[lbo-talk] Immigration( was: Boycotting the Unorganized?)

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Ravi:
> woj argues that in most of the civilized world (i think that was his
> term, but i could be wrong) such solidarity is a given, and only in a
> "shithole" like america would it even be questioned. but this shithole
> has better immigration policies than almost all of western europe. how
> is an immigrant (say from the third world) to consider such calls for
> unquestioned solidarity? or the similar call for unquestioned solidariy
> from flag-waving americans?

Two points.  First, a valid comparison in US to EU as a whole (entities of
the roughly same size) rather than individual EU countries.  EU has a much
greater population density than the US, but also larger immigration than the
US.  It is only recently, especially after 9/11, that some of the nasty
immigration policies started to emerge - and they are clearly a response to
militant Islamism.  Most reasonable people want their government to protect
them from terrorism and overpopulation - even if that translates into
tightening their traditionally liberal stance toward immigration.

Secondly, US immigration policies were seldom an act of compassion - they
either served to alleviate labor shortages and to undermine labor unions, or
political propaganda (esp. immigration from the Soviet Bloc countries).

Wojtek