Global Voices » Migration & Immigration

Spain: “Neighbor, Wake Up, Foreclosures at Your Doorstep!”

Elizabeth Rivera — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:07:01 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

In these times of severe crisis and government cuts, banks are being watched by citizens. This week's announcement of a bailout of 10 billion Euros for the Spanish bank Bankia has provoked many reactions on the web. The blog Platform for the nationalization of saving houses [es] has taken on the news:

La nueva inyección, que puede alcanzar los 10.000 millones de euros —mientras se recortan miles de millones en la Sanidad y la Educación públicas— en bonos contingentes convertibles en el Banco Financiero y de Ahorros volverá a ser insuficiente. (…)La propuesta de una banca pública bajo control democrático y gestionada con transparencia, creada mediante la nacionalización de las cajas de ahorro, no es una de las opciones posibles para resolver la actual crisis. Es la única solución porque es imposible la movilización de fondos privados en la cuantía necesaria para recapitalizar las entidades financieras españolas.

The new cash injection can reach 10 billion Euros in bonds convertible at the Financial and Savings Bank - while thousands are cut from Health and Public Education - will be insufficient (…) The proposal of a public bank under democratic control and managed with transparency, created by the nationalization of the saving houses, is not one of the possible options to solve the current crisis. It is the only solution because it is impossible to move private funds of that quantity to recapitalize Spanish financial entities.

Also, banks are responsible of a great number of foreclosures and evictions throughout Spain which reached a record in 2011. In the downtown neighborhood of Lavapiés, in Madrid, another eviction took place recently after Banesto bank and the judicial commission denied the owners the alternative of negotiating the payment or social leasing of the property. Two families from Bangladesh who bought the apartment in Fray Ceferino Street nº12 were affected after the interest rate of their loan increased and their economic and working situation worsened.

That is how the blog CIERRABANESTO [es] explains the situation in the post titled “Manual to kick out a bank out of a neighborhood”:

Como sabéis, Banesto pretende dejar a Uddin, Hafiz, sus señoras esposas y sus cuatro niñxs en la calle el próximo 9 de mayo. Sí, será la segunda confrontación entre la dignidad y la barbarie, después de que el pasado 28 de marzo Lavapiés ganase el primer encuentro. Nuestrxs vecinxs como tantxs otrxs aquí, en Españistán, escucharon el canto de las sirenas bancarias que gobiernan y se creyeron que debían y podrían tener una casa propia. Ahora están a punto de ser expulsados de esa casa con una deuda pendiente casi tan grande como el crédito original.

As you know, Banesto wants to leave Uddin, Hafiz and their wives and four kids on the streets on May 9th. Yes, it will be the second confrontation between dignity and barbarism after Lavapiés won its first round on March 28th. Our neighbors, as many other around here in Spain, heard the governing banks siren song and believed that they should and could own a house. Now, they are about to get expelled from that house with a pending debt almost as big as the original credit.

An evicted person from Lavapiés takes out the last furniture from his apartment. Photo by Elena Arrontes.

Last March 28, thanks to the support of approximately 80 people, the eviction was postponed to May 9, but an excessive police deployment has blocked the access to the street so the protest couldn't prevent Banesto from taking over the apartment. Even though the police and anti-riot forces (including a helicopter flying around the area) blocked the street, there were manifestations of solidarity from several support groups against the eviction.

From both sides of the street people were chanting: “What a coincidence, poverty raises as well as police expenses!”, “I would be ashamed of throwing out a family!”, “Neighbor, wake up, foreclosures at your doorstep!”, “Today it's you, tomorrow it'll be me”…

Arrival of the eviction victim with his lawyer. Photo by Elena Arrontes.

A group composed by about 20 people went to Uddin and Hafiz's apartment the night before just in case the bank and realtor decided to do the eviction in advance to the scheduled hour (8am). The solidary group had to abandon the building at 9:30 when Uddin and Hafiz, together with a lawyer from the Victims of Mortgage Platform (PAH) met with a the judicial commission to sign the eviction.

Citizens on strike, students, committed neighbors and neighbor assemblies act several times a week in cases like this and make calls to protest using social media. The PAH has made a call on its website to stop evictions in Madrid and Barcelona. Unfortunately, Uddín and Hafiz were not lucky enough and the eviction became effective, but other cases have been successful due to citizen pressure.

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

China: Foreigner beaten by Beijingers for sexually assaulting a woman in public

Oiwan Lam — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:36:27 +0000

A video, showing a drunken foreigner beaten up by a number of passersby for sexually assaulting a woman in public, has been circulated widely on line. Ministry of Tofu translated some of the online comments.

Singapore: Population, Migration, and Women

Mong Palatino — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:13:02 +0000

Syahidah Ismail provides an overview of various issues faced by Singapore women in the past half century. The author discussed some of the controversial population and migration policies adopted by the government in the past decades.

Greece: Police Violence Against Immigrants on the Rise

Asteris Masouras — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:14:51 +0000

Greek social media has been in uproar over a video posted on Facebook and Twitter, showing police officers overtly abusing a detained immigrant in downtown Athens. The incident occured at the end of January 2012, whilst the exact location has not been confirmed.

Motorized police (DIAS in Greek) as well as people in plain clothes, brutalized the detainee, who didn't resist arrest, as the video shows clearly:

According to film director Nikos Soulis, who recorded the incident, the man was burning garbage, endangering the cars parked beside them:

@nikosoulis: @Louki_p he was burning garbage bags..parked cars were endangered. They did well to arrest him, but then what? Why?

Police launched an administrative review over the incident, but the witness stated on Facebook that he wasn't called to testify, although he submitted the video to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Greece. Administrative reviews, often ineffective, have been ordered in the past over similar incidents.

In response to a comment by the Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis (@chrisochoidis), on the occasion of the anniversary of the military coup of April 21, 1967, journalist Damian Mac Con Uladh (@damomac) urged the minister to take immediate action:

@chrisochoidis: Ακόμη και μια τραυματισμένη δημοκρατία είναι καλύτερη από καθόλου δημοκρατία.

