@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ Wouldn't this be a view of the mind, a bias against a system that, after all, on
Traditionally, migration historians have broken down the causes of migration into two poles: repulsive causes and attractive causes.
Repulsive causes are the set of reasons that can push individuals to leave their place of life: misery, famines, wars, political or religious conflicts.
Attractive causes are the search for new land and the attraction of fortune. The same then make subtle distinctions between “spontaneous” and organized migrations.
Attractive causes are the search for new land and the attraction of fortune. The same then make subtle distinctions between \enquote{spontaneous} and organized migrations.
Such definitions obviously guide the perception that one can have of migratory phenomena. First, repulsive causes and attractive causes combine in the majority of cases.
It is hard to imagine an individual driven from his home for many reasons looking for a place to live the same misery and persecution.
Second, the very notion of “spontaneous” migration is fallacious. Do we migrate spontaneously when fleeing intolerable political or economic situations?
Second, the very notion of \enquote{spontaneous} migration is fallacious. Do we migrate spontaneously when fleeing intolerable political or economic situations?
It would probably be more appropriate to talk about forced migration and individual or collective routes.
Migration is in essence the consequence of extreme situations where the individual has as an escape only the departure to an unknown place and destiny.
@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ It is then probably possible to distinguish between social advancement routes an
The social advancement route is planned by individuals who leave their place of residence with a medium- and long-term strategy of social advancement, for themselves or for the next generation.
Survival migration is the immediate response to intolerable situations: people flee to ensure their survival.
This type of migration often takes on a long-term character that the persons concerned had not originally expected.
Over the period in question, I will propose a classification — with the limits that any classification implies — distinguishing:
colonial migration, economic migration, and political migration. The two can also be combined.
@ -31,11 +32,11 @@ colonial migration, economic migration, and political migration. The two can als
Colonial migrations were initiated by the colonization of the Americas as early as the sixteenth century. While population flows are regular, they remain limited by the weakness of technical means.
It is estimated that the number of Spaniards who went to colonize Latin America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries amounted to 2 million individuals, the Portuguese to 1 million.
The African slave trade would represent, for the same period, between 7 and 9 million individuals\footnote{Figures on trafficking are controversial, with some putting forward the highly unlikely estimate of 100 million Africans deported.
The African slave trade would represent, for the same period, between 7 and 9 million individuals\footnote{Figures on trafficking are controversial, with some putting forward the highly unlikely estimate of 100 million Africans deported.
This does not stand up to analysis, especially when one takes into account the population density of Africa and the transport capacities of ships crossing the Atlantic.}.
The influence of capitalism on migration finds its first expression here.
Faced with the material problem of the “development” of Latin America, the Spanish and Portuguese quickly compensated for the disappearance of Indian slaves by importing a workforce from Africa.
Faced with the material problem of the \enquote{development} of Latin America, the Spanish and Portuguese quickly compensated for the disappearance of Indian slaves by importing a workforce from Africa.
Captured, transported as vulgar commodities, African slaves are employed in mines and farms for the benefit of the European, Spanish and Portuguese elites, soon Dutch, French and English.
In the nineteenth century, the attention of Europeans turned to Asia, Oceania and Africa. Not that these continents have not been known before.
@ -46,18 +47,18 @@ Population flows were less to these continents than to the Americas.
Despite a strong ideological incitement, textbooks, colonial exhibitions, travelogues of geographical societies, religious propaganda magnifying the colonial enterprise, the millions of Europeans who were candidates for emigration preferred in their majority other destinations.
Economic necessity drove Europeans to leave for the colonies.
The testimony of Marguerite Duras on the small French settlers in Indochina\footnote{\emph{Le barrage contre le Pacifique}(The dam against the Pacific)Paris, 1950}, that of Simenon in his report published in 1932 in \emph{Voilà} on colonial Africa, clearly show the springs of these departures:
The testimony of Marguerite Duras on the small French settlers in Indochina\footnote{\emph{Le barrage contre le Pacifique}(The dam against the Pacific)Paris, 1950}, that of Simenon in his report published in 1932 in \emph{Voilà} on colonial Africa, clearly show the springs of these departures:
a blocked future in metropolitan France, the possibility of living better in countries where, even without money, the European inevitably has an advantage over the colonized.
In his report entitled “The Hour of the Negro”, Simenon leaves no ambiguity. :
“ He (the European settler) will also leave because there, he has a boy who waxes his shoes and he can yell at him!
In his report entitled \enquote{The Hour of the Negro}, Simenon leaves no ambiguity:
\enquote{He (the European settler) will also leave because there, he has a boy who waxes his shoes and he can yell at him!
He will leave mainly because he has no other future, because places are scarce in France. (...)
