Monday, July 17, 2006

Beginning in California

This is my home for the moment. I will write on this page about my thoughts on the movement of people and issues of immigration. Also, I anticipate with great desire the day when I will once again take off and become a migrant myself. I'll share my stories and thoughts here.

Today there were some interesting articles on people's movement in BBC World News. I'll respond to these later, after work:

It's very interesting what people point out when they speak about what they miss about a country. These originally UK residents who responded to Mr. Mardell's blog say that what they miss most about the UK is their family and friends rather than any type of food or countryside. A longing for a particluar food or view, they say, can be satisfied with enough money and often quite cheaply. How strongly then, is our association with home an association with the people and personal relationships that we have in that place rather than an attachment to the land? Has that been different before? Have people gradually turned over their attachment/relationship with land?

posted by chaika at 10:55 AM

1 Comments:

Blogger The Pelican said...

I'm reading the articles on worker's migration. In response to the article on Italy and Slovakia with lots of comments, most respondents wanted more open borders. And after spending over two hours trying to get a work permit in the German bureaucracy, I can see why it's so difficult--and I had all my papers done. But then the article about having and EU rapid response team for borders mentioned governments pleading for help on immigration. There seems to be a disconnect between the two. Both sides have different perspectives and different reasons for saying what they say. One is personal and influenced by experience, and one is governmental, i.e. having to do with responsibility, security, economics, etc. (this latter could be divided into a governmental perspective which has immediate problems to deal with and an intellectual/theoretical perspective). Why does Spain freak out over a carload of immigrants from the Canary Islands? What do they fear? I imagine what these people are doing on the streets when they arrive: do they know where to go, what to do? do they care? were they just trying to get away, or was there an image in mind? what happens to these people? they seem ok, because we don't hear about them once they're integrated. But is that true? Are they responsible for more crime? or maybe for high unemployment? for too much pressure on schools? Economically, they seem devastating because they require money but don't produce any, especially if they don't fit into the market and satisfy a role.

7:36 AM  

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