GUEST WORKERS 1NC
1.
CASE TURN – visas
a. Large programs depress wages and ensures that
immigrants and natives are trapped into poor working
conditions
Esko w, Sen ior Advisor for H ealth & Eco nomic Ju stice at Social Securit y
Works, 16
(Ric har d, “’Open Borders’: A Gimmic k, N ot a Soluti on”, 8/5/16, T he Huffington Pos t, https ://www.huffi ngtonpost.c om/rj-es kow/open- bor ders- a-gimmic k-no_b_7945140.html, 7/4/18, GD I C K)
It should not be necessary to endure the pain of displacement to earn a livable
wage. To claim otherwise,
, is to reflect the xenophobic belief that everybody
would be happier here than anywhere else.
and c ommunity.
merel y
as open-borders advocates implicitl y do
In fac t, the open-borders cr owd s ometi mes comes embarras singl y cl os e to making the ki nd of argument that was onc e depl oyed i n defens e of slaver y: Sure, they have a tough life i n this countr y, but it mus t be so much better for them her e than it was i n their ol d c ountr y. If that c omparis on s eems harsh , c onsider this: The Southern Poverty Law C e nter iss ued a r eport on “guest wor ker” programs in the United States —
pr ograms which might be c onsidered a model for the open borders conc ept
— and enti tled it “Clos e to Slaver y.” “F ar fr om bei ng treated as ‘guests ,’” the report s aid, “thes e wor kers ar e s ys tematic all y exploited and abus ed.” T he r eport als o found that the progr am “har ms the inter ests of U.S. wor kers, as well, by underc utti ng wag es and wor king condi tions for those who l abor at the l owest r ungs of the ec onomic ladder.” T he c onditi ons endur ed by past “guest wor kers” have been nothing short of horrifying. They i nclude young people on student guest wor ker visas forced to wor k 25-hour shi fts wi thout overtime while payi ng exorbi tant rents to sleep in their boss’s basement; and seafood wor kers forc ed to endur e 16- to 24-hour wor k days , and 80- hour wor k weeks, l aboring until their hands went numb but thr eatened with beati ngs if they s topped. Propos als li ke “open borders” ar en’t made in a vacuum. We alr eady know how s uch pr ograms l ead to abuse — and the vi cti ms are li kel y to be i mmigrants thems el ves . Bier argues that wor kers from other c ountri es s houl d wor k for $2 or $3 per hour once they get here. T hat, i n a nutshell, is
This approach would lead to a downward spiral for the middle
class, as powerful corporate forces impose their will on an inexhaustible supply
of cheap and replaceable labor.
why Sanders i s right and the open-borders crowd is wr ong. The open-borders i dea is inextric abl y linked to an appr oach in whic h U S wages, al ong with thos e of for eign wor kers , are trapped in a rac e to the bottom.
Bier moc ks the idea that an open borders polic y means “ doi ng away wi th the conc ept of the nation s tate.” But his polic y prescri ption would l eave a sover eign people unable to s et i ts own mini mum wag e or deter mine its own employment polici es. Perhaps the term “open border” should be repl aced wi th the phras e “c heap lawnmowing,” si nc e that is the ess enc e of the argume nt as one writer pr esents it. In c har acteristicall y hyperbolic li bertarian s tyle, J as on Brennan’s “ Libertarianis m: What Ever yone N eeds to Know” s ays this about the idea: “M ost people on the progres si ve left acti vel y tr y to res trai n the world’s poorest and mos t vulnerable peopl e
from making life-savi ng and life-changing tr ades with willing employers. They thus condemn the world’s poor to death and miser y. T he pr ogressi ve l eft is delighted with me when I donate money to the poor thr ough OxF am. But the l eft forbi ds me fr om hiring the poor to mow my l awn , even though that helps them more than an OxFam donati on.” T his is a fals e c hoice. T he world’s masses will not be forc ed to c hoos e between per petual poverty on the one hand or taki ng a weed whac ker to J as on Br ennan’s crabgrass on the other. That is wher e the thinki ng of Sanders and his c olleagues is far mor e sophistic ated and s ys tems- based than that of Bier,
Kl ein, or other open- bor ders advocates. One of thos e advoc ates is D yl an Matthews, who wor ks for Kl ein at Vox. Matthews repeats many of the libertari ans’ discr edi ted arguments. He even ac cus es Sanders of “tr eating Americ ans’ lives as mor e valuable and worth y of c onc ern than the li ves of for eigners .” T hat is an ugl y miss tatement of Sanders’ positi on. Sanders, hi ms elf the son of an i mmigrant, is a
The issue isn’t immigration.
opposition to “open
borders” should be based on the recognition that the rights of all workers
are eroded
when human lives are subjected to the global flow of capital.
strong supporter of i mmigrati on and i mmigrants’ rights who wants to ens ure that we have fair and humane policies i n this ar ea. H e s upports the DR EAM Act, and believes the Admi nistration’s D eferred Acti on for Childhood Arrivals (D ACA) should be expanded to i nclude the parents of citiz ens , the par ents of l egal permanent r esi dents and the parents of DR EAM ers.
The issue is fair play for all wor ki ng peopl e. Princi pled
— immigrant and nati ve- bor n, i n the US and overs eas —
can and
when wor kplac e protec tions are weakened anywhere, and
b. In the long-term uncapped visas will be reversed and lead
to more violence – Brexit proves
Wilkinson 16
Brexit,
debate has focused on just one specific concern:
immigration.
the alarmism
about immigration has somehow hit new heights.
the leader of
the (UKIP), unveiled a poster last week featuring a queue of refugees and
migrants with the words “BREAKING POINT” in red. Critics have compared the
imagery to Nazi propaganda.
Politicians from both major parties are now keen to show they take concerns
about immigration seriously—while too few attempt to make a convincing case
for welcoming migrants. Member of Parliament Jo Cox, 41, was shot dead
Thomas Mair, appeared in court charged with her murder.
When asked to give his name, he instead said “death to traitors, freedom for
Britain.”
Rather than reaffirm their commitment to the union’s open borders, pro-E.U.
politicians responded to these claims by insisting that free movement of people
between Turkey and the U.K. is,
“not going to happen.”
Wilkins on, Abi. “T he Brexi t Vote Is R eall y About J ust One Thi ng.” T he New Republic, 21 J une 2016, newrepublic .com/articl e/134507/brexi t- vote-reall y-jus t-one-thing.
the nic kname for T hurs day’s r eferendum on whether the U.K. s houl d leave or remain in the European Uni on, c oncer ns a thic ket of iss ues: Empl oyment rights. Tr ade agreements . T axation autonomy. Di plomatic infl uenc e. But over whel mingl y, the
It was a sign of things to c ome.
