Mamphela Ramphele anti-apartheid activist and founder of South Africa’s Black consciousness movement was recently in London delivering a lecture on global migration. Ramphele who has served as South Africa’s first Black vice-chancellor and managing director of the World Bank is a medical doctor who has recently been appointed as co-chair of the UN Commission on Migration. It is fitting that Ramphele deliver her lecture in London, England. A country of xenaphobes that is obsessed with migration controls and refugees –
"a country in the grip of a bidding war between the two biggest political parties over immigration controls"
Debates on immigration which are essentially debates on race in Britain, are nothing new with each decade having it’s own "panic" and "racist response" from the government of the day. The run up to the elections is usually a good time to play the race/immigration card. The media play a large part in the debate fueling racism and xenophobia amongst those that see themselves as being English, the real British as opposed to aliens, asylum seekers, migrant workers, Blacks, Asians and anyone of a darker hue. Black MP Diane Abbott speaking on immigration and government policy explains some of the truths about immigration and race
The other long-standing truth about immigration is that the pull factor is the underlying labour needs of western economies. Ever since the industrial revolution, the demands of British capital have led to massive labour migration….The biggest myth about immigration is that people are coming here to live on benefits. People come for the same reason that my parents’ generation of West Indian immigrants came in the 1950s. They come to work. They do the jobs, skilled and unskilled, that British workers will not do and they provide a pool of cheap labour that helps keep wages down and creates the "labour market flexibility" that is so prized by New Labour.
This is the essence of migration - the majority of migrants are poor people who reluctantly leave their
home countries to seek work opportunities and a better life elsewhere. Most have high expectations but unfortunately they invariably end up taking jobs that the indigent population do not want.
However this is occuring in a context where migration trends are changing with up to 200 million people now
living outside their country of origin and the old distinction between
countries of transit, destination and origin are blurred.
Migration impacts on developing countries in two ways. Firstly there is now a massive loss of skilled and professional people such as doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers emigrating from the South to the North and even within the South for example people migrating to South Africa from other African states. Secondly individuals and families in the South receive up to $75 billion a year in remittances sent home by their relatives working in the North. This amount is almost twice as much as international aid.
As Ramphele says it is no longer possible or in any ones interest to "pretend that international migration is unnecessary and unwanted, or that it can be obstructed by the erection of increasingly restrictive barriers". On the contrary it is these very barriers that have led to an increase in human trafficking and slavery. Politicians claim that immigration is undesirable and therefore they have to impliment restrictions that appear to be prevening immigration into their contries but all these restrictions do is create financial opportunities for other middle men to benefit from those very same immigrants.
Mamphela Ramphele anti-apartheid activist and founder of South Africa's Black consciousness movement was recently in London delivering a lecture on global migration. Ramphele who has served as South Africa's first Black vice-chancellor and managing director of the World Bank is a medical doctor who has recently been appointed as co-chair of the UN Commission on Migration. It is fitting that Ramphele deliver her lecture in London, England. A country of xenaphobes that is obsessed with migration controls and refugees - "a country in the grip of a bidding war between the two biggest political parties over immigration controls"Debates on immigration which are essentially debates on race in Britain, are nothing new with each decade having it's own "panic" and "racist response" from the government of the day. The run up to the elections is usually a good time to play the race/immigration card. The media play a large part in the debate fueling racism and xenophobia amongst those that see themselves as being English, the real British as opposed to aliens, asylum seekers, migrant workers, Blacks, Asians and anyone of a darker hue. Black MP Diane Abbott speaking on immigration and government policy explains some of the truths about immigration and raceThe other long-standing truth about immigration is that the pull factor is the underlying labour needs of western economies. Ever since the industrial revolution, the demands of British capital have led to massive labour migration....The biggest myth about immigration is that people are coming here to live on benefits. People come for the same reason that my parents' generation of West Indian immigrants came in the 1950s. They come to work. They do the jobs, skilled and unskilled, that British workers will not do and they provide a pool of cheap labour that helps keep wages down and creates the "labour market flexibility" that is so prized by New Labour.This is the essence of migration - the majority of migrants are poor people who reluctantly leave their
home countries to seek work opportunities and a better life elsewhere. Most have high expectations but unfortunately they invariably end up taking jobs that the indigent population do not want.
However this is occuring in a context where migration trends are changing with up to 200 million people now
living outside their country of origin and the old distinction between
countries of transit, destination and origin are blurred.
Migration impacts on developing countries in two ways. Firstly there is now a massive loss of skilled and professional people such as doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers emigrating from the South to the North and even within the South for example people migrating to South Africa from other African states. Secondly individuals and families in the South receive up to $75 billion a year in remittances sent home by their relatives working in the North. This amount is almost twice as much as international aid.
As Ramphele says it is no longer possible or in any ones interest to "pretend that international migration is unnecessary and unwanted, or that it can be obstructed by the erection of increasingly restrictive barriers". On the contrary it is these very barriers that have led to an increase in human trafficking and slavery. Politicians claim that immigration is undesirable and therefore they have to impliment restrictions that appear to be prevening immigration into their contries but all these restrictions do is create financial opportunities for other middle men to benefit from those very same immigrants.
Tagged as:
Immigration Europe,
Refugees
