09.04.2003 Panel Area 2 - Beyond national borders: migrants and refugees
Bridget Anderson, Kalayaan Network, Philippines
-Social actor’s purpose/Mission sociale/Propósito del agente social/Missão da organização:
We strive for a world where the poor can move as freely as the rich and where the work that we do is not determined by immigration status, by gender, by sexuality, by religion or by the colour of skin. Where caring work is respected and given due reward, and where reproductive labour produces equal human beings untrammelled by consumerism and
status. Where migrant workers are not dependent on their employers for their immigration status and are viewed as equal and respected participants, welcomed into new environments. Where migrants are recognised as social beings and not just units of labour and the relatives and networks they bring are recognised as benefits, not burdens.We believe that migration is a powerful agent of change. That migrants may be agents as well as subjects of globalisation, and their transformative power is considerable.
-Thematical areas of actuation/Thématiques daction/Áreas temáticas de actuación/Áreas temáticas de ação: Migration, Gender, Domestic work, “Illegality"
-Geographical area of actuation/Échelle daction/Ámbito geográfica de actuación/Áreas geográficas de ação: NAT, INT
-Starting year/Année de fondation/Año de inicio de andadura/Ano de fundação: 1989
-Members/Membres/Miembros/Membros: Migrant domestic workers of all nationalities and legal statuses, and their supporters
-E-mail adresse/Adresse de courriel/Dirección de correo electrónico/Endereço eletrônico:
bridget.anderson@anthropology.oxford.ac.uk
-Adress/Adresse/Dirección/Endereço: 51 BANBURY ROAD, OXFORD OX2 6PE
Proposals:
We strive for a world where the poor can move as freely as the rich and where the work that we do is not determined by immigration status, by gender, by sexuality, by religion or by the colour of skin. Where caring work is respected and given due reward, and where reproductive labour produces equal human beings untrammelled by consumerism and status. Where migrant workers are not dependent on their employers for their immigration status and are viewed as equal and respected participants, welcomed into new environments. Where migrants are recognised as social beings and not just units of labour and the relatives and networks they bring are recognised as benefits, not burdens.We believe that migration is a powerful agent of change. That migrants may be agents as well as subjects of globalisation, and their transformative power is considerable. Centering the struggles of migrants and refugees, men, women and children, documented and undocumented will be key to developing a “movement of movements”. The experiences, networks and analyses of migrants are a crucial and insufficiently tapped resource. We therefore propose that the struggle of migrants and refugees be situated with the analyses and struggles of the anti-globalisation movements, and that particular attention be paid to those who are unable, unless well facilitated and protected, to participate in actions and in discussions because of their “illegal” status. The importance of amnesties, and, crucially, of movements organising undocumented workers and struggling for open borders must be recognised as vital actions and actors in struggles against neo-liberalismWe propose that questions around reproductive labour, the gendered nature of caring and domestic work, and its crucial but unacknowledged importance to maintaining our economies and societies are centralised. Capitalism has made these invisible, neo-liberalism results in increasing commodification, and it is vital that we explore and develop new possibilities in organising reproductive labour.
Strategies:
1. Organising migrants. It is key that we organise across legal status – divisions imposed by the receiving state. It is key that we organise cross-nationally, building on commonalities and dealing with differences. In a labour force that is heavily segmented by gender and ethnicity we cannot afford to reproduce those 30 divisions in our organising. This work must also be transnational, extended to countries of origin or transit where people are often easier to contact.
2. Linking with other struggles, within the migrant and refugee communities, but also with broader movements, most particularly organised labour.
3. Organising domestic labour – this will enable us, in a grounded way, to develop our understanding and analysis of the consequences of the commodification of this kind of labour, to the benefit of those carrying it out. It will also raise practical questions for other movements and help us draw out commonalities (and differences) between those responsible for domestic labour, paid and unpaid.
4. Challenging racism where we find it, but particularly within our own organisations. Importance of education and community development work within this.5. Working from the issue “out” i.e starting with the immediate struggles facing migrants and responding to those.
updated on 05/24/2013