Of course, right- wi ng news papers have been running s tories for years about the s upposed dangers of i mmigration fr om Eur opean countries . “Sol d out! Flights and buses full as Rom anians head for the U K” screamed The D aily M ail, for exampl e, after c ontrols on migrati on fr om those states were li fted i n 2013. Last year, i n response to the c ontinent’s migrant crisis, Kati e H opki ns wr ote a col umn for The Sun calling for g uns hi ps to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea to s top r efugees fr om entering Europe. H er pi ec e began, “No, I d on’t c are. Show me bodies floati ng in water, pl ay vi olins and s how me s kinny people looki ng sad. I s till don’ t c are.” As the J une 23 vote has dr awn clos er,
“Mass migration is allowi ng terrorists to pour into Europe” read a D aily M ail headli ne in April, whil e T he Sun cl aimed, “Ti de of T error: Ji hadis AR E expl oiting r efugee crisis to s muggle mi litants acros s Eur ope.” Nigel Far age,
U.K. Independence Party
Farage is one of the most pr ominent figur es i n the anti-E.U. movement, and i n many ways this r eferendum r epr es ents the c ul minati on of his life’s wor k. H e first joi ned the U KIP when it was in i ts i nfanc y, i mmedi atel y followi ng the signing of the 1992 M aastricht Treaty to cr eate an i ntegrated Europe. H e became the party’ s leader i n 2006, and has overseen its rise from obscurity to become a major political forc e. UKIP s ec ured nearl y 13 perc ent of votes in l ast year’s general election. Due to the U .K.’s no n-pr oporti onal elec tor al s ys tem, this didn’t translate into a sig nificant legislati ve pr esenc e: The par ty hol ds j ust one s eat in t he Hous e of C ommons . But UKIP’s i nfl uenc e has been
far-reachi ng.
Last T hursday,
outsi de a librar y in West Yor ks hire where s he was about to hold a cons tituenc y
surger y. A moder ate by most measur es, she had been a s trong advoc ate for the rights of refugees and migrants. She was als o a voc al bac ker of the Remain campaign and had tweeted a photo of her hus band and c hildr en aboar d last Wednesday’s pr o-E.U . T hames flotill a. T his week, 52- year-old
Among those who were alr eady critical of the anti-immigrant tone of the Leave c ampaign, many feel that Cox’ s death is a direc t c onseq uenc e of s uc h extr eme and di visi ve rhetoric. “If you keep tal king about br eaki ng poi nts and traitors,” one 20-s omethi ng Londoner told me, “it’s not s urprisi ng someone might s nap.” M any i n the anti- E.U. camp have pus hed bac k agai nst what they s ee as the “ politiciz ati on of a tr agedy.” T hey c ontend that M air was a l oner who appar entl y s uffered from mental illness; as suc h, his actions can’t be blamed on the wi der political climate. I s poke to one man who s ai d t hat, though he pl anned to vote for the U.K. to remain in the E.U ., “I feel a bit uneas y about anyone usi ng this as an argument for R emain.” n r ec ent days , s everal promi nent anti-E.U. figures have tri ed to distanc e thems el ves from the mos t toxic as pects of the L eave campaign. Barones s Warsi , for mer c hair of the Cons er vati ve Party, went as far as
to s wi tch her allegianc e to R emai n, describi ng the “hate and xenophobia” of UKIP’s “breaki ng point” pos ter as “ a s tep too far.” She has fac ed Isl amophobic abus e onli ne since defecti ng, and right- wi ng Br eitbart London nic knamed her “Barones s T oken.” Other politicians have stuck to their guns whil e attempting to emphasiz e the disti ncti on between the Leave.EU c ampaign, which Far age is as soci ated with, and the for mall y dis tinc t Vote Leave campaign, whic h is s upported by most pro- Leave M Ps. “T hat’s not my politics and that’s not my c ampaign,” for mer London Mayor Boris Johnson tol d r eporters during a r ecent tour of fis hing ports in East Anglia. However, l ast month Leave EU was als o acc us ed of s toki ng pr ejudic e after it clai med conti nued E.U. members hip would put Britons in danger by exposi ng them to the crimi nality of T ur kis h citiz ens.
T urkey isn’t c urrentl y part of the E.U., but is keen to negoti ate members hip, and headli nes have warned this means “75 million T urks [are] on cours e for vis a-free tr avel in EU”— a cl ai m which has been
repeated by Leave campaigners.
in the words of Labour M P C huka U munna,
Camer on rec entl y c onfir med that he woul dn’ t s upport Tur key joi ning the E.U. withi n the next c oupl e of years, but dodged q ues ti ons on longer-ter m possi bilities.
2.
SLAVERY DA
a. Guest worker programs inherently bolster systemic abuse
of immigrants – this marginalizes workers to modern day
slavery
SPLC, 13
– Souther n Poverty Law C enter , T he Southern Poverty Law C enter is a nonprofit ci vil rights organiz ati on dedicated to fighti ng hate and bigotr y, and to seeki ng justi ce for the most vulnerable members of s ociety (“Clos e to Sl aver y: Guestwor ker Pr ograms in the United States”, F eb., 2013, http://www.s plcenter.org/get-infor med/public ati ons /close-to-slaver y-guestwor ker- programs-in- the-united-s tates)
the
guestworker program
is rife with human
rights violations committed by employers who prey on a highly vulnerable
workforce. It harms the interests of U.S. workers, undercutting wages and
working conditions for those who labor at the lowest rungs of the economic
ladder.
guestworkers
are
bound to the employers who “import” them. If guestworkers complain about
abuses, they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation.
guestworkers
are routinely: Cheated out of wages
Held virtually captive by employers or
labor brokers who seize their documents Subjected to human trafficking and debt
servitude Forced to live in squalid conditions Denied medical benefits for on-thejob injuries
This guestworker program’s the closest thing to slavery.”
When their temporary work visas expire, they must leave
the United States. They are, in effect, the disposable workers of the U.S.
economy.
The abuses described here are too common to blame on a few “bad apple”
employers. They are the foreseeable outcomes
It is impossible to create a
guestworker program for low-wage workers that does not involve systemic
abuse. The guestworker program should not be expanded
it should
be completely overhauled.
In
debate over comprehensi ve i mmigrati on refor m, various polic ymakers and busi nes s groups have s uggested that C ongress cr eate a new or expanded
to ens ure a steady suppl y of foreig n workers for i ndus tries that r el y on an abundance of c heap l abor. C ongress s houl d l ook before it l eaps. The current H-2 program, which pr ovides temporar y far mwor kers and non-far m l abor ers for a variety of U.S. i ndus tries,
labor and
as well, by
This program should not be expanded or us ed as a model for i mmigrati on r efor m. U nder the c urrent H- 2 program overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor (D OL), employers brought about 106,000 g ues twor kers i nto this c ountr y in 2 011 — appr oximatel y 55,000 for agricult ural wor k and another 51,000 for jobs i n for estr y, s eafood pr oc essing, landscaping, c ons truc tion and other non- agricultural i ndus tries. But far from being tr eated li ke “guests,” these wor kers ar e s ys tematic all y exploited and abus ed. U nli ke U .S. citiz ens,
do not enj oy the most fundamental pr otecti on of a c ompetiti ve l abor mar ket — the ability to change j obs if they are mistreated. Ins tead, they
Bound to a single employer and wi thout acc ess to legal r es ourc es,
Forced to mortgag e their futur es to obtain l ow- wag e, tempor ar y j obs
. F or mer H ouse Ways and M eans C ommittee C hair man C harles R angel put it thi s way: “
I’ve ever s een
1 C ongres sman R ang el’s c oncl usi on i s not mer e hyper bol e nor the first ti me
suc h a c omparison has been made. F or mer DOL offici al Lee G. Williams described the old “ brac ero” pr ogram — an earlier versi on of the guestwor ker pr ogram that brought thous ands of Mexi can nationals to wor k in the Uni ted States duri ng and after World War II — as a s ystem of “l egalized sl aver y.2 On paper, the brac ero pr ogram had many signifi cant written l egal protec tions, pr ovidi ng wor kers with what historian Ci ndy Hahamovi tch, an expert on guestwor ker programs, has c alled “the mos t c ompr ehensi ve far m labor c ontr act in the histor y of American agricultur e.3 N evertheless, the bracer o workers were s ys tematic all y lied to, c heated and “s hamefull y neglec ted. 4 In pr actic e, there is littl e differenc e between the br ac ero program of yesterday and today’s H- 2 gues twor ker pr ogram. Federal l aw and D OL regul ati ons pr ovide a few protecti ons to H- 2 guestwor kers, but they exist mai nl y on paper. Government enforc ement of guestwor ker rights is historicall y ver y weak. Pri vate attorneys typicall y won’t take up their caus e. And non- agricultural wor kers in
the program are not eligible for federall y funded l egal ser vic es. The H- 2 guestwor ker s ystem als o c an be vi ewed as a modern-day s ystem of i ndentured s er vitude. But unli ke European indentur ed ser vants of ol d, today’s gues twor kers have no pros pect of bec oming U.S. citiz ens .