There where, at least, the fact of being white, the last of the whites, is already a superiority... ”
There where, at least, the fact of being white, the last of the whites, is already a superiority...}
Nineteenth-century politicians and theorists had advocated settlements. This bet was successful in Oceania:
Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania have become, like North America, colonies populated almost entirely by Europeans.
The English colonization left virtually no chance of survival for the Pacific peoples. The Tasmanians were completely exterminated\footnote{The last Tasmanian died in 1874.}.
Aboriginal Australians and Maori of New Zealand were massacred, turned back to the least productive land, herded into reserves\footnote{At the end of the eighteenth century, the Aborigines were probably between 300,000 and 400,000 spread throughout the country. In 1989, there were 40,000 and 30,000 mixed.
The English colonization left virtually no chance of survival for the Pacific peoples. The Tasmanians were completely exterminated\footnote{The last Tasmanian died in 1874.}.
Aboriginal Australians and Maori of New Zealand were massacred, turned back to the least productive land, herded into reserves\footnote{At the end of the eighteenth century, the Aborigines were probably between 300,000 and 400,000 spread throughout the country. In 1989, there were 40,000 and 30,000 mixed.
Recently, the Australian government was questioned about a policy carried out since the 1950s which consisted of removing Aboriginal children from their families and entrusting them to state institutions...
Hundreds of children have been victims of these practices.}.
They still do not stop dying slowly at the moment: unemployment, delinquency, alcoholism are their daily lot.
@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ The colonization of Australia began in the late eighteenth century.
The British were careful to prevent the settlement of non-European populations, including Chinese and Japanese.
First populated by convicts (they were 150,000 in the mid-nineteenth century), Australia then attracted breeders, then gold miners from 1851 with the discovery of gold resources.
This colonization continued late since from 1946, the Australian government favored the settlement of 1,500,000 migrants, mainly British.
This migratory movement continues to this day: since the end of apartheid, many “petty whites”\rfootnote{(\emph{Petits blancs} in the original, whose literal translation is \emph{little whites}, an expression refering to poor whites settlers.
This migratory movement continues to this day: since the end of apartheid, many \enquote{petty whites}\rfootnote{(\emph{Petits blancs} in the original, whose literal translation is \emph{little whites}, an expression refering to poor whites settlers.
White trash sounded too lumpen, little sounded like it was referring to height.)} from South Africa have settled in Australia.
Europeans have also tried to turn parts of Africa into settlements.
@ -80,18 +81,18 @@ between 1860 and 1909, 120,000 Indians were sent to South Africa to work in cond
Other attempts ended in failure. From 1870, the France wanted to transform Algeria into a settlement.
Through a policy of automatic naturalization of Jewish Algerians (1870) and Europeans (1896), it succeeded in artificially increasing the European population.
France sought to attract would-be emigrants by offering them land\footnote{The ravages of phylloxera in the vineyards (1878) actually pushed many wine farmers from the Midi to settle in Algeria.}.
France sought to attract would-be emigrants by offering them land\footnote{The ravages of phylloxera in the vineyards (1878) actually pushed many wine farmers from the Midi to settle in Algeria.}.
These peasant settlers were quickly overtaken by land restructuring, victims of the big settlers and financial companies that dispossessed them.
The European population remained confined to the cities and ultimately grew little: it did not reach one million men in 1954\footnote{Europeans were 109,000 in 1847, 272,000 in 1872, 578,000 in 1896, 829,000 in 1921, 984,000 in 1954.}.
The European population remained confined to the cities and ultimately grew little: it did not reach one million men in 1954\footnote{Europeans were 109,000 in 1847, 272,000 in 1872, 578,000 in 1896, 829,000 in 1921, 984,000 in 1954.}.
The war and the adherence of the majority of the European population to the repression of the Algerian national movement, then the policy of the OAS, pushed Europeans to leave Algeria in 1962, at the time of independence.
Finally, the last example of French colonization of settlement, New Caledonia. Annexed by the France in 1853, it first served as a prison.
Here too, the deportations of populations were used.
Faced with the resistance of the Kanak population (and the risk of its complete disappearance), the French “imported” from 1893 Japanese workers to work in the nickel mines, and Tonkinese migrants from 1924 under employment contracts that left them without any defense against the local French employers.
Faced with the resistance of the Kanak population (and the risk of its complete disappearance), the French \enquote{imported} from 1893 Japanese workers to work in the nickel mines, and Tonkinese migrants from 1924 under employment contracts that left them without any defense against the local French employers.
But the example of New Caledonia is interesting because of the voluntary policy of minorization of the Kanak people carried out rationally from 1972, at the instigation of the Prime Minister of the time, Pierre Messmer.