@chrisochoidis: Even an injured democracy is better than no democracy.

@damomac: @chrisochoidis Minister, please assist in helping this “wounded democracy” by dismissing those cops who beat this man!

Although mainstream media mostly ignored the incident, reactions on social media were immediate and intense, and it was also publicized by activists abroad:

@teacherdude: No mention on Greek TV news of savage beating of immigrant in Athens by police caught on video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG4Cf1T8bR4 Hardly surprising.

@SykoFantiS: Υπάρχει κάποιος που πιστεύει ότι η ομάδες ΔΙΑΣ προσφέρουν έργο;

@SykoFantiS: Is there anyone who thinks that the DIAS teams are [serving and protecting]?

@v_emman: Αυτή δεν είναι αστυνομία, είναι συμμορία τραμπούκων. Ντρέπομαι για λογαριασμό σας. http://j.mp/Id5a2W @hellenicpolice

@v_emman: This isn't a police, it's a gang of thugs. I'm ashamed on your behalf. http://j.mp/Id5a2W @hellenicpolice

@libertarian: @hellenicpolice στο 4ο είχα δει να βάζουν κράνος σε κρατούμενο και να τον κλωτσάν στο κεφάλι.

@libertarian: @hellenicpolice I once saw a detainee fitted with a helmet and kicked on the head in the 4th precinct.

Numerous incidents of police violence against immigrants have been documented in the past, while in 2007, the publication of a video showing immigrants being abused in a police precinct caused an international furore. By August 2008, the Greek police had been convicted at least nine times by the European Court of Human Rights for incidents of abuse.

In its trial run, the Network to Record Incidents of Racist Violence recorded 63 incidents during the last 2 months of 2011, of which 18 are linked to police violence, and noted that “racist violence is spreading at a terrifying rate”. In a recent report, in view of the upcoming review of Greece by the United Nations' Committee Against Torture, international human rights NGO Human Rights Watch called the country's attempts to protect immigrants and vulnerable groups ”totally insufficient”, while in it's annual review for 2011, independent research network RED held up Greece as the most typical example of the outburst of racist violence and impunity in Europe.

During his previous tenure as Citizen Protection Minister, Mr. Chrisochoidis had committed to founding a bureau to address incidents of police abuse:

@chrisochoidis: .@asteris Περί ΓΑΠΑ: αναβαθμίστηκε η διερευνητική του δυνατότητα και αποκτά αυξημένη τυπική ισχύ καθώς θα κυρωθεί με νόμο και όχι με Π.Δ.

@chrisochoidis: .@asteris On GAPA [the bureau]: its investigative capacity has been upgraded, and it acquires increased formal power, as it will be ratified by law, rather than by presidential decree

The ‘Bureau tο Address Abuse Incidents' was founded by law [el] on March 2011, but has still to become operational. Greek NGO Hellenic League for Human Rights called [el] the legislative act “a clear setback” and “a much worse scenario” than what had originally been announced.

το Γραφείο δεν θα είναι ανεξάρτητος φορέας όπως αρχικά είχε δηλώσει ο Μιχ. Χρυσοχοϊδης και είχε ακολουθήσει μάλιστα και η ανάλογη ηλεκτρονική διαβούλευση, αλλά αυτό που το νέο σχέδιο νόμου προβλέπει είναι μια τριμελής επιτροπή [δικαστικών]. Η επιτροπή αυτή, όπως διευκρινίστηκε δεν θα έχει καμία δυνατότητα διερεύνησης της καταγγελίας αλλά θα κρίνει μόνο αν η καταγγελία θα είναι παραδεκτή, παρεμποδίζοντας ουσιαστικά την ποινική διερεύνηση.

The Bureau will not be an independent agency, as Michalis Chrysochoidis had originally stated, and as the online public consultation had specified, but what the new bill provides for is a tripartite [judiciary] committee. This committee, as clarified, will have no capacity to investigate complaints, but only to rule on whether they are acceptable, essentially inhibiting criminal investigation.

Over 2,400 members have joined a Facebook group [el] created after the brutal crackdown of protests at Syntagma Square, Athens, on June 28-29, 2011, in order to collect documentation on police violence, whilst almost 15,000 members have joined an older Facebook Cause titled ‘Stop Greek police brutality', created on the day after the police killing of 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

Global Voices author Asteris Masouras collaborated in researching and writing this article.

Cuba: Remembering the Dissidents

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:05 +0000

This week, members of the Cuban diaspora have been blogging about two main things: the one-year anniversary of the death of dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto, and the re-arrest of human rights activist Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.

Of the former, babalu places blame for Soto's death squarely on the shoulders of the Cuban government:

Mercilessly beaten in a park by agents of Cuba's political police, Soto died three days later from the injuries he received. His murder at the hands of the Castro dictatorship, like that of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, caused an uproar in the international community and forced the regime and its defenders here in the U.S. to mount a campaign seeking to blame his death on natural causes and diminish the role Castro police had in his murder.

One year after the murder of Juan Wilfredo Soto, things have have changed Cuba, but for the worse. The rate of arrests of human rights activists on the island has skyrocketed…One year later, the Castro regime is as repressive and violent as ever, if not more so…

Pedazos de la Isla corroborates his account of increased numbers of arrests in this post, quoting a “Lady in White and independent journalist” who claims that:

The Cuban police, as well as State Security and other watchdog branches of the regime, prefer to unleash this kind of repression against peaceful activists who demand freedom and democratic changes in Cuba instead of pursuing and detaining those who rob, rape, and even kill other citizens.

The recent re-arrest of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, as Uncommon Sense reports, also appears to support this claim:

Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was arrested in Havana on Wednesday.

Ferrer, who had been released April 29 after almost a month in jail, was on his way to the Czech embassy to access the Internet, when the Castro police swept in and arrested him.

Details of his whereabouts were not known, but human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez, with whom Ferrer was staying while visiting the capital said he thought Ferrer would be returned to his hometown of Santiago de Cuba.

