Immigrants why now?

[willowtooth]

Immigration has been in the news a lot lately, why?

[Bala Perdida]

In what way exactly? Like specific reports or issues on immigration being more commonly spoken about?

[BIXX]

If you're a true patriot its because of the Presidential elections.

[Blake's Baby]

I assumed that the question was about Europe, where indeed there has been constant coverage of Syrian children dying on Greek beaches, hordes of people trying to get through Hungary to go on to Germany, people jumping trains going through the Channel Tunnel or stuck in camps on the Franco-Italian border; so which immigrants, and which news, willowtooth?

[willowtooth]

In what way exactly? Like specific reports or issues on immigration being more commonly spoken about?

I mean mexicans and syrians

[Armchair Partisan]

I mean mexicans and syrians

The two issues have nothing to do each other. Mexicans are just those steadily trickling immigrant group that you act tough against if you want more votes from the white demographic. Syrians, meanwhile, have lately started arriving in droves - the civil war looks like it'll never end and the people are losing hope that they'll have normal lives again there, so many of them are simply fleeing. They have come in such quantities lately that it has surprised Europe and caught it unprepared, partly because Europe has been willfully ignoring the warning signs and pretending that all the migrants sinking in their boats trying to make it to Europe just don't exist.

(Though there is one similarity. Just like with the Mexicans, you also act tough against the Syrians if you want more votes from the white demographic.)

[willowtooth]

The two issues have nothing to do each other. Mexicans are just those steadily trickling immigrant group that you act tough against if you want more votes from the white demographic. Syrians, meanwhile, have lately started arriving in droves - the civil war looks like it'll never end and the people are losing hope that they'll have normal lives again there, so many of them are simply fleeing. They have come in such quantities lately that it has surprised Europe and caught it unprepared, partly because Europe has been willfully ignoring the warning signs and pretending that all the migrants sinking in their boats trying to make it to Europe just don't exist.

(Though there is one similarity. Just like with the Mexicans, you also act tough against the Syrians if you want more votes from the white demographic.)

okay but why are they both all of a sudden in the news? haven't they both been "immigrating" for a long time?

[Counterculturalist]

Though there is one similarity. Just like with the Mexicans, you also act tough against the Syrians if you want more votes from the white demographic.

I think this might be the key here.

In Canada, there is a third component: the conservative government is making a big deal about banning the niqab during citizenship ceremonies, and Canadians are eating it up like candy, revealing a lot of ugly bigotry in the process.

In all three cases, they represent a convenient "other" that rallies scared whites towards the right. While I have no illusions about the current popularity of social democrat types like Sanders, Corbyn or the NDP here in Canada, anti-immigrant sentiment can be used to draw disaffected voters away from these people and back into the conservative fold.

Unfortunately, these issues tend to bring out the worst in people. I have a lot of non-political friends who I think much less of since this latest round of immigrant-bashing began.

[rylasasin]

okay but why are they both all of a sudden in the news? haven't they both been "immigrating" for a long time?

Because elections.

[Tim Cornelis]

okay but why are they both all of a sudden in the news? haven't they both been "immigrating" for a long time?

No, the Syrian refugees are 'new'. It has to do with the Syrian Civil War.

[willowtooth]

No, the Syrian refugees are 'new'. It has to do with the Syrian Civil War.
which has been going on for four years, the iraq war for 12, has there been any huge spike in immigration numbers?

[Tim Cornelis]

As the conflict continues, people see there's no end is in sight and they don't want to spend their lives in a crowded tent camp in Lebanon, Jordan, or Turkey, they want to build a normal life, so they go to Europe.

[willowtooth]

As the conflict continues, people see there's no end is in sight and they don't want to spend their lives in a crowded tent camp in Lebanon, Jordan, or Turkey, they want to build a normal life, so they go to Europe.

but why all of a sudden right now?

[Armchair Partisan]

but why all of a sudden right now?

It's not sudden. The process has been going on for months, Europe has just stuck its collective head in the sand. It's merely intensifying, and will continue to do so for a long while, until everyone who wants to leave has left or the war ends.

[e_e]

I think it is due to the sudden increase in the amount of refugees leaving the Middle East. With Syria and ISIL and all that shit going on for so long, the millions of refugees can't just all squeeze into Lebanon, Jordan, or Turkey and expect everlasting peace. And you know how European right-wingers would react to the influx of immigrants.