The latter, in a letter to the Minister of the DOM-TOM*\rfootnote{DOM-TOM :\emph{ Départements d'Outre Mer-Territoires d'Outre Mer} which means oversea departments- oversea territories.}, wrote then:
“New Caledonia, a settlement colony, although doomed to multiracial variety, is probably the last non-independent tropical territory in the world where a developed country can emigrate its nationals. (...)
\enquote{New Caledonia, a settlement colony, although doomed to multiracial variety, is probably the last non-independent tropical territory in the world where a developed country can emigrate its nationals. (...)}\rfootnote{Missing end quote in original text}
\begin{quote}
\enquote{In the short and medium term, the massive immigration of metropolitan French citizens or citizens from overseas departments (Reunion), should make it possible to avoid this danger (a nationalist demand, Editor's note), by maintaining and improving the digital relationship of communities. (...)
@ -108,10 +109,10 @@ European migration took on a truly massive character from the second half of the
The English peasants were among the first to bear the brunt of the industrial revolution. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, England caught in a global process of economic transformation, reformed its agricultural production.
Agriculture, competing on the English domestic market by European and colonial agriculture, was replaced by livestock. The English peasants who had become useless were driven off the land.
The inability of infant industries to absorb all of this workforce forced many English to move to North America, India, Africa and Oceania.
From 1825 to 1920, 17 million Englishmen left their country\footnote{80\% of them settled in the United States and Canada, 11\% in Australia, 5\% in South Africa.}.
From 1825 to 1920, 17 million Englishmen left their country\footnote{80\% of them settled in the United States and Canada, 11\% in Australia, 5\% in South Africa.}.
Germany experienced a similar phenomenon: between 1820 and 1933, 6 million Germans emigrate to the United States, Brazil and Argentina.
Most European countries, including Eastern Europe\footnote{From 1875 to 1913, 4 million nationals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire emigrated. From 1900 to 1914, Russia had only 2.5 million emigrants, many of them Poles and Jews driven out by intensifying religious persecution.}, with a time lag in relation to Western Europe, are experiencing these phenomena of emigration.
Most European countries, including Eastern Europe\footnote{From 1875 to 1913, 4 million nationals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire emigrated. From 1900 to 1914, Russia had only 2.5 million emigrants, many of them Poles and Jews driven out by intensifying religious persecution.}, with a time lag in relation to Western Europe, are experiencing these phenomena of emigration.
United States and Latin America absorbs the bulk of European emigrants.
France is a special case. Its lack of demographic dynamism – the nineteenth-century France is a sparsely populated country – combined with the fact that its agriculture resisted better than English agriculture during the industrial revolution, makes this country a pole of immigration.
@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ Crop failures following potato disease from 1846 to 1851 caused famines.
Combined with cholera epidemics, they are responsible for the disappearance of a million people.
In the same period, one million Irish left their country for England, Australia, Canada or the United States. This migratory flow is not drying up.
The majority of Irish migrants embarked for the United States\footnote{Between 1876 and 1926, 84\% of Irish emigrants left for the United States.}, until around the 1920s when restrictive laws blocked their entry into the United States.
The majority of Irish migrants embarked for the United States\footnote{Between 1876 and 1926, 84\% of Irish emigrants left for the United States.}, until around the 1920s when restrictive laws blocked their entry into the United States.
From then on, migratory flows shifted towards Great Britain. The United States offered greater opportunities for promotion and social success than England.
They also showed greater religious tolerance than England, a colonizing country - Ireland would gain its independence in 1921 - and an oppressor.
@ -146,7 +147,7 @@ Italians, Russians, Armenians, Eastern European Jews, Chinese, Japanese, etc. pr
For the migrant, it is a question of reconstituting a privileged social space. For him, it is a question of survival in an environment that is generally hostile.
It was not until the second generation that these privileged relationships faded. They continue thanks to political, cultural, religious associations, etc.
Without over-extrapolating, we realize that “community” solidarities\footnote{The term “community” is, like the term “ethnicity”, of delicate use. It assumes that migrants from the same country form a coherent whole, with collective and identity reactions.
Without over-extrapolating, we realize that \enquote{community} solidarities\footnote{The term \enquote{community} is, like the term \enquote{ethnicity}, of delicate use. It assumes that migrants from the same country form a coherent whole, with collective and identity reactions.
Nothing is less certain. There are networks of sociability, more or less well organized.
In this case, in the absence of a more suitable term, this term refers to the reception network around the migrant, his family, his neighbors, relationships ...} — solidarity in departure, solidarity in arrival, solidarity in integration processes — still function in the same way today.
@ -154,14 +155,14 @@ Economic migration is not necessarily intercontinental migration. In many cases
France, a country of immigration since the nineteenth century, welcomed since the 1850s Belgians, Poles, Italians, Spaniards, attracted by the employment opportunities offered by the country.
At the same time, this demand was partly met by internal migration in the country.
