratti di laboratorio, nessuna delle quali sia mai stata esposta alla presenza di un predatore, nel momento in cui questo dovesse percepire la presenza -ad esempio l’odore- di un gatto, reagirebbe immediatamente mostrando paura. Perché? Banalmente quei ratti che hanno codificato nei propri geni questa reazione a livello istintivo e quindi esibiscono il comportamento associato alla paura (fuga o risposta aggressiva di difesa), hanno avuto più probabilità di riprodursi e propagare i propri geni. Quegli esemplari che non reagivano in passato non mostrando paura e che esprimevano comportamenti diversi in prossimità di un predatore, col tempo si sono semplicemente estinti. Le emozioni rappresentano una forma di razionalità basata su milioni di anni di storia evolutiva, invece che su pochi anni di esperienza diretta, come per altre forme di controllo delle decisioni individuali. Questo il motivo per cui occorre uno sforzo considerevole per ignorare queste forti risposte emotive di fronte a certe immagini e appoggiare le forme di terrorismo e aggressione violenta verso i bambini che le hanno rese realizzabili. Questo il motivo per cui dovremmo invece accogliere la nostra rabbia, la nostra tristezza e il nostro disgusto come giusta reazione a ciò che ci si presenta davanti e dovremmo lavorare per fare in modo che queste reazioni non vengano ignorate da nessuno.

Abbiamo bisogno di queste emozioni perché si tratta fondamentalmente delle reazioni giuste agli eventi in corso. Queste ci dicono “E’ arrivato il momento di decidere da che parte stare”. O si collabora con la crudeltà, o si agisce per interromperla. Come un mantra continuerò a dire che questa guerra contro i capri espiatori dei migranti non renderà nessun Paese più ricco, non favorirà la creazione di più lavoro di qualità, non avrà effetto sul miglioramento della qualità della vita e non aumenterà il salario minimo da nessuna parte e per nessuno. Il nemico non è al di fuori del sistema economico-sociale in cui viviamo. Non c’è nessun veleno esterno o agente inquinante che stia danneggiando un sistema che altrimenti funzionerebbe bene per tutti. E’ il sistema stesso ad essere basato sullo sfruttamento: è disegnato per rendere il 99% più povero mentre l’1% si arricchisce sempre di più. E’ un sistema costruito per incrementare le diseguaglianze, così ridicolmente malvagio da non avere nessun rimorso nel somministrare crudeltà continue contro i bambini pur di arricchire sempre di più chi ricco lo è già. Non si tratta né della prima, né dell’ultima volta. Un sistema che continuerà ad operare in questo modo finché non cannibalizzerà sé stesso in un’altra guerra mondiale o verrà fermato e tenuto a bada con una forza adeguata (enorme) e bilanciamenti aggressivi.

Il nemico che ad oggi abbiamo al di qua e al di là del mare o del deserto è lo stesso: quel capitalismo senza freni che divora ogni cosa, quel neoliberismo economico fondato sulle stronzate del laissez-faire e del mercato che si regola da solo. Ogni altra cosa che ci tirano contro è solo parte delle armi di distrazione di massa.

Restiamo Umani.

Migrants rest on the ship ‘Aquarius,’ in the Mediterranean Sea, June 14, 2018, during their journey to Valencia, Spain, in a photo provided by the NGO SOS Mediterranee

8 Giugno, 1972 – Forze del Sud Vietnam seguono dei bambini terrorizzati nelle vicinanze di Trang Bang, dopo che un aeroplano sud vietnamita ha accidentalmente bombardato con del Napalm truppe sud vietnamite e civili.. Credit: The Associated Press/Nick Ut

References and materials

Sulle dichiarazioni del procuratore generale USA Jeff Sessions: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44503318
– http://thehill.com/homenews/house/392659-gop-rep-we-should-not-be-using-immigrant-kids-as-deterrent-policy

A riguardo dell’Aquarius: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44510002

Il numero di migranti messicani in USA e’ andato aumentando fino al 2001 e poi e’ diminuito in modo significativo negli anni successivi, mostrando trend non correlati con la crisi del 2007-08. Il numero dei migranti dal “northern triangle” e’ raddoppiato negli anni 2011-2014. Durante quello stesso periodo l’economia USA era in piena ripresa post-crisi (http://www.pewhispanic.org/2017/12/07/rise-in-u-s-immigrants-from-el-salvador-guatemala-and-honduras-outpaces-growth-from-elsewhere/).