U.S. wor kers suffer as a res ult of these flaws in the guestwor ker s ystem. As l ong as employers i n l ow-wage indus tries can r el y on an endl ess s tream of vul ner able g ues twor kers who lac k basic labor pr otecti ons , they will have little i nc enti ve to hire U.S. wor kers or make jobs more appealing to domes tic workers by i mprovi ng wages and wor ki ng conditions. Not s urprisi ngly, many H-2 empl oyers discrimi nate ag ains t U.S. w or kers, pr eferring to hire g ues twor kers, even though they ar e req uired to c ertify that no domestic wor kers ar e availabl e to fill t heir j obs. In addi tion, it is well-documented that wag es for U.S. wor kers are depr ess ed in i ndus tries that rel y heavil y on g ues t wor kers. This report is bas ed on inter views with thous ands of guestwor kers, a r eview of the res earch on guestwor ker pr ograms, sc ores of leg al c ases and the experienc es of l egal exper ts fr om around the c ountry.
of a s ystem that treats for eign wor kers as c ommodities to be i mported as needed without affor ding them adequate l egal s afeguards , the pr otecti ons of the fr ee mar ket, or the opportuni ty to become full members of s oci ety. When the Souther n Poverty Law C enter publis hed the first version of this report in 2007, we rec ommended r efor m or repeal of the H- 2 program. Unfortunatel y, even after the enac tment of modest r eforms in rec ent years,
guestwor ker pr ograms today are s till inher entl y abusi ve and unfair to both U .S. and foreig n workers. In the pas t s everal years, the DOL has proposed two sets of r egul ations to better protect non-agric ultur al H-2 wor kers – one r elated to wage rate g uar antees and one mor e c omprehensi ve set of r egulations. Thes e reg ulations also woul d better protect the j obs and wages of U.S. wor kers . U nfortunatel y for workers, neither set of r egulations has gone into effect; employers have filed multi ple l aws uits challenging them, and C ongress has effecti vel y bloc ked impl ementati on of the new wag e reg ulati ons. F or wor kers , then, the abuses c ontinue unabated.
H-2
virtuall y
in the name of immigrati on refor m and should not be the model for the futur e fl ow of wor kers to this countr y. If the current H-2 progr am is allowed to c ontinue,
Recommendati ons for doing so appear at the end of this repor t.
3.
GROWTH DA
a. Increasing the cap on W-visas is key to the economy
growth –
Peri 11
– (Giovanni Peri, T he ec onomic cons equences of the pr opos ed i mmigration r eform, Interec onomics ; H amburg, 5-2013, ac ces sed 7-11-2018, https://s earc h-pr oquest-c om.pr oxy.li b.umich.edu/docvi ew/1357561184?pq -origsite=s ummon&acc ountid= 14667)//JS
The bigger gains for the US economy, , in terms of productivity and
efficiency are likely to proceed from the proposed increase in the quotas for
workers
. Allowing
more immigrants during periods of higher demand would facilitate their positive
economic contributions.
by
offering better incentives and labor market perspectives to undocumented and
less skilled immigrants, and by providing more flexibility to quotas
the reform
should contribute to growth,
effect on l abor mar ket oppor tunities for nati ves . Incr eas ed number of s killed i mmigrants
.
however
highly educ ated
(H1B temporar y visa and per manent per mits). The q uota for the H1B tempor ar y vis as woul d be increased from 65,000 to 110,000, and this number woul d be allowed to ris e to 200,000 when the econo my is growi ng and the labor mar ket for highl y s killed wor kers is “tight”. T he pr opos al also intr oduc es 120,000 new “ merit-based” per manent permits. T his number c oul d be incr eased to 250,000 if demand for these per mits is high. Impor tantl y, for eigners with a doctor al degree in one of the sci ence, tec hnol ogy, engineering and mathematics (ST EM) fi elds from an accr edited U S uni versity and with a job offer c ould have i mmediate ac ces s to a per manent wor king permit (i.e. a green car d). T he incr eased number of for eig n-bor n STEM wor kers woul d c ontribute to i nnovati on, entr epr eneurshi p and scientifi c progress and henc e woul d be a powerful eng ine of economic growth. As shown by r ecent res earch,1 for eign STEM wor kers have helped
impr ove U S innovation, pr oducti vity and wage growth. Studyi ng the infl ow of H 1B ST EM workers i nto U S citi es between 1990 and 2010, Shih, Sparber and I found that they c ontributed between a si xth and a fourth of the total factor produc ti vity growth in the U S during that peri od.2 T his and si milar studi es als o s how no evi denc e that for eign STEM wor kers lowered nati ve wages and employment i n si milar occ upations: their c ontributi on to pr oduc ti vity and gr owth mor e than compens ated for their competiti on effects. The r eform pr opos al also intr oduc es a m ar ket- based adjus tment mec hanis m to determi ne the quota for tempor ar y and per manent i mmigrants. The number of per mits woul d increase in periods of high demand and decline in periods of low demand through an automatic adjus tment. Economis ts have shown that i mmigration i n periods of expansion is partic ularl y benefi ci al to producti vity and wages
New tempor ar y vis a for uns killed i mmigrants. Fi nall y the pr opos al introduc es temporar y vi sas for les s educ ated wor kers (c alled W vis as), vali d for three years and r enewabl e. T he quota for these vis as woul d be 20,000 initi all y, and i t c oul d increase to 70,000 if demand is high and unemployment l ow. Thes e vis as would enable the mobility of wor kers across occupations that ar e cl assifi ed as “low s killed” (i.e. ones that do not r equir e a coll ege degree). They would als o allow wor kers in this s tatus to appl y for per manent r esidence. T he goal of these per mits is t o allow an adequate infl ow of ( mai nl y manual) wor kers i n s ectors s uc h as c onstruction, landscapi ng, and pers onal and hos pitality s er vices. T he decr easi ng s uppl y of nati ve wor kers
(who are bec oming older and more educated) in thes e sec tors and the hig h demand for thes e s er vices have c ontributed in rec ent decades to generate pressur e to hire undoc umented wor kers . T his program s houl d s u ppl y a legal channel for s uc h wor kers. Compani es woul d be able to fi nd wor kers i n manual occupations and s hift nati ves i nto mor e i nteracti ve and cog niti ve tas ks , while maintai ning l ow c osts and bei ng able to expand. M oreover, the c ompetiti on effect of thes e wor kers with nati ves would be li mited, as nati ves are q uic kl y moving out of thes e jobs . A further effec t of these vis as woul d be to keep the prices of s uc h s er vices low s o that there will be mor e demand for them. T he pr opos ed cap for the W vi sas , however, is relati vel y s mall, and the questi on is whether it will be l arge enoug h to avoid r ecreati ng the inc enti ves for undoc ument ed i mmigration i n the future. Over all, by increasing the number of highl y s kill ed immigrants ,
and mor e mobility to temporar y wor kers,
innovation and l abor mar ket effici enc y and flexi bility i n the US. T his woul d provi de a ver y i mportant and s ubstantial ec onomic s ti mul us for the c oming decades.
b. Economic growth is unsustainable, allowing the status quo
to transition now solves but postponing causes extinction--tech fails
Samuel
Alexander, 2015.
