In yesterday’s blog I looked this attitude of “immigrants are not welcome here” . I would like to explore the second point raised in yesterday’s blog
if the unfairness that exists in the world such as better trade agreements were resolved there would be no need for people to come to the UK as economic immigrants.
I must admit that this sounds like a topic for a thesis and one that I cannot give full justice to within the scope of this blog without extensive research.
Reasons why people emigrate are wide ranging but the want to provide for family through access to work appears to meet a great deal of disapproval and the technical term for such a person is “economic migrant”.
When we look at the means by which some of the would be economic immigrants get to Europe you would have to agree with the caller to the caller to the Any Answer’s programme on BBC Radio 4, that the only reason why people become economic migrants is because of the unfair trade agreements etc that exist
Why else would folk embark on what are potentially fatal journeys to Europe.
If you take the Africans that end up on the Spanish and Italian beaches, by the time they get there, chances are that they have walked the entire Sahara Desert before getting onto unsafe boats, that carry them across the Mediterranean sea. Whilst the Chinese and others from Asian countries have been known to hide under lorries or the freezer cabinets of food transit lorries.
Are the rewards that great for people to be willing to risk their lives?
As an immigrant from Uganda I have taken advantage of the education system here in the UK amongst other things and because of that I have had much better life than I would have had in Uganda. Would I have risked my life in a similar way, absolutely not!
I also have to ask myself a tough question here, Would I have needed to risk my life that way? Again the answer is no, The reason, I would have had access to a job eventually had I returned to Uganda following my studies in Austria. A Post graduate diploma from a European institute would have opened doors in addition to my family network.
This has led me to ask myself another question. Are the folk that risk their lives in that way lacking in education or family networks that can help them access employment/business opportunities in their home countries? I truly do not know but I understand that in most cases families sell everything they have so that a family member and usually a man can try their luck in Europe, America or anywhere that is perceived to offer better prospects.
What then is the role of unfair trade agreements in the matter of economic migration? The answer to this question would be more interesting if it was based in fact i.e. based on field research. I will certainly revisit it in the next few days or so.
Without such research, my view is that because Africa in particular is often treated as a place to “fetch” raw materials from, job creation and skills transfer is limited.
Imagine this if you will, if De beers or Rio Tinto mined diamonds and processed them into ready to sell accessories at the point of origin and all those involved in this process were local people, who had been trained up in the diamond craftsmanship. Would people from that community seek to leave or undertake risky journeys to become economic migrants? I sincerely don’t think so all other things being equal such as the political stability of the country.
Instead those that fetch the raw materials come with their own skilled personnel and the locals often have to settle for the menial tasks . What I don’t understand is why governments allow this to happen when they could impose conditions that required these companies to limit the personnel they bring in but also the removing of raw materials so that value can be added elsewhere, a naive view perhaps but certainly one that offer a solution to economic migrants
To be continued….
But if you have view on the issues raised so far do share them
About ethnicsupplies
Excellent posts Ida, both this and Part One. Really informative and thought provoking, but I should expect nothing less
One thought, which you probably have better insight into that I, is the groups who “help” immigrants make these tough journeys to the UK. Surely these groups also play a significant role in the drain of immigrants away from countries?
On the De Beers/Rio Tinto question, the answer is I'm afraid to do with money. Getting raw materials out of the ground is a fixed price operation; however adding value to those materials is market led and you can mark the end product up as high as the market will allow.
Where you add that value is of crucial importance to extractive companies because if it's added in a country other than where the company is based, getting the profit out of that country and into shareholders' pockets is expensive.
Hence the general desire to just get raw materials from poor countries and do the skilled work elsewhere.
This is why Evo Morales plans on how to exploit the lithium deposits in Bolivia are so revolutionary (here's a blog I wrote earlier
http://www.sustainabilityforum.com/blog/golden-…). They're common sense to you and me, but it takes alot of guts for a government to actually stand up and do it. Just hope others will follow his lead.
those that “help” the immigrants make the dangerous journey's have a lot to answer for but I suspect they would simply see it as “providing a service” to those that need it.
I don't doubt that the “fetching” of raw materials will continue and unless it is addressed effectively i.e. value addition at source, the fight against poverty will continue for centuries to come
Adding value at source is a very good option and like you said Ida, I don't know why it doesn't happen. As Chris rightly points out, it's money (again). It's very frustrating, and I am perhaps somewhat naive at suggesting view/solutions to the problem (especially when I don't fully understand the problem).