In modo simile, il numero di immigrati totali in Italia e’ sostanzialmente stabile dal 2014, (5 mln circa http://demo.istat.it/str2017/index.html). Al contrario il numero di emigranti dall’Italia (sia cittadini italiani che cittadini di altri paesi residenti in Italia) e’ aumentato significativamente negli ultimi anni, come effetto del peggioramento delle condizioni di lavoro  e nonostante alcune cambiamenti in positivo nelle stime dell’occupazione generale (https://www.ft.com/content/cb9bd2ee-c07d-11e7-9836-b25f8adaa111).

A riguardo del tasso di criminalita’, questa e’ una analisi recente che analizza le possibili cause del declino costante registrato a partire dai primi anni ’90, con la propsettiva USA, ma contesto allargato anche ad altre nazioni: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-great-crime-decline

Questo articolo riporta dati derivanti da uno studio finanziato e commissionato dalla amministrazione Trump, in cui si dimostra come l’impatto dei rifugiati sull’economia USA e’ e’ un aumento netto di circa 63 miliardi di dollari negli ultimi 10 anni  (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/politics/refugees-revenue-cost-report-trump.html). Dati simili sono stati rilevati in studi europei.

Un breve riassunto a riguardo dell’aumento delle ineguaglianze a partire dal 2000.   https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/14/worlds-richest-wealth-credit-suisse

The first half of June has given the world examples of how bad is turning into horrible. [Una versione italiana di questo post, qui.]

First, the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made it clear that the policy currently at work at the US-Mexico border, that is resulting in the separation of kids (even infants) from their parents, is useful in his mind to pursue a specific objective. Widely spread news about the cruelty of having kids crying in terror because they have been separated from their parents would be a deterrent for further migrant/asylum seekers to attempt the travel.

Second, the NGO-funded and controlled ship Aquarius, which had previously saved 600 migrants/asylum seekers from the waters of the Mediterranean sea has been prevented (by that immense piece of shit in the shape of the Italian Interior Ministry Salvini) from reaching the nearby Italian docks. Forced to cross half the Mediterranean sea, despite severe weather conditions, the ship Aquairus took several extra days to travel to Spain to receive assistance.

We did not reach this stage in a day. EU and US policies towards migrants have been horrible for quite some time, so we might be tempted to put everything to scale and simply try to keep up fighting the good fight against the root causes for this increasing racism.  Pointing the fingers at the brutality against migrants, who only serve as a scapegoat to hide the real objectives: the reallocation of economic resources from workers (by decreasing minimum wages, welfare state, union rights, protected leave etc.) towards the powerful and rich, the top 1%.  There is a reason why emotional responses are usually frown upon in building leftist politics, as they easily lead to over-simplified representation of reality and all too frequently play into the narrative of the extreme-right. After all, all these racist and cruel policies are based on over-simplified and fundamentally flawed talking points. The idea that migrants are responsible for unemployment or poor working condition and lower salaries (just to use wide spread examples) is easily dismantled noting that, for instance, the US currently shows one of lowest rate of unemployment in recent history.  In Countries like Italy which are affected by chronic high rate of unemployment, there is no correlation with migrant influx across the last decades. Countries like Germany or France or Sweden show better working conditions and more protections than both Italy and US, and at the same time greater numbers in terms of refugees (as a percentage of the population) or recent influx of migrant workers. In other words, migrant can come and go. Employment, working conditions and in general the rate of inequality in any Country are regulated by completely separated factors. It is even laughable to state that the richest countries in the world might be facing economic difficulties in aiding even tens of thousands of migrants per year, especially taking into consideration that at the same time new laws are passed (in US) or discussed (in Italy) to provide immense tax breaks to the richest. What about the correlation between migrants and violent crimes? Both in the US and in Italy the number of crimes has been decreasing almost every year for the past 35 years. No correlation whatsoever.