Finally, Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter, which gives a detailed history of the case, says that Soto Garcia, who died on Mother's Day last year, should never be forgotten:

Juan Wilfredo Soto García, 46, belonged to the Central Opposition Coalition (Coalición Central Opositora) and the previously unrecognized opposition organization Foro Antitotalitario Unido, (United Anti-totalitarian Forum) and according to Amnesty International Juan Wilfredo ‘had previously been imprisoned for 12 years for his political activities.'

Amnesty International called for an investigation into his death which over a year later has not been conducted. The Cuban dictatorship has sought to deny Juan Wilfredo Soto García's status as a former political prisoner and human rights defender in order to portray him as a common criminal.

In addition to Amnesty International, 12 former Cuban prisoners of conscience from the 2003 Black Cuban Spring met on Saturday, June 4, 2011 and petitioned the Cuban regime for an independent investigation into the May 8, 2011 death of Juan Wilfredo Soto García in a document called The Declaration of El Roque. Others continue to [be] badly beaten and denied adequate medical care in Cuba and their lives remain at risk. It is for that reason and the continuing demand of justice for Juan Wilfredo Soto García that we must never forget.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Fragile”, is by fabbio, used under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit fabbio's flickr photostream.

Venezuela: Video ‘Caracas, City of Farewells' Sparks Discussion on Emigration

Jea — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:35:32 +0000

It took the Venezuelan blogosphere only a matter of days to unleash an avalanche of criticism and mockery on the video documentary “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas” (”Caracas, City of Farewells”). The video compiles seventeen minutes of interviews on the experience of emigration in Venezuela and explores the reasons which have driven several of its citizens to join the growing Venezuelan diaspora. The sheer force of the response led to the video's removal from the YouTube channel on which it was initially posted, and resulted in public statements from those behind and those featured in the documentary.

Overall, the video met with a strong wave of harsh criticism, mockery, video responses, remixes [es], parodies [es], caricatures, memes and tweets, with the hashtag, #meiriademasiado [es], an allusion to the comment of one of the subjects in the video, “Yo sí me iría… Me iría demasiado [sic]” (”I would go, I would so go”) becoming a trending topic en Venezuela.

The video did receive some shows of support, albeit very few, which backed up the validity of its ideas, pointing out that behind the tone and the rhetoric (the most criticized aspects of the video), the video had served to stir up a highly sensitive topic within citizen media: emigration due to urban violence.

El brujo [es] points to what, in his opinion, was the main flaw in “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas”:

El problema del autocensurado video […] y de sus participantes, radica en la absoluta ajenidad y desconocimiento absoluto de la sociedad a la que dicen pertenecer, emitiendo juicios de valor totalmente sesgados y prejuiciados respecto a asuntos que obviamente conocen por lo que les dicen sus padres …

The problem with this self-censored video […] and its subjects, lies in their absolute alienation from, and ignorance of, the society to which they claim to belong, passing completely biased value judgments and spouting prejudice about issues on which quite obviously their only knowledge comes from what their parents told them.

Meanwhile, Luis, on Panfleto Negro [es] (Black Pamphlet), underlines the main message:

…detrás de todo el mandibuleo [*] y el “me iría demasiado” hay una realidad a la que no queremos dar la cara; Venezuela no ofrece a sus jóvenes ni un presente ni un futuro viable, ofrece más penurias y que todo vaya a peor antes de ir mejor. Hablar de porvenir en un país donde se depende de la salud de una sola persona es casi tan ingenuo como los testimonios de estos chicos.

…Behind all the “mandibuleo” [*] and the “me iría demasiado” (”I would so go”), lies a reality which we do not want to face up to; Venezuela offers its youth neither a viable present nor future, the country offers more hardship and the idea that things have to get worse before they can get better. To speak of the future in a country in which that future depends on the health of a single person is almost as naive as the views expressed by the kids in the video.

[*] In Venezuela, “mandibuleo” is a term used to describe the speech of upper-class youth in Caracas (who are also known as “sifrinos”).

On the other hand, Vanessa [es] opines:

Yo pienso que ellos sí tienen derecho a opinar lo que les dé la gana, así sea mandibuleado y mal redactado. ¿O es que acaso ya en Venezuela estamos tan acostumbrados a la mordaza en la boca que nos escandaliza una opinión distinta a la propia? Se ha formado una especie de dictadura opositora donde, al igual que los chavistas, todos repiten al unísono lo que les mandan a decir los “líderes opositores”. Al que se salga un poquito de la línea, los demás le caen a peinillazos.

I think that they do have a right to express their opinion on whatever they feel like, even if it's “mandibuleado” and poorly-executed. Or is it the case that in Venezuela we are so accustomed to being gagged, that we are scandalised by any opinion different to the one we hold. A kind of opposition dictatorship has sprung up, just like the Chavista one, in which everyone repeats in unison whatever the “leaders of the opposition” tell them to say. Let anyone step the slightest bit out of line, and the others come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Laura Solórzano, en her blog Debilidades y Vicios [es] (Weaknesses and Vices) points to another fact:

[…] mi preocupación es que muchos de esos “jóvenes del este del este[”] que estudiaron en los mejores colegios y universidades” sigue sin entender el verdadero problema en Venezuela. Que esos chamos de “me iría demasiado” son los hijos de esos venezolanos que hicieron plata y se olvidaron que existía un país y que algún día les tenían que responder.

My concern is that so many of these “east of east[”] youth, who attended the best colleges and universities still don't understand the real problem here in Venezuela. Namely, that these kids with their “I would so go” are the children of those Venezuelans who made a lot of money and forgot about the existence of a country which they would one day have to answer to.

Meanwhile, Mirelis Morales Tovar [es] explains why the video moved her:

Me movió… Si, no lo niego. Quien tiene dos hermanos lejos, otro con un pie aquí y otr[o] allá, así como casi todos sus amig@s a muchas horas de distancia, no puede ser indiferente a lo que se plantea en el video Caracas Ciudad de Despedidas.
Es una realidad. Queramos o no. […] Todos quienes vivimos en esta ciudad tenemos el temor de no regresar a casa y eso no es precisamente una sensación con la que debamos acostumbrarnos.

