Transcript International Migration

Source: http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com
Source: http://www.hp.com
International Migration
Source: http://www.jacekphot.com
Source: http://www.maricopaworkforceconnection.com
International Migration
“Permanent or semi permanent change of residence,
across national borders, by an individual or group of
people”.
Happening everywhere and for a variety of reasons:
- War/politics
- Food/water
- Jobs
- Environmental concerns
- Quality of life
Can be voluntary or involuntary.
Two case studies: Singapore and Tuvalu.
Singapore: a Global City
Location of a disproportionate concentration of corporate
HQ’s, international financial services, advanced producer
services, advanced telecommunication facilities and other
supporting social and physical infrastructure.
Attracts transnational flows of people – people from multiple
nations – converging on city because it is a place of money
and culture.
Does not seem to belong to just one people of one nation but
fragments of people and cultures hailing from different parts of
globe.
National borders are becoming more porous.
Over time, transnational communities comprising large groups
of specific nationalities may establish themselves as a visible
presence in landscape of global city.
Singapore
Aims to be a cosmopolis in next millennium, a
city that is economically dynamic, socially
cohesive and culturally vibrant. A city hub where
people will enjoy a high standard of living as well
as a cultured and sophisticated lifestyle enriched
through the arts.
For these globalising visions to materialise,
transnational flows of people are a necessary
accompaniment.
Categories of Transnational
Flows of People
1.
Transnational Business and Professional Elites – high waged, high
skilled employees usually associated with finance, banking and business
services.
- Referred to as ‘foreign talent’.
- Much sought after by cities with globalising ambitions to create an
‘oasis of talent’ and to give city a competitive edge.
- Competition for foreign talent amongst globalising cities is very stiff:
expatriate workers are highly mobile, often circulating from city to
city.
2.
Low waged Unskilled Migrant Workers – ‘Third World Populations’ who
enter global city as contract migrant workers, occupying insecure niches
in unskilled or semi skilled sectors of urban service economy.
- Mainly manual and construction workers (all male, mainly from
Bangladesh, Thailand and the PRC), numbering about 500,000,
while another 140,000 are foreign domestic workers (all female,
mainly from Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka).
- ‘Foreign workers’ are strictly regulated to ensure that they remain a
transient force.
- Brought in on ‘use and discard’ principle.
Categories of Transnational
Flows of People 2
3.
Expressive specialists – creative individuals who participate in
the cultural scene in areas such as art, fashion, design,
photography, film making, writing, music and cuisine.
4.
World Tourists – attracted to the cosmopolitan ambience of
global cities. In 2001, Singapore received 7.5 million tourists.
Source: http://www.startersinformatiecentrum.nl
Source: http://www.inco.com
Source: http://www.media.rice.edu
‘Foreigners in our midst’
“If Singapore is reserved for Singaporeans
alone, we would have a very small
Singapore, Singaporeans who are talented
would emigrate to greener pastures. If,
instead, we promote the idea of a Big
Singapore, then even Singaporeans who
spend many years overseas would not
want to give up their citizenship. The
opposite would happen. Others would
clamber to join our ranks” (George Yeo,
Minister for Information and the Arts)”.
The Immigration Argument
Will migrants “make the pie bigger, or take away the icing?”.
Proponents argue that logic of importing talent is irrefutable given
that Singapore’s small size will never produce enough to maintain
a competitive edge in face of escalating regional and global
competition.
- use foreigners to erase divides between nationalities to fuel
competition between places;
- historically an immigrant society;
- highlight experience of other immigrant nations e.g. USA.
Others fear economic, social and political problems => onslaught
of alien values will fray country’s social fabric; competition for
space and amenities will heighten; and policies to attract such
talent will result in preferential treatment of non-citizens.
- expatriate workers bring competition right to doorstep.
- ‘foreigners’ who become Permanent Residents enjoy all
privileges of citizenship and none of the responsibilities.
Limits to cosmopolitanism in
Singapore’s vision of a global city?
Public discourse on foreign workers has focused on issues such
as social problems of foreign workers weekend enclaves,
impact of maids on Singapore family and need for quick
solutions to repatriate foreign workers found abandoned in
streets.
In contrast to red carpet treatment given to foreign talent, state
policy with regard to foreign workers is conceived to ensure that
they are little more than transient workforce. Stringent
legislation put into place not only to restrict numbers and ensure
short term migrant status, but also to govern employment.