As for Mexican immigrants, blame Trump and his usage of fascist-esque rhetoric to promote his "agenda".

[#FF0000]

but why all of a sudden right now?

Syrians cuz the Syrian civil war and the influx of refugees.

Mexicans cuz the American presidential elections.

[Bala Perdida]

So that pretty much answered the question. The only news I watch 'daily' if that is the democrat's latino wing Univision. So being them, they always report on immigration. Everyday. Although it's been sounding much more ridiculous with Trump in the mix. Another issue that's been big in accordance to immigration through Mexico has been the central American 'border children' suffering the humanitarian crisis and being institutionalized in the US upon their discovery. Although that one isn't really controversial for Americans, so it doesn't surprise me that a regular news audience doesn't know about that. For the democrats it's more like 'LOOK! OBAMA IS HELPING ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE! WE CAN COUNT ON YOUR VOTE/MONEY/IMAGE IN EXCHANGE!'.

Although yeah, Mexico has been happening since the taking of Aztlan (lol) but I guess it's been a side issue until Trump used it to get serious backing into the campaign. Even in the last election it wasn't this big.

[Antiochus]

It isn't just Syrians though. There is a civil war going on in Libya that no one in the media talks about because it is inconvenient to say that the U.S/NATO caused another needless war in a long cycle of unending ME conflicts. And there is also a civil war in Yemen. There are large-scale insurgencies in Egypt and a war (linked to the Syrian war ofc) in Iraq. So yeah, the whole region has somehow gotten worse than 2004.

I would like to know the breakdown of immigrants to Europe by nationality though if anyone has that info.

[willowtooth]

Syrians cuz the Syrian civil war and the influx of refugees.


is there any actual increase in total immigration? The total amount of immigrants this year is less than 0.01% of the European population.

[ckaihatsu]

I prefer to look at the underlying *economics* going on -- my pet theory is that as the economic base deteriorates it causes an increasing existential crisis for the nation-state entity. (Since any person could validly ask 'What is the nation-state doing about the economy, and why is it so impotent over it and all matters of daily life that are dependent on it -- ?')

So as the national existential crisis deepens it makes it tough on politicians who base their politics / careers on the national *identity*, since that identity becomes increasingly *ambiguous* in content and meaning as the country's effectiveness over economic matters continues to weaken.

So, finally, an increasingly ambiguous national identity translates *geographically* to 'What do the national borders *mean* and why are they even there'.


https://www.wto.org/images/img_mews/press721/press721_chart3_e.png


Also keep in mind that the national identity is *strongest* when it has the ability and general support to keep everyone 'spinning':


Ideologies & Operations -- Left Centrifugalism



http://s6.postimg.org/3si9so4xd/110211_Ideologies_Operations_Left_Centrifug.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/zc8b2rb3h/full/)

[Philosophos]

I suppose it's because of the elections. Governments most of the times need something to cover up the shit they have made and they focus on different groups of people to blame.
In Greece for example they say that the immigrants are coming in huge numbers and create even bigger problems to everyone. The thing is that the greek state is completely unprepared for something like that and most of these immigrants don't even wanna stay in Greece, cause duh we're "poor"/"can't support them".

But still the media keep on showing the "bad" side of immigrants or the whole tention that is created between the two parties locals-Syrians in this situation. They don't fucking show though the greeks who help those immigrants a lot and offer them as much as they can give. Just by this I can tell that the media don't really care about
the situation and about bringing the news as news, but they manipulate them in orded to serve a certain purpose (see the new memorandum in Greece).

[Aslan]

This is a direct result of the failed Arab spring 2010-2013. the main sources of the problem are
Syria: Destabilized by US funding of Islamic extremist groups. destruction of pro-russian secular government which allowed extremist to build power from angered peoples
Iraq: Decade of pro-american shiite minority government, internal distast in sunnis caused extreme distaste towards weak weimar-esce government that escalated to hell when proto-ISIL inflitrated.
Palestine: well you know... last half century...
Lebanon: Aggressiveness from israel and Hezbollah as a reaction to Israel
Libya: fall of Gaddafi and subsequent turn of Libya into a proxy war between Turkey and Egypt
Nigeria: Anger from christian south breaking political hot potato and anger turning into extremism in the form of Boko Haram

This problem will bring the rise of right-wing populism in Europe (especially in Germany) and could result in the destruction of the center in European politics. Don't take my word on it though.