Pero fomentar la idea de que emigrar se ha vuelto la solución a los problemas que nos agobian en este país es ir creando una generación de desarraigados.[…] Otros países han vivido situaciones similares o peores. Y es el espíritu de su gente lo que les ha permitido salir a flote. [Venezuela] es una nación herida. Herida por su propia gente. Pero también es tierra de gracia, de oportunidades.

It moved me… Yes, I'm not going to deny it. A person with two brothers living far away, and another with one foot at home and the other abroad, and on top of all that, with almost all their friends living several hours away, can't just be indifferent to what was going on in the “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas” video. It's a reality. Whether we like it or not. […] Everyone who lives in this city carries this fear of not being able to make it home and this is not a feeling we ought to get used to having.

But to foment this idea of emigration now being the solution to the problems overwhelming us in this country, is to create an entire generation of rootless people […] Other countries have been through similar or worse. And it's the spirit of their people which allowed them to rise above it. [Venezuela] is a wounded nation. Wounded by her own people. But this is also the land of grace, of opportunity.

Asdrúbal [es], for his part, comments:

lo que sinceramente no me gustó [de las opiniones expuestas el video] fue el hacer entender que la responsabilidad de mejorar al país era de «otros» exclusivamente.

What I sincerely disliked [about the views expressed in the video] was the idea that the responsibility for improving the country lay exclusively in the hands of “others”.

Of the participants in the video, Raquel Abend van Dalen, was the first to break her silence. In her blog Merienda en el Espacio [es] (Snacking in Space), which was made private days later, she wrote:

La realidad de Venezuela nos afecta a todos. Tanto a los que viven en ella, como a los que se tuvieron que ir. Y cada quien busca la forma de sobrellevarla y de aportar para un cambio positivo. Yo amo a Caracas, yo a amo Venezuela. Es el país en donde nací y crecí. Venezuela es el espacio que me ha hecho ser quien soy, y que me ha brindado todas las oportunidades para crecer como persona y como ciudadana. Esta situación me ha servido de lección de vida: se vive y se aprende.

The reality in Venezuela affects all of us. It affects those who still live here, just as it does those who had to leave. And everyone is looking for the right way to uplift the country and to bring positive change. I love Caracas, I love Venezuela. It's the country I was born and raised in. Venezuela is the place that has made me who I am, and which has offered me every opportunity to grow as a person and as a citizen. This situation has served as a life lesson for me: you live and you learn.

The youth involved in the documentary published a communique [es] in response to the reaction their video received. In it, they explained their reasons for producing such a video, adding:

Nunca nos imaginamos, esperamos o quisimos este alcance y ahora que lo tenemos no nos lamentamos, porque a pesar de que la forma parezca banal, lo que ahí se expresa sigue siendo la verdad: tenemos miedo por la inseguridad que existe en Caracas y por ello no hemos podido vivir nuestra ciudad como quisiéramos.

We never imagined, hoped or desired it to reach this level, and now that it has, we don't regret it because, although the form might appear banal, what's being expressed remains as true as ever: we are afraid of the insecurity that exists in Caracas and because of it we have not been able to live our lives the way we would have wanted to.

The communique concludes:

Respetamos las opiniones diferentes a las nuestras, agradecemos el apoyo de quienes nos han respaldado e invitamos a todos a mirar más allá de la forma y analizar el fondo, a leer entre líneas y considerar que todos formamos parte de lo mismo aunque seamos diferentes. No es una cuestión de discriminar a un grupo, es de exponer a otro y no es para ofender a nadie, es para compartir lo que algunos sentimos.

We respect opinions different to our own, we are grateful for the support of those who have backed us and we invite everyone to look beyond the form and analyze the substance, to read between the lines and consider that we are all part of the same thing, even though we might be different. It's not a question of discriminating against a group, it's to display another, and there is no intention of offending anybody, this is to express what we feel.

Finally, Leopoldo Tablante [es] reflects on the similarities and the discourse of the upper and lower classes, and on how this mirrors a common spirit which makes living together and social advancement difficult:

Por novatada o por lo que sea, el video parece inspirado por un muy particular espíritu de indolencia ante el proyecto de construcción del bien común. Y sin ese espíritu, ¿qué nos queda?
Por la izquierda o por la derecha (si es que estos clivajes siguen teniendo vigencia), en la urbanización o en el barrio, Venezuela suena en monofónico. Y con ese empaque al vacío, ¿a quién le queda fuelle para pensar en una reconciliación?

Out of naivete or whatever the case may be, the video seems to be inspired by a very particular spirit of indolence, in terms of the project of working on the common good. And without this spirit, what do we have left? Whether on the left or the right (if these cleavages are still relevant), in exclusive housing developments or in the ghetto, the sound of Venezuela is in monophone. And with such an apparent void, who still has breath left in them to think of a reconciliation?

Europe: Economic Crisis Fuels Rise in Anti-Immigration Politics

Ariane Defreine — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:31:35 +0000

The French presidential election may be over, but the fact that outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy chose immigration as a core theme of his campaign [fr] is still the subject of much debate on the Web. Many netizens have wondered whether his choice to flirt with the far-right wing of his electorate helped temper his defeat or whether, on the contrary, it was one of the reasons his electorate deserted him [fr].

Given the apparent waning appetite of European voters for multiculturalism, singling out immigration as the root of the global economic crisis has proven fruitful for far-right parties across the continent.