[NB see references and materials after the photos]

So the data and the neo-fascist narrative simply do not add up. However, there are times when numbers and hard facts are not nearly enough to understand and to fight back. It becomes all too clear, without numbers and stats, just giving a glimpse to a few photos. Like with another photo taken in June (1972), emotions are just overwhelming. At that time the world had to face the horrific reality of the consequences of dropping napalm bombs on human beings in Vietnam. Today, we see the Aquarius and the US-Mexico border and before any possible reasoning may kick in, as human beings we feel sadness, fear, anger. We cannot avoid identifying those in the photos as humans in distress, people treated with cruelty. Even those who then claim that they do not know what else to do and they would prefer these migrant would not start their travel, so to avoid this suffering (as if they had a choice), even those who try to find a reason to justify a cruel and racist action, at the core they understand what is happening is just wrong. Unnecessary, hateful, repugnant.

These unavoidable gut reactions are caused by those neural mechanisms that allow to understand and recognise the suffering and  distress of a child (if not of an adult), so that we can feel compelled to take action and stop this suffering. We do not need to explain ourselves why. We just feel the urge to stop it. Despite the representation provided in folk psychology of emotions as opposed to logic and reasoning, these responses are essentially genetically encoded processes for rational decision making. A classic example is provided by a lab rat: generations spent in a laboratory environment, never seen a cat and yet, if one perceives the smell of a cat, it reacts with fear. Why? Because those rats that showed genetically encoded fear and decided to fight or flight had more chances to survive than those who did not register the presence of a threat and decided to explore further what that smell was. Emotions have on their side millions of years of evolution, in comparison with the alternative forms of decision making, which are grounded on some decades of learning via direct experience. This is why it takes an extra effort to ignore a strong emotional response and to become complacent with these forms of terrorism and child molestation. This is why we should embrace our anger, our sadness and disgust for what is going on and we should work to prevent others from ignoring their emotions.

We need to use these emotions because they are fundamentally the right reaction. They simply tell us: “the time to pick a side is now!”. Either to collaborate with this cruelty, or to act to stop it. Like a mantra, I will repeat that this war against the scapegoat migrants will not make any country richer, will not favour the creations of more quality jobs, will not help increasing the quality of life or increase minimum wages anywhere, for anyone. The enemy is not outside the socio-economic system in which we live. There is no poison or pollutant that is damaging the system from working well for everyone. The system is based on exploitation, it is designed to make the 99% poorer and poorer while the the 1% gets richer and richer. It boosts inequality, it is so cartoonishly evil to shamelessly embrace cruelty against kids: this is not the first time, neither will be the last. It will go on until it either cannibalise itself in another world war or it is stopped and kept at bay with adequate (enormous) force and checks.

The enemy is the all devouring unchecked capitalism, the economic liberalism, the laissez-faire and all that bullshit about the self-regulating markets. Everything else is weapons of mass distraction.

Migrants rest on the ship ‘Aquarius,’ in the Mediterranean Sea, June 14, 2018, during their journey to Valencia, Spain, in a photo provided by the NGO SOS Mediterranee

June 8, 1972 – South Vietnamese forces follow after terrified children near Trang Bang, after a South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. Credit: The Associated Press/Nick Ut

References and materials

On Jeff Sessions’ statements: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44503318
– http://thehill.com/homenews/house/392659-gop-rep-we-should-not-be-using-immigrant-kids-as-deterrent-policy

About the Aquarius: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44510002

The number of Mexican migrants reaching the US has grown until 2001, and it has been declining sharply since then, de-correlated from the 2007 crisis (and its internal causes). The number of migrants from the “northern triangle” has doubled in the years 2011-2014, while the US were in full economic recovery (http://www.pewhispanic.org/2017/12/07/rise-in-u-s-immigrants-from-el-salvador-guatemala-and-honduras-outpaces-growth-from-elsewhere/).

Similarly, the number of foreigners in Italy essentially stalled in 2014, (5 mln circa http://demo.istat.it/str2017/index.html), while the number of migrants (both Italians and former immigrants) leaving the country  has significantly increased in the last few years, as an effect of the decreased work conditions, despite some improvements in terms of total number of Italians employed (https://www.ft.com/content/cb9bd2ee-c07d-11e7-9836-b25f8adaa111).

About the crime rate, in the US in particular, see an analysis of the steady decline that has been recorded since the early nineties across multiple Countries: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-great-crime-decline

A Trump-funded analysis of the economic impact of refugees to the US economy has found a net increase by 63 billion in the past 10 years (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/politics/refugees-revenue-cost-report-trump.html). Similar data can easily be found for any country in Europe.

A simple and quick recap of the extent of increased inequality since the year 2000.  https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/14/worlds-richest-wealth-credit-suisse