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

[ravi]

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> 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).
> 

i agree with your second point, but then again, i do not want to get
into the discussion on what is altruistic and selfish, and if altruism
is possible at all.

as for immigration policies: last i checked, at least some western
european countries (germany, for example, IIRC) do not even permit me
(brown skin) to become a permanent resident or citizen. this predates
9/11. from admittedly anecdotal stories, i believe the same is true of
france, italy, etc. also, are your numbers true? if you leave out
intra-EU immigration, and immigration from [what used to be] colonies,
does EU really have larger immigration than the USA?

india is overpopulated. bangladesh is overpopulated (i think). sweden is
not! also, surely you see that european colonialism of the third world
was a form of terrorism too!

	--ravi