The Sunday before Christmas and my local nail bar was heaving as the talons of the neighbourhood aimed for a final buff and polish before the festivities began.
Amid the fumes of acrylic glue, clouds of nail dust, and X Factor on the TV, hands were held, filed, massaged and painted by young Vietnamese some of whom, we now know, made it across the world into London in the back of a truck, just like the 39 who aren't here. All wanting a better life: a better health care system; a more comfortable income; somewhere their kids can have a better life.
Recently returning from research in the south of France with British migrants and their responses to Brexit, I was struck again by the repeating themes, the same drivers: all wanting a better life; a better health care system; somewhere to have a more comfortable life on a small pension; somewhere where the kids can develop skills they need for a global future. But with their freedom of movement, no chance of ending up suffocating in the back of a lorry.
Common desires, uncommon humanity.
Showing posts with label Migration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Migration. Show all posts
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
Monday, 15 February 2010
Where's Pauline?
Pauline Hanson is moving to Britain? Why? Has anyone mentioned to her that the UK is technically one of the most super-diverse countries in the world. But then again, the way the British National Party are gaining ground, and with the Conservatives on the way in, she may feel right at home. And she'll get good fish and chips.
I'm getting a bit annoyed though that I packed my bags and moved over here to get away from John Howard (who's now gone and reincarnated into the shape of David Cameron who's about to run this country with his faithful Ken Clark promising deeper cuts to public services than even Margaret Thatcher could manage ... oh joy that will be to behold) and Pauline Hanson (who's now coming over here). I'm running out of places to run away to.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
The Paradox of Mobility
After watching recent news images of Afghani refugees climbing razor-wired fences around a Greek port, I prepared myself for the tabloid headlines screaming ‘invasion’ that would inevitably come the next day and for the government to announce yet more measures to sure up the borders of Great Britain. It seemed impossible to imagine a time when politicians in Europe actually encouraged ‘free’ movement, and discouraged the use of passports. Writers in the 16th century extolled the virtues of travel just for the sake of ‘curiosity’, and the onus was on receiving territories to extend a sense of hospitality to the traveller.
Of course, this is an idealised description: then as today, some travellers were more welcome than others. But reading Adam McKeown’s new book, Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalisation of Borders, reminded me that our current web of migration regulations has a history, one embedded in the 19th century exclusion of Asian migrants from white settler colonies in the Pacific. His detailed research raises several paradoxes which perhaps point to why, even with the intense focus given to migration control by successive governments, we still have a situation that the International Organisation of Migration (2003) has called a ‘migration governability crisis’.
The first paradox is that contemporary border controls evolved from regulations developed by settler nations such as the United States and Australia, which were ostensibly founded on the premise of egalitarianism by pioneers of political freedoms despite the obvious racism in ‘white only’ migration policies and the decimation of indigenous populations. As a result, over time, discrimination has become acceptable at borders but not overtly within the state itself.
Second, while neo-liberal globalisation is premised on an idea of free trade between countries, migration control is an obstacle to mobility. As a result, we have seen increasing separation between regulations relating to commerce and those relating to migration. Border control is now designed to facilitate some kinds of mobility, and migrants, and block others. Attempting to guarantee freedom, for some at least, through the imposition of regulations, transformed migration for others into an act of evasion and criminality. The meaning of ‘free’ has become ambiguous and opaque as a result.
The third paradox raised in McKeown’s research is that while migration laws coerce and exclude, interrogate, evaluate and attempt to quantify migrants, they are also considered as vehicles of justice, fairness, the ‘rule of law‘, and ‘efficiency’. They reflect normative ideals of how things should be, including the international order of states. It is impossible not to reflect on these distinctions and the right to be mobile when arriving at Heathrow Airport with an EU passport that only needs to be held up for a cursory glance by an immigration officer. To the left Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe queue up and wait. I am classified as a professional migrant, incorporated into a legal, formal administration, probably disappearing from the category of migrant altogether. In contradistinction are the ‘others’, those that work in 3D (domestic, dirty and dangerous jobs) who face resistance to their formal recognition within national labour regimes. Although even with my 'EU Citizen' status, my attempts to prove who I was when I arrived in Dublin involved weeks of shuttling between different agencies as I tried to gain the all important Personal Identification Number (PIN) which I couldn’t get without a bank account, which I couldn’t get until I had a PIN. I speak English, had a ‘legal’ job, and an EU passport and still it was a contortionist's exercise.
State institutions appear unable to resolve the inherent tensions in these paradoxes so the migrant continues to find their own way through red tape and over razor-wire. The kafka-esque world of immigration bureaucracy and rigid state regulations is met by the resilient human abilities of evasion and obfuscation in the hope of a better life.
Reference:
A. McKeown (2009), Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalisation of Borders, New York: Colombia University Press.
Of course, this is an idealised description: then as today, some travellers were more welcome than others. But reading Adam McKeown’s new book, Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalisation of Borders, reminded me that our current web of migration regulations has a history, one embedded in the 19th century exclusion of Asian migrants from white settler colonies in the Pacific. His detailed research raises several paradoxes which perhaps point to why, even with the intense focus given to migration control by successive governments, we still have a situation that the International Organisation of Migration (2003) has called a ‘migration governability crisis’.
The first paradox is that contemporary border controls evolved from regulations developed by settler nations such as the United States and Australia, which were ostensibly founded on the premise of egalitarianism by pioneers of political freedoms despite the obvious racism in ‘white only’ migration policies and the decimation of indigenous populations. As a result, over time, discrimination has become acceptable at borders but not overtly within the state itself.
Second, while neo-liberal globalisation is premised on an idea of free trade between countries, migration control is an obstacle to mobility. As a result, we have seen increasing separation between regulations relating to commerce and those relating to migration. Border control is now designed to facilitate some kinds of mobility, and migrants, and block others. Attempting to guarantee freedom, for some at least, through the imposition of regulations, transformed migration for others into an act of evasion and criminality. The meaning of ‘free’ has become ambiguous and opaque as a result.
The third paradox raised in McKeown’s research is that while migration laws coerce and exclude, interrogate, evaluate and attempt to quantify migrants, they are also considered as vehicles of justice, fairness, the ‘rule of law‘, and ‘efficiency’. They reflect normative ideals of how things should be, including the international order of states. It is impossible not to reflect on these distinctions and the right to be mobile when arriving at Heathrow Airport with an EU passport that only needs to be held up for a cursory glance by an immigration officer. To the left Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe queue up and wait. I am classified as a professional migrant, incorporated into a legal, formal administration, probably disappearing from the category of migrant altogether. In contradistinction are the ‘others’, those that work in 3D (domestic, dirty and dangerous jobs) who face resistance to their formal recognition within national labour regimes. Although even with my 'EU Citizen' status, my attempts to prove who I was when I arrived in Dublin involved weeks of shuttling between different agencies as I tried to gain the all important Personal Identification Number (PIN) which I couldn’t get without a bank account, which I couldn’t get until I had a PIN. I speak English, had a ‘legal’ job, and an EU passport and still it was a contortionist's exercise.
State institutions appear unable to resolve the inherent tensions in these paradoxes so the migrant continues to find their own way through red tape and over razor-wire. The kafka-esque world of immigration bureaucracy and rigid state regulations is met by the resilient human abilities of evasion and obfuscation in the hope of a better life.
Reference:
A. McKeown (2009), Melancholy Order: Asian Migration and the Globalisation of Borders, New York: Colombia University Press.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)