African refugees by Vito Manzari on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

If this rhetoric sounds familiar, it's because it has affected the old continent, when in times of crisis, in a cyclical pattern for centuries. Valérie, on her blog 'Crêpe Georgette', recounted the chronology of perceptions on immigration in France [fr] from the first half of the 19th century until today:

S’il est une idée en vogue, c’est bien de penser que les anciennes vagues d’immigration (italiennes, polonaises, espagnoles, belges …) se sont parfaitement intégrées au contraire des vagues, plus récentes, maghrébines et africaines.
Les anciennes vagues d’immigrés étaient travailleuses, ne posaient aucun problème et les français les ont d’ailleurs parfaitement acceptées, entend-on souvent.
Constatons donc que les propos actuels sur les immigrés les plus récents ne sont qu’une répétition d’idées reçues anciennes et qui se sont exercées à l’encontre de toutes les communautés migrantes (qu’elles viennent de province ou de pays étrangers).

If there is but one fashionable idea, it is the belief that the old immigration waves (from Italy, Poland, Spain, Belgium…) are now fully integrated in our society, as opposed to the more recent immigration waves from Maghreb and Africa.
We often hear “the former immigration waves were related to labour, did not cause any issue, and were indeed perfectly accepted by the French.”
Let us then recognise that current comments on the most recent immigration waves are the mere reiteration of old stereotypes which all migrant communities have faced (whether they originated from the countryside or from foreign countries).

Valérie drew a parallel between allegations that Italian and Spanish immigrants did not and could not be integrated, and those against today's immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa:

Toutes les populations d’immigrés – mais aussi les populations pauvres de manière générale – sont vues au cours des siècles comme sales, non intégrées, se vautrant dans la luxure et des coutumes exotiques. Ce qu’on entend à l’heure actuelle sur les quartiers « islamisés », « envahis » de femmes en burqa avec 10 enfants n’est que la répétition, comme vous le constatez, de propos tenus sur toutes les vagues d’immigration précédentes. L’italien lui aussi fait une cuisine infâme, trop d’enfants et se vêt d’oripeaux. Le polonais se ridiculise avec son catholicisme particulier et à se tenir debout pendant la messe alors que le bon français est assis.

All immigrant populations - but also the poor in general - have been deemed throughout the centuries to be dirty, non-integrated, indulging in lust and other exotic customs. As you may observe, what is said today about the ‘islamicised' neighbourhoods, 'swamped' with women wearing the burqa and their tens of children, is only repeating comments of all the previous waves of immigration. The Italian immigrant also cooks dreadful food, has too many children, and dresses in rags. The Polish immigrant is ridiculed for his peculiar brand of Catholicism and his habit of standing up throughout mass whereas proper French people remain seated.

Economic downturn not the only reason

Nevertheless, the economic downturn alone cannot explain the attractiveness of anti-immigration arguments. In an editorial on the future of multiculturalism in France, Julie Owono highlighted that:

The reason for the growing worry over the future of Europe is not simply related to the crisis. Contrary to what some politicians were quick to explain on the evening of the first round, it seems that the French who gave their vote to extremism do not suffer that much from the immigration scourge. French analysts have found that, while the latter represents a major concern for 62 per cent of National Front voters, areas where the party has received a significant number of votes do not have a particularly high immigration rate.

A European phenomenon

Foreigners in Europe by Digital Dreams on FlickR License-CC-BY

Politicians singing this weathered old tune against immigration are not limited to France. In Greece, the Neo-Nazi party known as Golden Dawn took advantage of the country's economic difficulties and broke through during the most recent general elections. In Great Britain, a commenter posting under the name James reacted to the fact that Cameron, Merkel, and Sarkozy declared the failure of multiculturalism in Europe:

She [Merkel] wanted People from richer nations to embrace and train poorer region folk! It hasn't worked, its cost us all billions and its getting more expensive year on year! Would you rather have a farmer from romania working in britain, claiming to be poor and sending all the money home to build a mansion! thats whats happening.

Valérie said she is no longer surprised by recycling of anti-immigration rhetoric. She suggested in her blog some reading to open up the debate:

Pour combattre les craintes face aux immigrés maghrébins et africains, on gagnerait à lire les textes du 19eme et du début du 20eme pour comprendre comment se fondent ces peurs et comment l’on ne fait que répéter les mêmes idées ayant cours dans les siècles précédents. Conseils de lecture :

- Conseillé par Melle S. : A. SAYAD « L’immigration ou les paradoxes de l’altérité » (1. L’illusion du provisoire et 2. Les enfants illégitimes).
- Gérard Noiriel, « Le creuset français ».
- Laurent Dornel, « La France hostile. Histoire de la xénophobie en France au XIXe siècle ”

To address anxieties over immigrants from Maghreb and Africa, one would gain from reading texts from the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries in order to understand the foundations of such fears and how the same arguments are being used throughout the centuries. Suggested reading:

- Suggested by Melle S. [fr]: A. Sayad, Immigration or the Paradoxes of Alterity [fr] (1. The illusion of the ephemery and 2. The illegitimate children)
- Gérard Noiriel, The French Melting-Pot
- Laurent Dornel, Hostile France. A History of Xenophobia in France in the 19th Century [fr]

Trinidad & Tobago: Three Score and Ten

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:31:47 +0000

Two Trinidadian bloggers - one living on island and the other a member of the diaspora - have come to the difficult realisation that their parents are growing old. In this post, they discuss the issue of ageism while sharing their mixed emotions and fears…

Denesia Venus, blogging at Outlish, says:

As adults, we sometimes neglect our parents. We get so caught up in our lives that we forget to look out for the same people who took care of us, without expecting too much in return.

When we were sick, who was the one person we wanted to take care of us? Our mummy, daddy, or a guardian who would dutifully be at our side, whether it was to rub us down with Vicks, feed us soup, or coax us to swallow some sort of ungodly concoction they conjured up, thinking it would make us better.

But, I often wonder about how many of us would be willing to reciprocate this, when our parents have aged, and they become ill (God forbid). When incontinence has set in, and they can no longer take care of themselves. What is it worth the life of a man, if, when he becomes ill, he is abandoned by his offspring, or his relatives?

