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Two interesting pieces below from the Guardian on how immigration could help ease Europe's problems with declining population: Silent blight in a countryside of empty homes and shut shops http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/23/europe-rural-urban-migration-threat-countryside ...and... Get rid of the immigrants? No, we can’t get enough of them, says German mayor http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/16/goslar-germany-we-cant-get-enough-immigrants-oliver-junk _________ The liberals writing these pieces think they are being creative, enlightened, and/or even "rational", but under capitalism - especially capitalism in crisis - this policy always creates new contradictions and tensions, which need to be acknowledged and addressed in these discussions. It's not that I think the liberals are wrong, it's just that they are willfully naive about the dynamics of immigration within a capitalist world system divided into "nation states" that bestow a certain status on outsiders which places firm constraints on the demands that those outsiders can make on said nation-states. The immigrants have an unstable status, which makes them vulnerable to superexploitation. Meanwhile, 30 years of creeping neoliberalism has served to erode social support systems and increase the reserve army of unemployed among "native" workers, hence heightening tensions among "natives" and newcomers. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
