Part 40 - Chapter 7: The Break-up (6/7)
ON THE OTHER SIDE
I woke up sweating and gesticulating on my bed, kicking the air. When Fatou finally managed to pull me out of my nightmare, I looked at her intensely as if to cling to reality. It was just a dream. I propped myself up on one elbow to grab my watch phone. It was too early to call Iwona, but Ania had already been awake for several hours.
"Ania," I whispered to the device.
The phone immediately dialled the number and rang for awhile. She must probably be at work; I reassured myself as I jumped out of bed to go and wash my face. I tried again all day, unsuccessfully. I did the same with Iwona. She didn't respond either. After trying for three days in every possible way, I began to worry seriously. Then finally, one morning I heard on the news that the rich countries had completely isolated themselves from the rest of the world. Their little paradise was far too small and far too beautiful to be shared. All communication systems had been cut. We couldn't contact them from the outside, and they didn't come into contact with anyone from the outside either. No more flights, no more emails, no more social media; nothing.
Access to the borders of rich countries had already been blocked two years earlier that to put an end to the flow of refugees from Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The latter were risking their lives, trying to flee the natural disasters and the famine raging in their regions. Rich countries had managed to close access to sea coasts and roads without erecting walls or barbed wire fences. Instead, they used technology as a shield. Inspired by the Chinese model that they had vehemently criticised a few years before, the Americans and Europeans started to record and catalogue the faces of their entire population as well as of any newcomer who entered their country. Then, they placed very sophisticated cameras everywhere, including at their borders. Each road, each corner of the forest, each sea coast was now equipped with those cameras which could identify and track down the faces of men several kilometres away. What happened to the unfortunate intruders once identified remained a matter of national defence and intelligence. Therefore, nobody really knew.
However, everybody knew that nations selected which refugees they wanted to allow in or throw back to sea. Most of these men, women, and children came from very far away. They had crossed several seas and countries, and they had arrived at the borders of what they considered to be paradise on Earth. Sending those refugees home would cost rich countries far too much to deport individuals who were unwanted or unwelcome. Nevertheless, since rich countries were terribly short of young people in good health, let alone alive, and since many of the refugees who had started the perilous journey were, young refugees alone had the great privilege of entering the borders to seek asylum. This was providing they could also pass the extensive medical examination. The media no longer questioned the authorities because the public had no opinion on the matter. This was obviously in the interest of national defence and the lucky residents of paradise.
This new control system proved to be impenetrable and very effective, so it was quickly adopted by all rich countries. Thanks to the precision of technology, rich countries had turned into real fortresses that the rest of the world envied from a distance. A year after the implementation of this new mode of border control, fewer and fewer refugees dared to undertake exile to paradise unless they were young and healthy enough to open the celestial gates. If death was certain at both ends of the journey, perhaps one simply had to resign oneself to dying at home rather than in other people's paradise. The irony of fate will have been able to play everyone.
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