Emergence of a Neo-colonial attitude:
- Foreign maids banned from dining in social clubs and
swimming in condominium pools.
- Given no day off contracts, confinement to employers home
and exclusion from public space signals lack of foothold on
terrain of civil society.
Cosmopolitan Singaporeans
Generally prefer speaking in English but who are also
bilingual, tend to work in sectors such as banking, I.T.,
engineering, science and technology and who are
comfortable anywhere in the world – have an
international outlook.
Government is encouraging Singaporeans to ‘go
regional’ or ‘go global’ in order to fuel Singapore
economy’s ‘second wing’. An attempt to foster growth of
a Singaporean transnational elite class – people who are
highly mobile and able to live and work anywhere in
world but whose hearts still belong to Singapore.
Source: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar
Source: http://www.worldeagle.com
Tuvalu
• Tuvalu comprises 3 islands and six atolls totaling 26km², and lies
about 1000km north of Fiji.
• Highest point 5 metres above sea level, one of the world's most
low-lying countries. Half population crammed on 30 hectare (75
acre) Funafuti atoll, which is only 3 metres above waves.
• Faced with prospect of being swamped by rising sea levels,
Pacific island nation is considering evacuating its 9,300 residents.
• With global sea levels predicted to rise by more than 80cm over
next century, Tuvaluans are living on borrowed time. Only solution,
according to government, is to transport entire population
overseas.
• Nearly 3,000 Tuvaluans already live overseas, and a government
programme is now relocating 75 more every year.
Source: http://www.allstates-flags-com
Migration Problems
Tuvalu's Polynesian people arrived in islands 2,000 years ago
by way of Tonga, Samoa and Tokelau, but international
borders mean few relocation options are available.
Tuvaluan Government is lobbying Australia and New Zealand
to set aside land to serve as a new home for Tuvalu's people.
New Zealand has agreed to plan a 30-year immigration
program. But Australia's Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock,
said this action was based on speculation. "Why would I
agree with that?" he asked. "I think it is on a 30, 40 or 50-year
horizon, if it's going to occur at all.'‘
An island of Fiji (Kioa) has been earmarked for transplantation
yet its small (and intensely moralistic) community reject
changing morality of the Tuvaluans.
Moving a Nation
Environmental disasters have already forced c.25m
people from their homes, but this would be the first time
an entire nation was left homeless.
President of Uniting Justice Australia says that
Tuvaluans should be granted one of the uninhabited
islands at northern end of Great Barrier Reef.
"You spell an end to a culture if you split them up, but
they would be happy to give up their national sovereignty
as long as they're able to stay together. Australia has no
shortage of land," she said.
“A mass relocation would ensure the Tuvaluan language
and culture is preserved instead of being scattered to the
four corners of the earth”.
Source: http://www.map.tuvalu.tv
But won’t be going without a fight. Tuvalu is considering plans
to sue USA and Australia (the single-largest and largest percapita emitters, respectively, of greenhouse gases) in
International Court of Justice in The Hague for their failure to
ratify Kyoto Protocol.
Proposed argument – that two nations’ emissions form an
unfair restraint of trade, since they are in effect putting the
country of Tuvalu out of business. For good measure, Tuvalu
would follow up by suing large American polluters like
ExxonMobil in U.S. courts.
Last year second-warmest on record, according
to UN’s World Meteorological Organization.
Changing climate is bringing higher tides and
fiercer, more frequent storms that are eroding
burial grounds and washing out crops. Within
lifetime of some of today’s residents, these
surges will likely turn Tuvalu into an
uninhabitable collection of rocks.
Islanders already drink from rainwater tanks to
preserve atolls' scanty groundwater, but
seepage of salt water into farmland has
destroyed crops and made islanders dependent
on canned imports.
Conclusion
International migration is essential to functioning of
globalising world.
People move for a variety of reasons including jobs and
lifestyles, and take with them skills and their culture.
This ‘foreign talent’ is highly desirable and much sought
after.
At other end of spectrum, many people are forced from
their homelands by war, poverty, famine and
environmental concerns.
They are greeted much less kindly and are often
suppressed by laws and regulations which are designed
to keep them powerless and transient.
Bibliography
Teo, P., Yeoh, B., Giok, O., and Lai, T.
(2004) Changing Landscapes of
Singapore. Singapore: Strawberry Hill.
Tuvalu Islands (2006). [Online].
[Accessed on 15/03/06]. Available from
World Wide Web:
<http://www.tuvaluislands.com/>