Dr. Samuel Al exander, c o-dir ector of the Si mplicity Insti tute, is a l ecturer at the Offi ce for Environmental Programs , Uni versity of M elbour ne, Aus tralia, teachi ng a c ours e c alled ‘C onsumeris m and the Gr owth Economy: Inter discipli nar y Perspec ti ves’ into th e M asters of Environment. H e is also a Research Fell ow with the M elbour ne Sus tai nabl e Soci ety Institute. 8/11/15. Sufficiency Ec onomy: Enough, for Every one, F orev er. http://si mplicityc ollec ti ve.com/intr oduc tion-to-s ufficienc y-economy Acc essed 7/5/18 //WR-NC P
First, we must adequately understand the
nature and extent of the overlapping crises that confront us today. Secondly, we
must envision the alternative world,
‘sustainable development’ fails to
understand the magnitude of our overlapping crises,
INTRODUCTION What is to be done? This is s urel y one of the c entral q ues tions for thos e of us who are animated by what C harl es Eisenstei n c alls ‘the mor e beautiful worl d our hearts know is possi ble’ ; a c entral ques tion for those of us with the fire of ec ologic al democrac y b urni ng in our eyes . Yet, it is a questi on that demands engagement with thr ee pr elimi nar y questi ons , the ans wers to whic h provi de the nec ess ar y gui danc e for effec ti ve pr actic al action.
or matri x of alternati ve worlds , that would adeq uatel y diss ol ve the c urrent cris es and provi de the foundations for a fl ourishi ng human ci vilis ati on into the deep future. And thirdl y, havi ng provi ded an accur ate critique and having envisioned an appropriate and effecti ve alternati ve, we must meditate deepl y on the ques tion of s trateg y – the questi on of how bes t to direct our energies and res ourc es i f we are to maxi mis e our chances of buil ding the new world we have i magined. Then, and onl y then, are we i n a posi tion to as k oursel ves the ulti mate questi on: what is to be done? If that questi on is
as ked pr ematur el y, or if i t is as ked havi ng ans wered any one of the preli minar y q ues tions i nadequatel y, then ther e is a great ris k that one’s acti on, moti vated by the best of i ntenti ons, is dir ected in ways that fail to effec ti vel y pr oduc e any positi ve effec t and, indeed, may even be c ounter -producti ve to the caus e. T he publication of my two volumes of coll ected essays – PROSPEROU S D ESC ENT and SUFF ICIENCY ECON OMY – repres ents an attempt to engage thes e ques tions as direc tl y and as clearly as possi ble. T he pri mar y moti vation for doi ng s o arises from my conc ern that much of the liter ature on
and for that r eas on, the envi sioned alternati ves or s olutions wi del y pr opos ed tend to be fundamentall y misc onc ei ved. Furthermore, when the cri tique of the exis ting world is off target and when the envisioned alternati ves are misconc ei ved, it s houl d c ome as no sur prise that the str ategies proposed for ac hievi ng the stated goals are si mil arly flawed. If our map is poorl y
drawn and our compass is br oken, we ar e unli kel y to arri ve at wher e we need to go. Is it any wonder humanity seems so los t an d direc tionless ? Over the years of writing these essays my i deas and pers pecti ves have naturall y evol ved i n a dial ectic al rel ati ons hi p with other people’s ideas , and are constantl y being refined further as my experienc e of the ever-c hanging world is digested and refl ected upon. T he human condition is such that the s ands of thought forever s hift beneath our feet. N evertheless , havi ng now spent the best part of a decade engaging the qu esti ons pos ed above, I notic e that the evi denti al ground upon which I stand is firmi ng up, pr ovidi ng me with c onfidence that the positi on I defend – radic al though it may s eem – is acc urate, even if ther e may be matters of detail that will al ways be open to revisi on or refi nement. In this introduc tion I woul d li ke to state s ome of the fundamental tenets whic h s hape the followi ng es sa ys, i n the hope that this will gui de the inter pretati on of those essays, es peciall y at thos e ti mes when thes e c entral
Pursuing growth on a finite planet is a recipe for
ecological and humanitarian catastrophe.
Green growth’ is a
dangerous myth that entrenches the status quo.
people seem comforted
by the fantasy that science and technology will save the day.
it is biophysically naïve.
efficiency cannot ‘decouple’ economic
growth from impact
‘Degrowth’
is necessary
ideas li e beneath the s urfac e of a more focus ed discussion. As I am writing this intr oduc tion after havi ng written the essays, there is also the l uxur y of having the full benefit of what I have learned throughout the writing proc ess . H ere are twel ve defi ning thes es that s hape my wor k: 1.
limitl ess
Despite the c ontrovers y that still s urrounds the ‘li mits to gr owth’ perspec ti ve, ther e is something s tri kingl y obvi ous about the i dea that i f human popul ati on keeps growi ng, if our res ource and energy demands on the natural environment conti nue expanding, and if our streams of waste and poll uti on keep growing, then eventuall y we will undermi ne the ec ologic al foundations of our ci vil is ation s o vi ol entl y that natur e will fight bac k and bring things i nto bal ance . Let us fac e the fact, too, that ‘bringing thi ngs into balanc e’
is a euphemis m for mas s popul ati on di e-off, signifyi ng a pr ospecti ve tragedy of uns peakable proportions. So the ques tion is not s o muc h whether there are limits to growth – of c ours e there are limi ts to growth! – but rather when thos e li mits will begin to i mpos e thems el ves on our current ways of li ving and force us to li ve di ffer entl y. It would be far better for peopl e and planet that we antici pate thes e li mits and begin wor ki ng towar d a pos t-growth ec onomy now. Needless to s ay, this will not be eas y. We have developed two c enturies of i ndustri al, growth- orientated momentum that will make it i ncredibl y di ffic ult to c onsci ousl y redirect the ec onomic traj ector y s o fundamentall y. But transiti oning ‘beyond gr owth’ is a tr ans for mati on that is c oming, one way or another. Better it be by design than dis aster. 2. ‘
When the li mits to growth are r ais ed i n objec tion to the growth model of pr ogress, many
Curr ent forms of growth may have ecol ogical limits , these peopl e ac knowl edg e, but they then insist that the global economy c an and s houl d keep growi ng forever, if onl y we l ear n how to produce and c ons ume mor e effici entl y. This is nice in theor y, per haps , but
It is of the utmost importanc e, of c ours e, that we us e the best of our tec hnologic al knowl edg e to help us ac hieve a sus tai nabl e way of life thr oug h effici enc y i mpr ovements . It woul d be foolis h to argue other wis e. But
al one
suffici entl y to produce a sustai nabl e way of life. The extent of dec oupling r equired is si mpl y too great. T o be effecti ve, th e dri ve for efficienc y mus t be shaped and limited by an ethics of s uffici enc y. That i s to s ay, our aim s hould not be to do ‘ mor e with l ess’ ( which is the fl awed paradigm of green growth), but to do ‘ enough with l ess’ ( whic h is the par adig m of sufficienc y). 3.
ecological
(i.e., pl anned contr acti on of res ource and energy demands)
in the devel oped nations i n order to
move towar d a just and sus tai nabl e economy that oper ates within the sustai nabl e c arr ying c apacity of the planet.
