Refugee Crisis. It is not complicated.

Sean O'Torain.

There are an estimated sixty million people in the world today who have been driven from their homes. That is who are refugees. The most recent and most covered in the big business media has been the refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe. It is not hard to understand what has led to this catastrophe and to identify who and what are responsible. Envision it this way.

The Middle East has vast oil reserves. It and Central Asia occupy vital positions relative to Russia and China. For these reasons imperialism, that is the dominate corporations and militaries in the most wealthy and powerful capitalist countries, have for centuries waged war in these areas, invaded and occupied these areas, to seize and control these resources and also to maintain their strategic positions in these areas.

In their wars and struggle to seize the resources and control these areas they have used local vicious murderous regimes such as those in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt and Israel. They also when it suited them divided existing countries, created new countries, threw countries against each other in war, for example the Iran Iraq war, and stirred up sectarian conflict. For example between the Shia and Sunni Muslim religions.

Confronted with centuries of such treatment the Arab Spring struck. Tens and tens of millions rose up against the regimes which were backed by imperialism. This was an inspiration to the entire working people of the world. However it struck terror into the hearts of imperialism as they feared losing control. They therefore struck back by supporting the most backward of forces to replace the former regimes and to replace them with regimes that would keep the oil flowing and the region secure for imperialism.

The result: The region has come apart. Imperialism is responsible for this. It invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, it continued to finance the Zionist regime in Israel, it continued to back and use regimes like the extreme reactionary regime in Saudi Arabia to back proxy forces throughout the region. Imperialism has been and is blowing the Middle East to pieces. And flowing from this we have the tens of millions of people being either  displaced or murdered.

Think about it concretely. Look at the photos on the Internet and the mass media. Whole cities are demolished by imperialist bombings. Others by groups like ISIS which arose out of the imperialist invasion of Iraq. The peoples homes are being reduced to rubble. In country after country they have nothing to eat and no water to drink.  Use your imagination. How bad would it have to be for you to take the few belongings you could carry on your back and set off to cross the Mediterranean on a small boat or walk through the deserts and foreign lands, how bad would it have to be to strap your young child to your back and set off with virtually nothing and not knowing what lay ahead.

This is a catastrophe that is happening with the refugees all over the world. Human suffering on a scale that is horrific. And it is not some accident of nature. It is the direct conscious responsibility of imperialism and its policies over the centuries of plundering the Middle East and robbing it blind. And in the process dividing the peoples so they could rule them. Those responsible for this massive human suffering are the ruling imperialist powers - USA, Germany, France and the rest. And these powers have faces and names which go with them. Imperialism is rotten to the core. As one activist said it is "horror without end."

However the events in Europe are not without hope. While the right wing Hungarian regime are attacking and seeking to halt the refugees from getting through tens and tens of thousands of people in Germany and other countries are taking to the streets to welcome them. This is very inspiring and shows that with a proper lead from the large workers' organizations such as the 200 million strong international trade union movement and the large left parties the international working class could be mobilized to deal with the crisis of the refugees. And also mobilized to deal with imperialism which is the cause of this humanitarian crisis.