Rural French people left their land very early to migrate to the cities in search of a complementary income\footnote{Many rural French, Spanish or Italian people sought paid employment during the off-peak seasons, which they left to return to cultivate and harvest.
Rural French people left their land very early to migrate to the cities in search of a complementary income\footnote{Many rural French, Spanish or Italian people sought paid employment during the off-peak seasons, which they left to return to cultivate and harvest.
This is the case whenever a farm is too small to support the family. In some cases, it is the children who offer their services in this way, while waiting to settle in turn on the family farm.} or more remunerative work.
The nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century saw men and women from the most repulsive regions leave their “country” to work “in the city”.
The nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century saw men and women from the most repulsive regions leave their \enquote{country} to work \enquote{in the city}.
It can be the capital of the canton as the regional capital or Paris. Their routes are often similar to intercontinental migrations.
Bretons, Corsicans, Auvergnats, to name the most numerous, arrive in the city where they welcome solidarity networks similar to those of foreign migrants.
The reactions against them are not tender. How many texts, newspaper articles to denounce these provincials as “dirty”, “crude”, “unassimilable”...
How many others to explain that the Poles do not practice “the same Christianity” as the French and that they are not able to integrate into French society.
The reactions against them are not tender. How many texts, newspaper articles to denounce these provincials as \enquote{dirty}, \enquote{crude}, \enquote{unassimilable}...
How many others to explain that the Poles do not practice \enquote{the same Christianity} as the French and that they are not able to integrate into French society.
In all cases, there is a phenomenon of competition on the labour market between nationals and migrants, exacerbated in the event of economic difficulties, and which employers know how to take advantage of to lower wages.
@ -210,10 +211,10 @@ Mass migration began after the Second World War.
Recruiters are then numerous and determined to bring in cheap labor, which can not have significant requirements in terms of social protection and comfort of life, at the request of large mining, automotive, construction and public works companies.
These were all sectors that required a low-skilled workforce accepting difficult working conditions.
The turning point took place in the 1970s. Faced with the economic crisis that is looming, in the face of industrial restructuring, the French government announces its desire for “zero immigration”.
France, like Western Europe, no longer needs migrants. They cannot, according to a formula that will make a fortune later, "welcome all the misery of the world".
The turning point took place in the 1970s. Faced with the economic crisis that is looming, in the face of industrial restructuring, the French government announces its desire for \enquote{zero immigration}.
France, like Western Europe, no longer needs migrants. They cannot, according to a formula that will make a fortune later, \enquote{welcome all the misery of the world}.
As a result, rich countries set up legal barriers and a police arsenal to restrict the entry into their territories of these migrants from countries sometimes described as “Third World countries”, “underdeveloped countries”, “developing countries”, “countries of the South”...
As a result, rich countries set up legal barriers and a police arsenal to restrict the entry into their territories of these migrants from countries sometimes described as \enquote{Third World countries}, \enquote{underdeveloped countries}, \enquote{developing countries}, \enquote{countries of the South}...
This policy is mixed with a practice of great hypocrisy which consists in employing migrants, preferably in an illegal situation, in companies at prices lower than nationals.
By imposing wages below the wages commonly applied, companies know that in the more or less long term, it is everyone's wages that will fall.
@ -234,7 +235,7 @@ Some suffer situations that are practically slavery.
Pakistani or Filipino migrants, for example, forced to move to the Gulf States - major recruiters of labour from the Third World - have their passports confiscated as soon as they arrive and are forced to work under any conditions.
The case of a Sarah Balabagan\rfootnote{Sarah Balabagan, is a Filipina who was employed as a housemaid in the United Arab Emirates. She killed her employer in self-defense while he was trying to rape her.
She was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and ordered to pay 150,000 dirhams (US\$40,000) in blood money to her employer's relatives, while at the same time awarded 100,000 dirhams (US\$27,000) as compensation for the rape
She was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and ordered to pay 150,000 dirhams (US\$40,000) in blood money to her employer's relatives, while at the same time awarded 100,000 dirhams (US\$27,000) as compensation for the rape.
However, the prosecution appealed the verdict, calling for the death penalty. On September 6, 1995, a second Islamic court found no evidence of rape and convicted her of premeditated murder, sentencing her to death by firing squad.
At her third trial, her sentence was reduced to a year's imprisonment and 100 cane strokes , along with payment of blood money.}, or, closer to us, a Véronique Akobé\rfootnote{Véronique Akobé, an undocumented Ivorian woman who have been employed as a maid by a Grasse industrial. She was raped by her employer and his son.
At the third collective rape, she wounded her boss and killed his son. Arrested in 1987, sentenced to 20 years in jail in 1990, she was pardoned in 1996}, are indicative of the new conditions available to migrants: more and more precariousness, less and less security.
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