When the extent of ec ol ogical overs hoot is understood, and bearing in mind the fact that ecol ogical r oom mus t be left for poorest nations to attain a dignifi ed exis tenc e, there is no esc aping the fact that degrowth is req uired in the developed – or rather over devel oped – regi ons of the worl d. T his is not a popul ar thesis , but it does reflec t a bi ophysical r eality. 4. Addr essi ng poverty within a degrowth framewor k implies a redistributi on of wealth and power on a muc h mor e egalitarian basis . Within the growth model it is as sumed that poverty will be elimi nated thr oug h c ontinued growth of the global ec onomy via some ‘tric kl e down’ effec t. T his is an ec ologicall y uns upportable pathway to pover ty elimi nation, bec aus e it relies on c onti nued growth on an alr eady over bur dened pl anet. Onc e it is recog nised that growth cannot s ol ve the pr obl em of pover ty and i n fact threatens to exacer bate it thr ough cli mate change, conti nued ecol ogical
degradation, or ec onomic coll aps e, it bec omes cl ear that the onl y c oher ent pathway beyond poverty lies in a more egalitarian distri bution of wealth and power within a degrowth model of progress. T his is not t he pl ace to argue how that could be ac hieved – there are many options. T he pr esent point is si mpl y to ac knowledge that it is a nec essar y featur e of any tr ansition to a j ust and s ustainable world. 5. D egrowth i mplies r adic all y r educ ed energy and res ource r equirements compar ed to overdevel oped nations. Among other things, degrowth means gi vi ng up affluent, cons umer lifes tyles and embr acing ‘si mpler ways’ of livi ng that provi de for mostl y l ocal needs usi ng mostl y l oc al res ources . T his is an i mplic ati on of the envir onmental pr edic ament that few dar e to ac knowledge, since mos t peopl e s eem resis tant to gi ving up the comforts and c onvenienc es of c ons umer affl uenc e. But gi ven the extent of ecol ogical overshoot, ther e is no way that the c onsumer way of life c ould be uni vers alised. C onsumeris m was an experiment that failed. It l ed ci vilisati on
We are now being called to reimagine the good life beyond consumer culture
and explore new conceptions of progress
down a dead end.
and prosperity. This does not neces sarily mean hardshi p. It mea ns focusing on what is suffi cient to live well – and pursui ng that goal with all the wisdom, creativity, and compassi on we can muster. 6. It is not enough merely to live more si mply within e xisting structures and syste ms. W hile challe nging our selves to live more
Zapatistas K
4.
a. Assimilating workers in order to boost the economy is part
of the machine of imperialist capitalism
One Struggle 18
– (One Str uggle is an anti-c apitalist organization., 2- 8-2018, "Imperi alism Dri ves Immigration So Capitalis m C an Devour All of Us," http://ones truggle.net/2018/02/08/i mperialis m-i mmigration/ /DOA: 6/27/2018)//JDi
Under the guise of economic development,
imperialist
governments
destroy local economies and subsistence cultures
This drives ruined peasants and farmers to cities – where , they
export goods
to the US
and people are driven to the US
NAFTA,
flooded the Mexican market, leaving farmers and other low-skilled workers
without jobs.” (Liberation News) By destroying the self-sufficiency of people and societies,
capitalists force us to migrate. US imperialism dominates
through
economic means
for the capitalist class. . Keeping in limbo and
terrorizing a section of workers so they will work for even less than minimum wage, cuts
production cost .
Imperialis m is the natur al expansion of capitalis m. T he c ons tant need for growth and i ncreas ed pr ofits sends c apitalis ts beyond nati onal boundaries in searc h of new mar kets and lower production cos ts.
USAID, trade agreements, Inter-American D evelopment Bank, IMF, and the World Bank wor k in conjuncti on with
(US, Canada, Europe, etc) and multinati onal cor por ations to dominate countries into the global economy. They
with tac tics li ke l and grabs, pri vatiz ati on and grain dumpi ng. Militar y force and politic al mani pul ati on ar e also us ed.
, conveni entl y
and other i mperi alist c ountri es. And, bec ause these j obs are too few
pay s ub-s ur vi val wag es, many
des per ate to make a li ving
can get j obs in s weats hops that
, to acc omplis h “T he American Dr eam.” “One of the things that prompted millions of l ow- wag e wor kers to abandon M exic o over the l ast two decades was the signing of the N orth Americ an Free Tr ade Agreement i n 1994. With
try their luc k in
cheap imports, partic ularl y agricultural
produc ts,
violentl y
(includi ng war , the extreme for m of politics), all for the fundamental g oal of extrac ting and acc umul ati ng sur plus value (pr ofit)
as muc h of the planet as it can g et its hooks i nto. It does s o
ideol ogical, politic al, and
Capitalists require this
They use the des per ation of this s uper-exploi ted group to dri ve down wages for the entire wor ki ng class. T his means hig her profits.
b. Capitalism is the only consistent paradigm to explain
migration patterns – any attempt to reform immigration
without first recognizing the role it plays in contemporary
neoliberalism is doomed
Ness
, Br ookl yn C olleg e – City Uni versity of New Yor k,
2007
(Immanuel , “Forging a Migrati on Polic y for C apital : Labor Shortages and Guest Wor kers”, N ew Politic al Scienc e, Vol ume:29, 12/ 2007, p 430- 449, APS)
most scholars fail to account for the powerful influence of corporations and the
historical tension between state, citizens, and international capital. What is
missing in the prevailing discourse on migration is the remarkable and
extraordinary effort of state and political officials to bend to the will of the
capitalist class, a historical pattern far superseding episodic periods of paying
heed to xenophobic nativist rhetoric and a weak labor movement during periods
of economic crisis.
capital permanently settles at the
lowest point, in search of the lowest-cost labor in every industry
labor is likely
to erode still further if it is unable to challenge the imposition of a national and
global regime based on a migrant temporary-labor force.
to challenge
contemporary neoliberal capitalism, it is first necessary to understand capital
restructuring and its reliance on migrant labor to expand profitability.
