[lbo-talk] Henwood on immigration

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Mon Apr 10 05:49:23 PDT 2006


Julio Huato wrote:


>Wojtek wrote:
>
>> So given these two problems, what is it exactly that
>> would make ordinary people opt for cross-border
>> solidarity with their fellow grunts rather than for
>> mindless consumerism cum religious escapism or
>> nativist fascism?
>
>Forgive my being so formulaic, but there are two sets of factors:
>objective and subjective. The objective factors are increasing
>interdependence in their workplaces and lives. As they get to
>interact and rely more regularly on one another as parties in
>commercial transactions, coworkers, members of social institutions
>(schools, churches, civic organizations, lbo-talk list, etc.),
>neighbors, in-law relatives, mates, etc., the need for solidarity
>among them will increase. As their living and working conditions have
>more commonalities (basically, facing the same enemy), same same....
>The subjective factors are those related to their becoming
>increasingly aware of their interdependence and basic commonality of
>interest vis-a-vis those who live off accumulated wealth and power --
>and then taking concrete steps to unite in spite of the differences.
>It's an iterative process, chicken and egg.

Not unrelatedly, in that little commentary that Michael Perelman praised, I cited Pew survey data showing that people who live in areas with few immigrants are more hostile to immigration than those who live in areas with many.

Doug



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