Trini Like Salt, who lives in Boston, is aware that the geographical distance between him and his parents “doesn’t really allow one to observe their aging”:

I see that in intervals. I won’t see my mom for a year, my dad for longer than that (that’s a long story in and of itself), and when I do see them, I’m struck by what’s happening. My mom, especially, gives me pause. She was always the energetic one. She had to be, with 2 kids to raise pretty much on her own. But now, she’s definitely slowed, and slowing, down. She takes longer to get anywhere. She sometimes has to pause on steps.

I know it’s the order of things, but it’s still a helluva thing to watch your parents age - especially when you can see it clearly because you don’t see them for months at a time, and when you do, they’ve visibly changed.

Outlish, meanwhile, finds the number of elderly patients in hospitals to be a disturbing phenomenon:

I have realised that most of the warded patients are elderly persons, who have passed the designated three score and ten, and who have contributed what they could…until society casts them aside. They became ill, and their care quickly becomes the responsibility of someone else – especially if they live in homes. Not everyone has a spouse who is alive and well enough to take care of them, or children who can care for them.

There are the persons who live alone or with family, who are taken to the hospital, and are warded, and their relatives do not visit them. It is ironic, though, that when a warded patient’s pension cheque is received, relatives turn up for them to sign it.

She tells a sad story about “a lovely, yet severely ill, aged man [who] was hospitalized”:

His condition eventually improved steadily. Hospital staff even grew quite fond of him. A relative might visit him every other day or so – until, one day, he was discharged.

The patient was quite happy and excited to go home, after all he had been anticipating it for some time. The only thing is…no one ever came to pick him up. Calls to his relatives remained unanswered. The patient eventually realized what was taking place, grieved, and died a few days later. I was surprised to learn that this was not an unusual case in the hospital.

For the blogger, the story raises an important question:

Not that many aged people have relatives who are concerned enough to go the extra mile to care about them, and this got me thinking…Do we love and respect our elders the same way we did, as children? If your parents or grandparents were to become really ill, would you sacrifice your usual routine to take the time to care for them to the best of your ability?

I think that we do still love and respect our elders, but the relationship certainly is not the same. At times we are rude, disrespectful and impatient with our parents, but the reality is that – at times – when we are far from our parents, we tend to cherish and appreciate them more.

Trini Like Salt certainly seems to cherish his parents, especially his mother:

I think my mother is aging, but happily. I can’t know what it’s like to reach an age where the statistical fact of death is staring you in the face - but she has, and she doesn’t seem phased by it. I will someday, though, if I’m lucky.

Outlish ends by suggesting that distance - both physical and emotional - can be reduced by forging meaningful cross-generational relationships:

Sometimes if you take a little time to sit and have a chat with an elderly person, you will be amazed by how much they can tell you. Their stories may fascinate you, while bringing feelings of warmth, joy and nostalgia to them. Even if you heard the story a thousand times, let them have their moment. They have lived the very same lives we live, and they have struggled the same way we struggle. What makes me laugh is that sometimes we grow up to be almost just like them.

Taking care of your elderly loved ones is a serious responsibility, but I’m sure that when they pass on, you’d be much more comforted knowing that you did your best to help them, when they needed you the most.

In my humble opinion, just because we are young, and moving on, that doesn’t mean that we should turn our backs, and ignore the elderly. And we should be prepared for the day, when our parents need us to return the favour, and take care of them in their weakened years, just as they did for us.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Elderly hands”, is by Rosie O'Beirne, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit Rosie O'Beirne's flickr photostream.

Video: Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards Voting Open

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:15:40 +0000

The Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards is a competition to showcase the work the Adobe Foundation is doing with underprivileged communities around the world. Empowering youth in school or out of school programs where they can learn how to use multimedia tools to express themselves, show their potential, share their ideas and lead change in their communities.

The Adobe Youth Voices global network currently includes more than 750 sites and a large, expanding number of grantees and organizations in 50 countries. Since its inception, Adobe Youth Voices has engaged over 150,000 youth and 8,200 educators in schools and out-of-school programs.

The 160 finalist products including video can be viewed and voted on by sharing them through online social networks such as facebook and twitter. Every category, such as documentary, music video, poetry, audio, graphic design, narrative, animation and photography has an audience award, for which each share, tweet, retweet and like count as one vote. Voting closes on 8 June, 2012.

For example, this documentary by 18 year old Stella in Uruguay, sharing her experience with her sister with Down Syndrome, raising awareness about what it means to have this syndrome for their lives.

Finding Home is a narrative by Iraqi Mair Maher tells the story of his family's immigration due to violence and war, with many stops around the world before finding a new home in Canada.

Jeanvier Janga from Bonaire shares an animation on how change starts by one person changing themselves.

The Adobe Youth Aspire Awards

Greece: Rise of Neo-Nazi Group ‘Golden Dawn'

Veroniki Krikoni — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:13:10 +0000

Facebook group ‘Leme OCHI sti Chrysi Avgi‘ (We say NO to Golden Dawn) [el] already has more than 11,000 likes. Created on December 2011, the anti-fascist group declares that “Fascism is gangrene, either you rip it off or it kills you”. Group members try to persuade people not to vote for Greek neo-Nazi party Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) in forthcoming May 6, 2012, General Greek elections. Sofia Ignatidou in a Guardian article states that “Greeks shouldn't let their despair drive them to supporting the dangerous and opportunistic far-right party”.

Greece: Public Speech Controversies

Veroniki Krikoni — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:56:34 +0000

Before the May 6, 2012, General Election in Greece, Friday 4 was the last day political parties could organize public speeches and rallies. Heavy criticism was levelled at PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos's choice to give a public speech at Syntagma Square in Athens, center of anti-government and anti-austerity mass citizen protests so far. Netizens on Twitter mocked [el, en] the political party for its “audacity to hold a public speech” and the low audience turnout, criticizing also the presence of Pakistani immigrants, reportedly paid or forced to swing green flags in favor of PASOK.

Cuba: Where's the (Press) Freedom?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:29:47 +0000

Today is World Press Freedom Day - but in the Caribbean blogosphere, a handful of Cuban diaspora bloggers are the only ones talking about it.

