A Book Review on Migration

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People regardless of color, religion, sex or nationality have the right or freedom to choose where he would build his home and live his life comfortably , as long as it doesn’t go against certain government laws and policies. It is a right that is protected by every Constitution in every country. A right which can only be terminated by the sole will of a particular citizen, if he feels that there are inevitable circumstances affecting his existence or an imminent danger that could place him and his family in jeopardy.

This is explained in a book review by Ekelund (1863) on Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller’s (2009) The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World (Fourth Edition), stating that the need to escape conflict and persecution or a desire to seek for new and better opportunities elsewhere have always led people to migrate. Anthony Gooch, the Director of Public Affairs and Communication at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) enumerated reasons for migration that are linked to economic, demographics, politics, national security, culture, language and religion factors. He also added, under OECD Insights on International Migration - The Migration Debate, that just under 3 of people on this planet - or around 190 million - are migrants.

This is indeed very astonishing, since every human being, dead or alive, has his country of origin or a birthplace he can call his own. But why such a number of people decide to leave their country, knowing that life outside is uncertain? It’s like gambling a life, not knowing the right direction on where to go and what to do. Answers related to these questions under this article will be provided after we settle Vertovec’s (1999) argument that there is a growing disjuncture between territory subjectivity and collective social movements. What he would like us to believe is the idea that there is no connection between the movement of people from one country to another (i.e. migration) and the future actions that these people will do right after experiencing injustice or oppression from the government or any other sector which they currently belong.

When people start packing their things with very specific instructions from their leader, it’s already a manifestation of social movement. For Robertson (1958), a social movement consists of a large number of people who have joined together to bring about or resist social or cultural change. This very lucid definition tells us that these actions from migrants are brought about also by territorial subjectivity because when people cross borders in order to search for a greener pasture, they leave behind whatever social or cultural orientation they had from their previous abodes and eventually will be forced to embrace the new socio-cultural policies of the country they are about to occupy.

It is very clear with these definitions that we cannot separate territorial subjectivity from collective social movements. We do not know how Vertovec (1999) got this idea because primarily, the former and the latter are inseparable in many ways. To shed more light on the issue of migration, let’s revisit the essay of Mishra(1945) entitled the “The Diasporic Imaginary” and the book of Anderson (1936) entitled “Imagined Communities” (1982). Both authors suggest that people who identify themselves as part of the diaspora are creating an “imaginary” - a landscape of dream and fantasy that answers to their desires. The Merriam-Webster (1928) defines diaspora as the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland. The presumption of Vertovec (1999) is again irrelevant and immaterial in this case because the credible definition tells us that if a group of nomads is forced to leave their homeland because of an existing war, there is already territorial subjectivity because there already exists an imminent danger of getting hurt or killed in the crossfire. To avoid such unfortunate events, even though how difficult the situation is, they will of course decide to make an evacuation far away from their abodes and proceed to a safer place. Again and again, it depicts or portrays social movement.

Fludernik (1957), in her book Diaspora and Multiculturalism Common Traditions and New Developments (2003) quoted Cohen (1994), from his book Global Diasporas (1997), that diaspora is formed either by “...dispersal from an original homeland, often traumatically, to two or more foreign regions” (this corresponds to the classic Jewish diaspora and to all victim diasporas); or “alternatively”, says Cohen (1994), from “ the expansion of a homeland in search of work, in pursuit of a trade or to further colonial ambitions.” ( e.g.’s are South Asians in the US or Canada and Mexicans or Cubans in the USA).

People mentioned in the examples were all portraying a collective behavior. The Theory of Collective Behavior by Smelser (1962) argues that collective behavior is essentially an attempt by people to alter their environment, particularly when they are under conditions of uncertainty, threat or strain. Smelser (1962) added that structural strains: situations such as poverty, conflict, discrimination etc; lie at the base of much of collective behavior.

These situations, where migrants are subjected to experience, serves as a stimulus for them to take either subtle or drastic actions in order to avoid being in a situation they don’t like to be. This stimulus-action or response relationship is both explained by Huitt and Hummel (2006), in their book An Overview of the Behavioral Perspective: Educational Psychology Interactive. According to the behaviorists, learning can be defined as the relatively permanent change in behavior brought about as a result of experience or practice.

There is really a strong and a relevant connection between territorial subjectivity and collective social movements because if a group of people has already experienced war or famine, and it seems that the government is not paying attention to their woes, there is not only territorial subjectivity but also racial discrimination. We must accept the fact that in times of crisis, not all places affected are given food and protection assistance because a lot of factors are involved. If the place where these people are living is in a remote area or is very far from the government center, help is readily available only in places that are either accessible by logistics personnel or by transportation facilities. Those who are very far would just wait and hope that help will be coming sooner or later.

Another factor is the safety and protection of the person bringing or carrying the relief goods. If the area where the relief is to be brought is critical because of the presence of armed and dangerous subversive militant groups, lengthy talks and negotiations should commence first before the ultimate mission can be undertaken.

These detailed scenarios reflect the rationale behind why people like migrants or refugees, engage themselves in such a long journey to search for a new paradise they can call their own. Their painful and gruelling experience taught them to search for alternatives for them to survive. In a news article in Aljazeera (06 June 2015) entitled African migrants: What really drives them to Europe? (Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/inthefield/2015/06/af rican-migrants-drives-europe-150604124356795.html ) correspondents head to a Libyan detention center to meet African migrants who risk everything in search of a better life. According to the article, last year, more than 170,000 people arrived there, representing the largest influx of people into one country in European Union History. Moreover, it is sad to note that because of this movement, there were around 20,000 people who have died trying to make this crossing. A detailed interview from the migrants can be viewed and heard from this link: 

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/inthefield/2015/06/af rican-migrants-drives-europe-150604124356795.html.

The above-mentioned links tell us why territorial subjectivity can never be separated from collective social movements. A meticulous assessment and a scholarly evaluation of these events are sending us a message why these migrants had the motivation of gambling their lives just to look for the paradise they have been dreaming of. 

Looking at a different side of the story, the influx of people coming in new territories has become a profitable business for unscrupulous individuals like human traffickers and smugglers. They take the opportunity of asking for large sums of money from the migrants in exchange for bringing or transporting them to their dream destinations. This is a very sad story knowing that these migrants have almost nothing to eat, yet, merciless people take advantage of their predicament. Mishra (1945), calls it a new diaspora because it is characterized by greater mobility and a tendency to see one’s exile as negotiable, semi-permanent and or even merely temporary. Migration becomes negotiable mainly because there is money involved. Migrants have to pay money in order to get what they want. Secondly, entering into a new territory is semi-permanent because anytime, migrants will be affected by laws or legislation that are unfavorable to them and again, they will have to repeat the history itself. Lastly, it is temporary, in the sense that nothing is permanent in this world but only change.

There is no point of argument that Vertovec (1999) clearly did not understand the whole scenario when he made his claim. It is because before you can make something credible, you have to gather all the facts or evidence, for you to argue or refute anything that is said against what you stand or believe. Considering all the definitions and the detailed explanations made in this article, we, therefore, consider Vertovec’s (1999) claim as something unsubstantial, immaterial and irrelevant to this case.

Hence, we, therefore, strongly believe, that territorial subjectivity is always linked to collective social movements.