This article argues that
Zolberg’s pers pec ti ve c onfuses xenophobi c rhetoric for polic y, as even i n the most r estricti ve era, fr om 1882 to 1965, employers have had their way, i mporting European i mmigrants, c ontracting g ues t wor kers from M exic o, and recr uiting wor kers from the Cari bbean. Li ke the water level, I argue that
. T his articl e asser ts that U S and for eign-born wor kers must engage in coll ecti ve cl ass s truggle thr oug h the poi nt of producti on and the state to g ain gr eater l ever age and digni ty. While the power of wor kers is evi dent through 200
years of i mmigration i t is neces sar y but not s ufficient to build clas s power through labor organizations, be they wor ker cent ers, legal clinics, or es tablished uni ons. Even vali ant str uggles to build wor ker power on an inter national scal e have failed, due to the weaknes s of wor king c lass politic al power i n the U nited States and the r eluc tanc e of organized l abor to j oin militant trans national labor mobilizati on efforts— a par adox, si nce unions have renewed i nteres t in organizing i mmigrants. T he pri mar y as serti on of this article is that i nternati onal c apitalis ts are determi ned to build a new r egime of l abor migrati on through the us e of guest wor kers on a global basis. While cros s-border labor mobility has been a persisti ng means to r educ e the power of l abor uni ons for over 200 years, nati onal l abor uni ons are unable t o c hall eng e c api tal wi thout for mi ng internati onal allianc es. Therefor e,
To devel op the politic al and economic heft
c. ¡Ya Basta! — Enough is enough. Our alternative is
solidarity with and participation in the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation.
d. At this junction, we note that the neoliberal economic
politics discipline all of our engagement towards Mexico.
Thus, we take this opportunity to affirm solidarity with the
Zapatistas, in favor of a different form of engagement, a
different pedagogy, beyond neoliberalism.
e. We must use the logic of egalitarianism that undergirds the
topic to make an evental demand for solidarity
Nail 12
(Thomas, postdoc tor al lecturer i n the Philosophy D epartment at the U ni versity of D enver, “Returni ng to R evoluti on” , ed. Clair e Col ebrook et al., p 137-138)-jn
there exists a third type: the participatory body politic.
Zapatismo presents an
interesting case in political theory and practice
Zapatismo abandons
In the l ast sec tion I argued that, oppos ed to the two dang ers of representati on and anti-repr esentati on,
This new body politic is defined by its partici pator y mutability: the degree to whic h i ts c onditi ons ar e transformed by the partici pation of the el ements and s ubj ects affected by it. I further argued that i n or der to unders tand the str ucture and function of
this participator y and r evol uti onar y body politic we need to understand the unique relations hip it articul ates between thr ee differ ent dimensions: its c ondi tions, el ements and kinds of s ubj ects . R epr es entati onal, anti-representati onal and par ticipator y politic al bodies eac h express a different type of rel ati onshi p between these thr ee di mensions. But this has onl y been a theor etic al development. In this next section I argue that the Zapatistas have created a revol utionar y and par ticipator y body politic
in pr actic e.
The two sides of theor y and prac tice thus c ons titute the str ategy I am c alling r evol uti onar y participati on.
becaus e it cannot be understood by the politic al philosophi es of liberalis m or Mar xis m.
both the noti ons of
sovereign power
Instead, they
have constructed a new kind of body politic based on participation. They call this
mandar obedeciendo, or leading by obeying.
based on politic al and juri dical r epres entation and the basic tenets of M arxist scienc e, vanguardis m, state c apture, clas s str uggle and the deter minati on of the economy ‘in the las t instanc e’.
M arcos and the earl y EZLN, upon arrivi ng in C hi apas, found that their Mar xist, Leninis t and M aoist prec oncepti ons were ‘ totall y i nadequate for c ommunic ating with the l ocal popul ation’ and eventuall y c oncluded that their original pl ans for str uggle wer e ‘ undemocr atic and author itarian’ (Ross 2006: 14) . But the Zapatistas are not a ‘postmodern’ revolution i n the s ens e that they mer el y rej ect thes e for ms of repres entation i n fa vour of a s pontaneous or s pecul ati ve leftis m.
process
25 But what i s leadi ng by obeying, and how does it functi on as a practic e of politic al partici pation? Perhaps, the new politi c al morality is c ons truc ted i n a new spac e which will not be the taki ng or r etention of power, but the counter weight and oppo sition which c ontai ns and obliges the power to ‘rule by obeyi ng’ . . . ‘[R]ule by obedi ence’ is not withi n the c oncepts of ‘ politic al sci ence’ and it is devalued by the mor ality of ‘ efficienc y’ whic h defi nes the politic al acti vity whi ch we suffer . (Marc os 2 004b: 217) T he new body politic the
Zapatismo is defined by this reciprocal governance, not by the
taking of representative power or the rejection of all political organisation.
Zapatis tas invent is thus one whos e condi tions for s oci al or der and incl usi on
mus t obey the c oncrete el ements and s ubj ects obedi ent to this same s oci al order.
Leading by obeyi ng thus expr ess es a politic al vertigo or par ticipator y feedbac k l oop between the
leaders who obey the led, and the l ed who mus t lead the leaders and obey. M andar ob edeci endo breaks the traditional politic al
dis tinc tion between means and ends; it ‘ makes the r oad by wal ki ng’.
The proces s of l eading by obeyi ng c an be understood as the mutual trans for mati on of three different di mensi ons: a r evoluti onar y condi tion, i ts c oncrete prac tices and its form of revol uti onar y s ubjecti vi ty.
f. In fact, we are a part of Zapatismo—it’s a universal
movement —it’s time to embrace a new politics.
Nail 12
(Thomas, postdoc tor al lecturer i n the Philosophy D epartment at the U ni versity of D enver, “Returni ng to R evoluti on” , ed. Clair e Col ebrook et al., p 139)-jn
As a body politic, Z apatis mo invents a new c onditi on for social order and i nclusi on. Li ke the phenomena of the r evol uti on of 1789, the Paris C ommune and the r evol uti on of 1917, Z apatis mo is a sing ular event in the sens e that it is irreducibl e to historicall y necessar y caus al c hai ns. In 1994, i n M exico, Z apatis m o held no resemblanc e to any recognis able legal or l egitimate politi cal thi ng within the pres ent ‘s tate of affairs’, that is , no political repres entation ( party) , mar ket repres entation, linguis tic repres entation ( their languages ar e not s poken or rec ognis ed by political repres entati ves) or r epr es entati on by the local i ndigenous l eaders (caciq ues). Ther e was no caus al nec essi ty that Z apatis mo should have exi sted, no way i t c oul d have been deduc ed from the domai ns of ‘rights’, ‘c ommoditi es’ or ‘class s truggle’ fr om which it emerged.
.
arrang ement anyway The singul ar event of Z apatis mo is thus not conditioned on req ues ts for r epr es entati on li ke ‘rights’, the overthr ow of the state, a new mar ket ec onomy or a new ethnic nationalis m, but i nstead takes on its own self-r efer ence or autonomy from withi n the situation. But the c onditi on of the Zapatistas’ body politic is als o uni vers al in the sens e that i t is both incl usi ve and i nfini te in i ts c onseq uenc es.
From the repres entati onal poi nt of view of Mexi can politi cs, the marginalis ed and unr epr es ented Z apatis ta s of C hiapas have no ‘legiti mate’ exis tenc e and yet they c oexi st i mmanentl y and heterogeneousl y withi n the politic al
‘To be Zapatista’ does not mean that you must be
represented by the EZLN or that you must be indigenous, or even from Mexico. But
Zapatismo cannot mean anything one wants. Zapatismo means participating in a struggle against
neoliberalism and for direct self-management wherever one is and to whatever
degree one is capable of. Without a prior or immutable condition for exclusion, the Zapatistas have made it clear that anyone can
become a Zapatista to the degree that they share their struggle. 26 Many around the
world have subsequently taken up this universal event where they are (Europe, Asia, North America and so on).
