>angela noted:
>
>>there are numerous ways of presenting exclusions
>>as if they are either the effect of the other (their very presence
or
>>inability/refusal to assimilate) or as technical outcomes of a
>>meritocratic/individuated allocation.
you wrote:
> After drawing a racial pincher chart, Peter Brimelow takes the first
>track; he argues that non white immigrants are not assimilable. After
>having murdered people from Guinea and Haiti, the NYPD would surely
agree.
for info on fortress europe: http://www.xs4all.nl/~united .
>
>The repeal of the national origins quota in the US in the 60s was
>ostensibly meant to rid American immigration law of racism and move
towards
>an individuated/meritocratic system. But then some policy makers
actually
>intended to limit Asian American and minority growth generally
through the
>move to a family oriented system. And today proposals in the US are
floated
>to move from a family- to a skill-based admission system which does
indeed
>suggest more of a meritocratic rather than racial vision of citzenry.
And
>there is of course the open use of the visa system for skilled
workers,
>recommended by Sun's Scott McNealy and countless other Silicon Valley
>types. But even "meritocratic" permanent resident aliens are not
easily
>allowed to bring spouses and children.
i've been doing some (not ever enough) work on what seems to be a fairly widespread shift to skills-based immigration programmes, and i think it's not exactly a case of shifting immigration out of its racist premises, but rather making immigration more acceptable within an increasingly racist attack on immigration, ie, it is the response to the complaint that immigrants take away jobs and/or are more prone to unemployment (sponging). alongside the shift to increasing the skilled component of immigration, there has also been a 'user-pays' component added in aust: if you have money to invest, you get in. australia is i think an excessivley racist country at the moment - very scary and getting worse.
>
>And the repatriation of resident aliens who have committed petty
crimes in
>accordance with the congressional acts of 1996 does suggest a racial
vision
>(see articles by Donna deCesare in recent NACLAS about repatriations
to El
>Salvador and Haiti); the denial of public aid to workers without
papers
>(illegal aliens) does suggest an apartheid polity since these workers
do
>contribute sales taxes to the state probably in excess of what they
receive
>in benefits; and there has been a proposal to require that families
which
>are pursuing reunification are at least 150% over the poverty line (I
don't
>know how far this has gotten in Congress; it was proposed more than a
>couple of years ago, I believe). Which seems to be the consequence of
the
>racialized discourse on the underclass. Of course there has been a
new
>vehmenence in denying public benefits and access to public jobs even
to
>permanent resident aliens.
very similar things here too; though we have pretty well shifted into prioritising a so-called skills migration programme already. i would add that here immigrants are denied welfare payments for the first two years and that all refugees are now automatically criminalised under the newish compulsory and non-reviewable (by the courts) detention of refugees. add to this that the twenty year long aboriginal tent embassy on the federal parliaments lawns has recently been the target of police raids, harrassment and new legislation to shut it down (amongst other significant policy shifts), and this is not a nice place to be. the rule of law so often touted as that which immigrants must adhere to as a condition of their acceptance into the australian community is it seems not accessible by immigrants themselves. we have shifted into a racialised hierarchy not only of citizen and non-citizen, but also a clearly sanctioned internal hierarchy between newly-arrived immigrants and refugees and 'us'. not surprisingly, the liberal-national govt's election slogan was 'for all of us'.... meaning, as everyone knew, 'but not for them'.
tenant of the house of un-australian activities, angela