Sadly, I cannot see the advantage of almost killing yourself to get to the 'promised' land, quite often the cost of this is huge and the person is enslaved for life, I guess the small amount that can be sent back to their family must make a huge difference to their lives which is why they do it.
I was thinking about this today after hearing on the radio that the BNP wished to 'send back' economic migrants that had passed through several 'safe' countries to settle in the UK. There has to be a reason that they would move here, and benefits system doesn't quite do it for me as many are ineligible for benefits, so why do they come to the UK? How can we use their skills and help them reach their potential? They are coming for a reason, let's hear the real reason and not political fairy stories, it must be hell to leave you family behind.
Regarding value addition, you would be surprised at some of the reasons that are given, With coffee and chocolate for instance the usual excuse is the product must be kept at a certain or in certain conditions or this and the other will happen. Someone on Twitter said to me or if we bottle our drinks in Africa that will take up too much water that the people can ill afford so we take their sugar! The technology is there to deal with some of these reasons but I do wonder whether the WILL is there too. Like you Sarah I don't full understand some of these issues but stuff i come across on my travels can be mind boggling to say the least.
The most apparent reason people would put themselves through the sort of risks of getting to Europe crossing deserts etc, is because they have nothing left where they are. Of course they miss their families but it is mostly for this very reason that they leave, to earn money to support the family. If you live on a $1 a day and a family member is able to send you $200 a month WOW!
When it comes to political WILL … BERR recently (and in full knowledge that it was talking alot about UK based companies) pointed out that corruption is “particularly rife” in countries whose economies depend upon extractive industries.
What do we mean by corruption? We mean the government of these countries, rarely democratic, being paid hundreds of millions of dollars to let the companies to .. well, what the hell they like really.
There are tales of suitcases-of-cash deposits being made in Washington banks by embarrassed African embassy staff. I'd guess political will is somewhere in those suitcases.
I think I edited my first comment too heavily. The thought about those who encourage people to make the long journey to the UK was that they were painting the picture too attractively thus encouraging people to leave.
However your comment about making $200 is of course perfectly valid and why you get economic migration. Which brings us full circle really .. it is the trade conditions placed upon poor countries which makes them, um, poor and encourages such migration.
I came across this excellent summary of how hunger is created by global agriculture http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic…. Replace poverty for hunger and business for agriculture and you're there.
RE: Corruption in extractive industries, i suspect this is the way that Mugabe has held onto power.
Paul Collier's book GUNS WARS AND VOTES democracy in dangerous places is an interesting read on these issues
Regarding value addition, you would be surprised at some of the reasons that are given, With coffee and chocolate for instance the usual excuse is the product must be kept at a certain or in certain conditions or this and the other will happen. Someone on Twitter said to me or if we bottle our drinks in Africa that will take up too much water that the people can ill afford so we take their sugar! The technology is there to deal with some of these reasons but I do wonder whether the WILL is there too. Like you Sarah I don't full understand some of these issues but stuff i come across on my travels can be mind boggling to say the least.
The most apparent reason people would put themselves through the sort of risks of getting to Europe crossing deserts etc, is because they have nothing left where they are. Of course they miss their families but it is mostly for this very reason that they leave, to earn money to support the family. If you live on a $1 a day and a family member is able to send you $200 a month WOW!
When it comes to political WILL … BERR recently (and in full knowledge that it was talking alot about UK based companies) pointed out that corruption is “particularly rife” in countries whose economies depend upon extractive industries.
What do we mean by corruption? We mean the government of these countries, rarely democratic, being paid hundreds of millions of dollars to let the companies to .. well, what the hell they like really.
There are tales of suitcases-of-cash deposits being made in Washington banks by embarrassed African embassy staff. I'd guess political will is somewhere in those suitcases.
I think I edited my first comment too heavily. The thought about those who encourage people to make the long journey to the UK was that they were painting the picture too attractively thus encouraging people to leave.
However your comment about making $200 is of course perfectly valid and why you get economic migration. Which brings us full circle really .. it is the trade conditions placed upon poor countries which makes them, um, poor and encourages such migration.
I came across this excellent summary of how hunger is created by global agriculture http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic…. Replace poverty for hunger and business for agriculture and you're there.
RE: Corruption in extractive industries, i suspect this is the way that Mugabe has held onto power.
Paul Collier's book GUNS WARS AND VOTES democracy in dangerous places is an interesting read on these issues