So rather than simply affirming their difference and unrepresentability, the
Zapatistas have created a singular- absolute event/intervention and given it a
specific consistency of its own
, heter ogeneous to the r egimes of politic al repres entation. This sing ular-uni versality is practi call y c onstituted through the creation of Enc uentr os (inter national gatherings)27 that ai m to i ncl ude others that will change the natur e of Zapatis mo as a s ocial body eac h ti me they meet (s ee Chatterton 2007) .
g. We should recreate debate as a pedagogical space beyond
the ideological parameters of neoliberalism. This is the only
way to change the world—each and every instance is key
Rodriguez 9
(Arturo, pr ofess or in the C olleg e of Educ ati on at Bois e State Uni versity, “Anti-c apitalist Anal ytical Fusion: Scienc e, Pedagog y and Revol ution”, Journal for Acti vist Science & Technol og y Educ ation, volume 1, number 2, pp. 48- 58)-jn-gender+ disability modi fied
If the above res embles a rant c onsider why a s tring of words that includes politic al and ec onomic critique and the ac tual mar ket func tions of our global society affect the r eader’s vi ew of this paper. T he academy tur ns its nos e at wor k marginall y revi ewed or c onstruc ted as outcr y, pedagog y of indignation (Freir e, 2004) at how peopl e c ontinue to enslave other peopl e while destroyi ng the last us eable res ources on the planet. Organic and ac ade my trained i ntellectuals have gi ven the world their li ves, their blood s weat and fears c hasing the ether, the unifying princi ple, in some fi elds read as tr uth in an effort to s ol ve the worl ds mys teri es. And how are they r epai d? They are indicted by the F BI, distr acted fr om their wor k by coll eagues who s cream bl oody mur der as they find ways to take s olac e from the ever yday right wing n ever endi ng barrage. Is it the argument they ar e after when they cry foul ? Or is it the sign, the s ymbol of freedom r epr esented by a life’s wor k in the ac ademy s haring the li vi ng experience with students , c olleagues, all wor kers ali ke
managing the li ving, the breathing and the dyi ng. And what is capitalist s chooli ng at its best mar ked by the ali enati ng pri ncipal: fuc k
[forget] the [one]
guy
& J aramillo, 2009) even the right c an s ee the fl uidity of acc epti ng the c hanging c onditi on of the s ys tem what Lacan r efers to as s ynthome of s oci eties (Lac an, 2006).
that hel ped you graduate that ens ured you made it to the next step
, the next posi tion on the res earc h/c ar eer l adder. Was it tr uth we were after as we began our doctoral s tudy i n the hopes of sheddi ng light on s ome obsc ure fac t? The mati ng pri ncipl es of the mud-was p or s exuality in the human male, ar e thes e blac k holes in the minds eye as rebellion takes the plac e of cultur al logic an d cultural truth? So pr ogressi ve educ ators a refl ecti on of the reality that is human des troy the earth and its atmos pher e when their pedag ogy ens ures chil dren l ear n the sci ence nec ess ary to produce i ndus trial c oatings , fertilizer and c yani de without als o ens uring they acquir e the depth of c onsciousness nec ess ar y to make c onnecti ons between wearing a gol d and diamond ring and the use of c yanide and s trip mi ning for their pr oduc tion. Pushi ng further, why is Mar xis m such a wor d of abus e (Mc Lar en
Radical pedagogy aint for the timid, it is a critical revolutionary praxis
marked by the blood of Zapatistas ,
searc h for truth is not about fi ndi ng the sourc e of all energy or a c atal yzi ng pri ncipal. It is the understandi ng that humans and obj ects s har e rel ati ons hi ps, princi ples that adhere to organiz ational value and metaphysic al c oncepti on and oscillations.
human made
Che Guevara and progressi ve i ntellec tuals organic and ac ademic ali ke
that understand a need for change
.
from grippi ng tight to the c os mic orgone (Reic h, 1973) that does not permi t any competing princi pal or i deol ogy to s eep i n
The
The gangrene of racism, sexism, fascism and homophobia are
(McLaren & Jar amillo, 2009) they are the l egac y of the left and of the right. What can be done about them is mar ked by the ways i ntellectuals enact and partici pate in their praxis . A critical refl exi vity that draws the ki te-s tring of princi pal between the mar ket need to produce chemical s for c ons umption li ke Z yklon B and the neces sar y day to day Socratic disc ursi ve practi ces
doing more than s houti ng out to father capital in the clas sroom.
Human and environmental
devastation are the end result of our social relations
(Rodriguez, 2009)
whic h i ncludes the needs and whi ms of mar kets and of the hyper-complex s ystems that ar e s ocieties as they tr ade i n material and human s urpl us value. The l egac y of M ar x and critic al anal ys es are not the mere Utopic visions of a few stal wart yet antiquated intellectuals (McLaren, 2009) they are an entreaty
All symbols of experience return
to the source; that is we humans police ourselves and each other and we free
ourselves and each other. Closing Remarks
War is class war as those
cultural critique positioni ng trade c ons cious ness and s ocial amnesia as the cul prits on the mar ket stage of gl obal c api talist dominati on. Critic al s ocial theor y does not dis-clude what is or what the ag ent knows or has known, li ke the c onglomerate it promulgates all bypr oduc t of human relations bad and good as a ctors that c ontribute to the enslavement of the indi vidual and the devas tati on of the natur al envir onment. Dis semi nation, the s ymbol, the di vision of units and of labor, the s tructure of the phenomenon all bear as a deri vati ve of the human and envi ronmental condi tion of existenc e mar ki ngs of each other.
The global mar ket occ upi es vir tuall y ever y cor ner of the str uggle for humanity
(McLaren & J ar amill o, 2007) c hildren i n cl assr ooms ar e the dir ect inheritors, as they grow to adulthood of the sort of s ocial and natural environment adults acc ept.
who reap the benefits, profit margins, on a global scale are never those with
most at risk ;
the s ol diers doing the killing i n the fi elds benefi t onl y so far as their us e value is jus tified i n c ontrolling the world vi a the whol esal e sl aug hter of, “ enemy combatants.” T hese are c hildren and adul ts i n the s o c alled terrorist states who happen to be in the way of c ementi ng capitalist s oci al rel ati ons — whether c opper , oil, ti mber or human inter ests . F urther mor e the human life s pan is far too s hort for any one human being to have an effect that significa ntl y i mpacts the worl d mar ket. We ar e far beyond the moment wher e the M olotov coc ktail, the baton or a roc k thrown by its s elf c an c ause the adopti on among the human c hain of a worl dwide posi tion for r evol uti on. Ev en when riots occur , the 1960s, 1980s or 1990s globall y, the mar ket fights indi vidual citiz ens to a s tandstill. H ard to throw a r oc k when you ar e star ving, or when you have to exc avate rubbl e to r ec over and then bur y
your chil dren. And yet the US has been s ucc ess full y fought to a s tandstill, i n the mar ket by C uba and Venez uel a and at war by Afg hanistan and Ir aq. Why does a militar y that possesses the s ole sur vi vi ng global Air Forc e, Navy and Army c ontinue to make war on people that return fire from horsebac k usi ng mus kets and si ngle s hot World War I er a muniti ons? The war beg un in 2003 was c onc ei ved over ten years prior; in 2009 the U S is still at war with accor ding to Gi bson, a militar y with no long histor y of defens e no inter nal defens e i ndus tr y of note, no definabl e s uppl y lines, no cl ear c hain of c ommand or centr al leaders hip (2009).