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter provides some background on the day itself, explaining:

The United Nations declared May 3 World Press Freedom Day on December 20, 1993 to raise awareness on the importance of a free press and to remind governments of their obligation to respect and uphold the right of freedom of expression recognized under Article 19 of the Universal Declarationof Human Rights. The date of May 3 was selected to mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles agreed on by African journalists at a UNESCO seminar, “Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press,” held in Windhoek, Namibia, from April 29 to May 3, 1991; it was later endorsed by the UNESCO General Conference.

The Coalition of Cuban-American Women posted a link on its blog to this report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which lists Cuba as one of the most censored countries. In a later post, it draws attention to Cuban blogger and independent journalist, Luis Felipe Rojas, who is featured in an Amnesty International article.

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter also takes note of the report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, saying:

The dictatorship in Cuba came in ninth place, but also at least three out of the four worse (sic) are close allies of the Castro brothers.

babalu, meanwhile, notes that:

340 politically motivated arrests in Cuba were documented by the Cuban independent news agency CIHPRESS during the month of April. This brings the total number of political arrests on the island documented by the agency this year to 1,915. At this current pace, the Castro dictatorship is set to carry out almost 6,000 arrests by the end of year, almost double the number of the arrests that took place in 2011.

And in a “toast to freedom on World Press Freedom Day”, Notes from the Exile Quarter posts a video in honour of all imprisoned journalists, and blogs about some of Cuba's prisoners of conscience:

Fifty years ago, on May 28, 1961 Amnesty International was formed because two Portuguese students were imprisoned for seven years for raising a toast to freedom. Today, in Cuba men and women are locked away for speaking up for freedom and marching for it. Journalists are harassed, detained and imprisoned for attempting to exercise their fundamental right to free speech, one of them is Luis Felipe Rojas. Others are found in the ‘Hablemos Press’ Information Centre. In honor of them, on World Press Freedom Day this…is dedicated to them: A Toast to Freedom.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “Press freedom abandoned”, is by BlackburnMike_1, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit BlackburnMike_1's flickr photostream.

Cuba: Bloggers Offended by Archbishop's Statements

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:02:46 +0000

As if the Archbishop of Havana hadn't sufficiently ruffled bloggers' feathers over the recent papal visit to Cuba - specifically his request to have protesters removed from a church and his lack of cooperation in facilitating a meeting between the pontiff and dissident groups - in a recent address at a Harvard University conference, Cardinal Ortega referred to those church protesters as criminals, once again raising the ire of Cuban netizens.

babalu called the comments “derisive” and “nothing less than reprehensible”:

This latest sin against God and His flock is only another example of what a truly despicable man Ortega is. Fortunately, the Good Lord has provided the objects of Ortega's sinful ridicule and scorn the opportunity to respond.

The blog then linked to a mainstream media article in which some of the protesters were interviewed and denied that they had criminal records. In a subsequent post, the blog got hold of a petition for Cardinal Ortega's retirement and encouraged readers to sign:

According to the rules established by Pope John Paul II, all bishops are required to retire when they reach the age of 75. Cardinal Ortega was born in October 1936. This means he is overdue for forced retirement, yet, he clings to his post, and the Holy Father allows him to do so.

Finally, at Translating Cuba, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada confessed that they had “no words to describe the recent statements made by his Eminence Cardinal and Archbishop of Havana Jaime Lucas Ortega Alamino during his stay last week in the United States of America”:

Despite the fact that he has spoken in a deliberate tone, the language used by the Cuban cardinal places at disadvantage the credibility of the good function of the Catholic hierarchy in the island. He has repeated in his discourse the same phrases used by the ruling class.

All of us who follow the evolution of the Catholic Church in Cuba, have denounced on many occasions the so badly called relationship between Church and State, and the complicity of the Church with the silence of the true existing situation in the island related to the lack of a state of rights and also the lack of places for free religious worship.

They went on to say that the Cardinal's speech “was similar to one of the many speeches dictated by the office of the Department of Ideology of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba”:

Today’s comment does not attempt to criticize the role of the Church in Cuba, but it tries to put in its right place he who uses the Catholic Church for his own benefit and in defense of those who are sinking the nation into an increasing poverty.

We would have to ask such a Cuban Cardinal, “How could he have access to the police records of each person who occupied the Caridad Church in Havana?” We would also ask, “How could he obtain the information that such acts of civil disobedience were organized from Miami?” I understand this time, like many other times, that the Cardinal spoke more than he should, and now he has to withstand all the critics coming from different latitudes.

I never imagined to hear, from the lips of the highest pastor of the Cuban Church, so much malice for those who try to promote full respect to the basic freedom of each man. To call those who serve unfair sentences under the most terrible conditions not described by people like him “common delinquents,” at some international meeting, makes him an accomplice of a corrupt and inert government.

The thumbnail image used in this post, Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Habana, is by RC_Fotos, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit RC_Fotos' flickr photostream.

United States: Indig-Nación, the Spanish Newspaper of Occupy Wall Street

Chellsy Alis Manning — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:52:00 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Indig-Nación [es], an affinity group related to the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement in New York City, is hoping to establish links with the Latino community in the United States and the Spanish-speaking world through the alternative media project with original content in Spanish also titled Indig-Nación (a play of words between indignation and nation). Indig-Nación has its own website and a newspaper that will be distributed in New York, the birthplace of the Occupy movement in the United States.

Here is a video about Indig-Nación (in Spanish with English subtitles):

In a previous interview with Global Voices, the translator for the Spanish edition of the Occupy Wall Street Journal – Mariné Pérez – explained that the idea for a Spanish newspaper with original articles was enthusiastically discussed during the First General Assembly of OWS. Finally, after various months of preparation, the first edition of the newspaper has now been distributed. This edition will serve to mobilise people to take part in the general strike planned for May 1, 2012.

We have interviewed Sofía Gallisá Muriente, an artist and activist from Puerto Rico and part of the editorial team of Indig-Nación, to speak about the launching of the media project.

