Migration is generally good for society, as cultures and genes intermix and lead to richer minds and bodies. However migrations have not always been beneficial, not to both parties at least, as invading hordes have wiped out civilisations. Entire Caribbean populations, for instance, where annihilated through brutal occupation and imported disease after Europe's discovery of the Americas. Nowadays, freedom of movement is as a rule managed by governments and peaceful and as such, constructive. If governments mismanage the process, they should not blame that on the immigrant. This finger-pointing seems to be exactly what the British home secretary, Theresa May, was doing when speaking to the Sunday Time about European policy on the free movement of workers:
Immigrants have a rough enough time without being made to feel like abusers or advantage takers, so the home secretary should choose her words more carefully and be explicit as to whether she is referring to policies, people who follow them in good faith, or the abuse of policies via illegal means. If she was referring to the first or second scenario, as seems to be the case, seeing as her gripe was with Europe and not with the way the law was implemented in Britain, the word "abuse" is totally out of place and should not be used to describe European law or other members of the European community who abide by it.
There have, however, been a great number of unwelcome visitors from Europe. Non-native species that have been devastating British forests:
• Chalara Fraxinea, a fungus that is finding its way into Britain via imported saplings and threatening its native Ash trees. (It killed 90% of Denmark’s ash trees in 7 years) alone
• The Lappet Moth that arrived from Russia and is attacking British Pine trees
• The Bark Beetle that found its way from Europe and has been destroying Spruce trees since 1982
• The Leaf Miner Moth that was first recorded in Macedonia in 1970 an is already devastating British Horse Chestnut trees by weakening them and making them vulnerable to disease (the moths lay their eggs in the leaves and the tiny caterpillars tunnel through them leaving brown trails of dead cells)
Others invaders are attacking British fauna from other parts of the world. From Asia:
• The Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia Axyridis) that is threatening the more benign local species of ladybird
• The green parrot that has become a familiar sight in southern England to the detriment of smaller native birds
Then, of course, you have our friend from America that has virtually wiped out its red cousin south of the Scottish border:
• The grey squirrel
These are only a few examples affecting Britain. Other countries have similar problems and sometimes entry is through bizarre events. The West Coast of the US, for instance is already on alert, after some potentially threatening species have washed up on US shores on flotsam caused and carried by last year's Japanese tsunami. When nature is responsible, stopping the tide is just not that easy.
Finally: don't forget to check your bananas!
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