Can i t be there is more to life and war than production or enslavement? T he cl assrooms as McLaren and Jar amillo r elate and as Bencz e and Alsop elaborate, wer e the last tr ul y public domai ns wher e students and teacher s c ould engage in a r es pite from the dominant i deolog y (2009, 2009). They could take it upon themsel ves to c onsi der the soci al rel ati ons that exist and their effec t on the environment. Accor ding to
Critical educators in and out
[are] a measure of change as the onslaught of
David Hursc h, “Neo-liber als’ desir e not to i nter vene in mar kets and to foc us on economic growth, pri maril y ter ms of c ons umption, has both signific antl y c o ntributed to the envir onmental pr obl ems that we face and to global war ming.” ( 2009: p5) T he copper c anyons in U tah were not put their by meteors but by mi ning operations. The depl eti on of s almon and s teelhead in the ri vers and s treams of C aliforni a, Oregon and Was hington did not happe n as a pr oduct of the ravages of ti me. H uman constr ucted, petroc hemicals , posi tions on the treatment of the environment as things exis ting s olel y for the purpos e of provi di ng the cor por atocrac y with s urpl us value created all of i t.
of the classroom stand as
neoliberalism continues.
People cause the ravages of time to negatively affect the planet, surplus accumulation whether it is PCB’s in the Hudson,
Yet there is another
more insidious form of surplus accumulation—it is the toll on students in classrooms
ammonium nitrates at the mouths of the world’s major rivers or the debris from surface and subsurface detonations of nuclear material.
across the globe of curricula and pedagogies ensuring students leave classrooms
functionally illiterate. Capable only of reading and acting out the prescribed lives global
capitalists have set. Human agency and enslavement result as people live their lives
careless to the effect their actions have on the natural environment and each other.
Pedagogists in the natural and social sciences do more than share information with their students. They leave a lasting imprint, a seed
for enlightenment, which may contribute to the production of knowledge. But, more
importantly, offer an alternative to the living currently destroying the planet.
5.
Ableism K
a. Prioritizing workers is a form of economic rationalism that
inevitably excludes people with disabilities who aren’t
viewed as capable of contributing to the economy.
Blower 15
(Jenn a Blo wer, B A (Honour s), Un iver sit y of To ronto, 2015 A M ajor R esearch Pap er p resented to R yer son Un iver sit y in partial fulfillm ent of the r equir em ent s for th e d egr ee of Mast er of Arts in the Progr am of Im migr ation and Settlement Studies, H OW THE DISCOUR SE OF ABLEISM FUNCTIONS IN C AN AD IAN IMMIGR ATION POL ICY: UND OIN G DISCRIMIN ATION AGAINST PERSONS W ITH DISAB ILIT IES, JK S)
Society undervalues
disabled people,
the labour market, in combination with
immigration policies that focus on narrow economic imperatives have resulted in
barriers that exclude persons with disabilities
these experiences in the labour market reflect the marginal status that persons
with disabilities occupy.
if current policies are geared
toward economic migrants, what will this mean for persons with disabilities who
are viewed as incapable of contributing
an immigration system
“underpinned by ableism and economic rationalism, [renders]
immigration
eligibility patently discriminatory against people with disabilities ”
the human c apital of
as there is no adeq uate labour mar ket with appropriate acc essi bility
and accommodation needs, i deals about persons with dis abilities and their dependenc e on the welfar e s tate persists . Wilton ( 2006) als o addr ess es the state of the labour mar ket as it r efl ects neoli ber al i deologies. D ue to “the incr easing use of s hort-ter m contr acts and part-ti me wor k in rec ent decades [i t] may hol d particul ar i mplic ati ons for women and men with dis abilities , especi all y if the s ect ors and oc cupations most affected by this tr end ar e those in whic h peopl e
with disabilities are dis proporti onatel y l oc ated” ( Wilton, 2006, p. 130). Wil ton ( 2006) explai ns that the “chang es i n the nature of empl oyment c onfr ont i ndi vi duals wi th wor k and wor kplaces that are i ncreasi ngly dis abli ng. T his is not onl y in terms of the wages paid and the job (in)s ecurit y offer ed, but als o i n ter ms of wor k environments and labour pr oces ses geared to provi de fl exibility to empl oyers ar e the expens e of i ndi vi dual wor kers” ( p.130). The c hang es in the nature of
. In C anada, economic i mmigration r outes such as the Provinci al N ominee Pr ogram and the C anadian Experienc e Cl ass are onl y i ncre asi ng. Mor eover, due to the hos tile ec onomic climate i n C anada, new i mmigrants over the las t few decades have been experi enci ng diffic ulties in the labour mar ket (Lewc huk et al., 2015). Thoug h this paper does not s eek to addr ess the s hortc omings of the l ab our mar ket and the lac k of s ucc ess amongst newc omer immigrants in
recent dec ades,
M y con cern is th at if highl y educ ated, highl y s killed migrants are having difficulti es entering the labour mar ket what will this mean for migrants wi th dis abilities and their families who already fare below the averag e i n obtai ning opportunities in the l abour market an d successfully mitig ating C an ada’s im mig ration syst em ? Mor eover ,
Canadi an i mmigrati on
to the econom y? Sc hol ar Yu (2014) si milarl y discusses these conc erns in relation to Austr alia’s i mmigrati on s ystem. It is recogniz ed that
the ass ess ment proc ess to deter mine
and their families
(Yu, 2014, p. 254). M oreover, Yu dr aws on El- Lahi b and Wehbi ( 2011)
b. People with disabilities are excluded from immigration
processes and are easily deportable due to restrictions- the
plan doesn’t resolve this
Weber 15
(Mar k C. Weber, Vi ncent de Paul Profess or of Law, “Immigration and Dis ability in the United States and C anada”, https://heinonline.org/HOL/Landi ngPag e?handle= hein.j our nals/windyr baj 32&di v=14&i d=&pag e=)//vl
Disability arises from
attitudinal barriers in the environment.
, vast discretion remains
with regard to the likely public-charge exclusion, because consular officers
abroad decide unilaterally whether to issue immigrant visas. , conduct related to
mental disability, can result in removal from the United States, and individuals
with mental disabilities have only modest safeguards in removal proceedings.
families who have children with disabilities find themselves excluded from legal
status because of supposed excessive demands on public resources,
the dynamic between peopl e 's physic al and mental c onditi ons and the physical and
Appl ying this idea about dis ability to U nited States and C anadi an i mmigration l aw draws attenti on to barriers to entr y and eventual citiz enshi p for i ndi vi duals who have dis abiliti es. His toric all y,
North American l aw excluded many class es of i mmigrants. i ncluding thos e with i ntellectual disabilities , mental illness , physical objec ts, and c onditi ons likel y to c aus e dependenc y. T houg h exclusions for i ndi vi duals li kel y to dr aw excessi ve public res ources and those with c ommunicabl e diseas es s till exis t i n C anada and the United States, i n recent years the U nited States permi tted l egaliz ati on for sever el y disabled undoc umented immigrants alr eady i n the c ountr y, and both c ountries abolished most excl usions from entr y for i mmigrants wi th specific dis abling conditions. Li beralization also occurr ed with regar d to ( 1.8. naturalization r equirements. C hallenges conti nue, however. Under US. Law
Moreover
includi ng petty cri minality,
In Canada.
although an indi vidual ’s disability may pr ovide grounds for avoi ding removal in c ertai n c as es. The r elaxati on of s ome immigration exclusions i n C anada