Global Voices (GV): How did you get involved with Occupy Wall Street?

Sofía Gallisá. Photographed by Cristina Agostini, used with permission.

Sofía Gallisá (SF): It is really strange. I was at a Manu Chao concert and I heard a group of activists talking and saw them climbing up one of the platforms to announce a protest inspired by the Arab spring and the angry protests taking place in Spain. They explained that now was the time for the United States, particularly in New York (being the international capital of world finance).

The protest took place on the 17th September, I arrived sceptical and cynical given my past experiences with other protests in the city but I hoped this time would be different. I camped out on the first night and I rapidly realised just how strong the movement was.

GV: People have criticised the “decentralised” nature of OWS, even those who are involved in the movement. What do you think about this?

SG: Decentralization creates other problems and opportunities. The newspaper itself was structured in a decentralised fashion. This was because we were worried that there would not be original articles about topics pertinent to the movement, especially those written in Spanish; and given that traditional media is limited and manipulative we decided to act. We prefer to focus ourselves on our potential. If I see a shortage somewhere, I organise myself and others to meet this weakness. Decentralisation creates a system of auto-correction. These structures without hierarchies are not open to judge or to lay blame, but we form part of the solution.

GV: In the post titled “Somos muchos” [es] you react against the accusations made on the lack of Latinos in the OWS movement. You even go as far to suggest that “those that try to discredit the occupation frequently end up revealing their own prejudices when they try to identify us at first glance and associate ourselves with a simpleton’s view of Latino identity.” Could you elaborate on this?

SG: The accusations keep coming until it becomes an insult. Who are legitimate Latinos? We know that the Latino community is a completely wide-ranging group of people, and it is this diversity that we see represented in the movement. We do not conform ourselves with the typical notions of what is “Latino.”

Launch party for Indig-Nación in Brooklyn Commons, in New York, organised by the editorial team. Photographed by Josué Guarionex.

GV: We know that the Indig-Nación project was launched on the 14th April, what can people do to support it?

SG: People wishing to collaborate with the project, with content, translations and/or art can get in contact via editors@indig-nacion.org. Those wishing to make a donation can do so by visiting our portal. The newspaper will be distributed throughout the Latino communities, in the marches and in other occupations taking place across the North East of the United States. It will also be available in PDF format on the Internet. The printing of this newspaper is very important as it is the perfect time to attract people to take part in the protests on May 1st.

GV: Why use the Internet? What networks would you like to establish?

SG: We hope that Indig-Nación will help us to connect us with other blogspheres in Latin America and thus learn from other experiences of struggles. This is not the first crisis that has provoked protests and activism. We want to create new networks of communication and collaboration.

GV: How will you fund the next editions?

SG: For the moment the project is being funded by collections and donations. We have non-profit 501(c)3 status backed by Occupied Media, so each donation is exempt from paying taxes. Also, we will continue holding events such as parties and campaigns like Indiegogo.

GV: As well as publishing news pertinent to the current situation of immigrants and Latinos in the United States, are you also thinking about collaborating with activists in Latin America?

SG: We know that this is not the first crisis that has caused protests and activism. One of the principle objectives of Indig-Nación is to draw connections between OWS and Latin America, using language and interesting designs that are accessible and creative. We hope that this project will serve as the beginning of collaboration with other blogspheres in Latin America and from there we will learn about other struggles.

Indig-Nación Editorial Team: Pablo Benson, SilvaSofia Gallisá Muriente, Mariano Muñoz Elías, Stephanie McGuinness, Martín Cobián, Patricia González Ramírez, Rojo Robles, Mariné Pérez, Edén Bastida Kullick. Translation: Teresa Elías. Web Design: Leonardo Velázquez. Design Team: Zak Greene, Ingrid Burrington.

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

You can find INDIG-NACION on Facebook and Twitter @INDIG_NACION. Featured image from INDIG-NACION on Facebook.

Cuba: Diaspora Reacts to Ferrer García's Release

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:52:50 +0000

Cuban prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released over the weekend. Diaspora bloggers comment on this most recent development.

On Friday, the situation appeared as if nothing would change. The former “Group of 75″ prisoner had already been imprisoned for close to a month and had gone on a hunger strike to protest his incarceration. Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter wrote a post about “the courageous Ferrer García family”, which gives some valuable background to his case:

The Castro regime wanted to execute José Daniel Ferrer García in 2003 requesting the death penalty in a show trial but the international outcry caused them to back down and sentence him to a 25 year prison sentence instead. After the untimely and sinister death of Cuban Lady in White founder, Laura Inés Pollán Toledo on October 14, 2011 the threat to José Daniel's life cannot be underestimated. Like Laura Pollán, José Daniel has a nonviolent strategic vision and an ability to mobilize and organize people combined with great courage.

Since the latest detention of José Daniel Ferrer García on April 2, 2012, his brother Luis Enrique has organized a campaign for his release and is tweeting both from his own account and his brother’s twitter account to raise awareness and solidarity.

Please be vigilant with regards to the plight of José Daniel Ferrer García and speak up for him because his life may very well depend on it. After 24 days in detention, Cuban officials have yesterday finally made known that they plan to accuse José Daniel of ‘public disturbances.'

Soon, news broke that Ferrer García had decided to suspend his hunger strike and activity aimed at expediting his release was increased: Pedazos de la Isla posted a detailed account of “some of the many Cubans who reside behind bars in a prison cell for defending human rights and freedom in Cuba”, adding:

Let us demand their immediate release!

Ferrer García's release appeared to happen soon afterward: Uncommon Sense reported yesterday that:

Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released from jail on Sunday, almost a month after his most recent arrest.

But, the blogger, not wanting to appear overly optimistic, added:

Ferrer, one of Cuba's most active opposition leaders still faces charges of ‘instigating, directing and financing public disorder' in eastern Cuba. No trial date has been set.

The thumbnail image used in this post, “jail”, is by the_kid_cl, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit the_kid_cl's flickr photostream.