Since the British government introduced a law, Rwanda has become a safe country

The relationship between human knowledge and reality is an ongoing test. Since time immemorial, an endless procession of philosophers has pondered the question of what reality is and whether we are capable of knowing it. Fortunately, we no longer need long-winded philosophers to understand the world. We can rely on the knowledge and skills of politicians. They are so incredibly handsome these days that they don’t even understand reality hooves to know. When human capabilities fail to live up to reality, it is reality that is adapted to us.

Take this statement for example: ‘The law now makes Rwanda a safe country.’ This sentence refers to the British government’s decision to send boat people to Rwanda. Yesterday, the British Parliament agreed to this after years of wrangling over the question of whether asylum seekers can be put on a plane to Rwanda. The British Supreme Court answered that question negatively because Rwanda cannot be considered a safe country. The British government then made a law and Rwanda has been safe ever since. I am now passionately crossing my fingers that the British want to draw up the same law for Ukraine, Sudan, Palestine and Israel, Yemen, Syria, Haiti, Congo, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Finally world peace!

Another example. Last week the House of Representatives debated nature and nitrogen policy. NSC MP Rosanne Hertzberger proposed tackling the nitrogen problem by removing the applicable standards from the law. This complicated hassle with calculation models and critical deposition values ​​should be over; the law must be amended so that there is no longer a nitrogen problem in a legal sense. Hertzberger also suggested that we should aim for ‘a different nature’.

Then I’d rather listen to a long-winded philosopher. The virtuous city is the work of Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870-950), translated into Dutch by Maarten Leezenberg. Al-Farabi states that correct knowledge of the world is only possible on the basis of reason. When this is taken as a starting point, a diversity of virtuous cities can coexist. There is therefore no blueprint for the perfect society, everyone can fill it in for themselves, as long as reason comes first because it is decisive for achieving happiness.

We have become so accustomed to a man-made reality that we can no longer tolerate reality even if it were to reveal itself right in front of us. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tied his political fate to the Rwandan deportation of boat refugees. The measure must therefore succeed. The fact that so-called boat people only account for about 4 percent of immigration figures in the United Kingdom and that the Rwanda policy costs the treasury half a billion euros is irrelevant. The nature and nitrogen policy in our country once again seems to be folded as much as possible around the interests of the agro-industry. This would be a continuation of the policy of recent decades. It is unrealistic to think that the problem can be solved this time with the same type of approach.

Man’s ability to map and try to understand the world is great. The will of that same person to turn away from the knowledge he has acquired and to throw himself back into the illusion is greater.