BritCits

Saturday morning links


New research confirms the government's net migration target is unsustainable.

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2013/02/governments-net-migration-target-is-unsustainable/

...More importantly though, this study is a reminder of how difficult the government is going to find it to reduce net migration (the difference between immigration and emigration) in a sustainable way.

Because a large proportion of migration to the UK is temporary, very large cuts to immigration are needed to achieve even modest reductions in net migration.

For example, if only 18% of student migrants are still in the UK after 5 years, the government needs to issue 5556 fewer student visas in order to reduce net migration by 1000.

If only 40% of skilled workers are still in the UK after 5 years, then the government needs to issue 2500 fewer skilled worker visas in order to reduce net migration by 1000...

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https://twitter.com/mobilitymuse tweets :
New blog: stuck on repeat: Cameron on immigration and why the real threat is to citizenship itself
http://katylong.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/stuck-on-repeat-cameron-on-immigration.html

An insightful piece.

Read Cameron’s words again: those who ‘haven't contributed their taxes… should pay when they use the NHS’.  But most migrants pay taxes: many British citizens don’t.  Income-dependent access to “public” services: who does that exclude? Not migrants per se: the poor.  And while the welfare state’s foundations lie in the fictions of equal citizenship binding rich and poor compatriots together, and Cameron needs British voters to believe he’s on their flag-waving side, the austerity decade is already rewriting our social contract in a manner that suggests migrants are not the only group seen as undeserving poor.  These are the foundations for a wider attack on the social rights of citizenship. And – with the threats Cameron's recent speech makes to legal aid – the foundations of the British state in the rule of law. What have we become if we are a community in which a stranger is no longer entitled to a fair trial?

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https://twitter.com/MigrantVoiceUK tweets :
Huge demonstration FOR refugees on Austria today! Good luck from UK! #refugeecamp zu solidarisieren! https://twitter.com/refugee_action pic.twitter.com/Og3Su7z2

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One family's experience of Canada since 1858 has echoes for many in the UK, of the physical and mental journey and then of what it takes to let you know you've 'arrived'.

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2013/02/15/an_immigrants_essay_from_exclusion_to_belonging.html

Via Migrants' Rights Scotland : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Migrants-Rights-Scotland/113472555365027

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https://twitter.com/MigRightsScot tweets :
Allow ppl 2bring their spouses&parents, means they'll stay, spend money, invest in the country & its future http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2013/02/15/canadas_immigration_history_one_of_discrimination_and_exclusion.html

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Indian business leaders expected to demand reform to visa rules hindering trade with Britain.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-camerons-message-to-india-were-open-for-business-8497375.html

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2013 World Press Photo winners.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/02/2013_world_press_photo_contest.html

Dominated by war, conflict, and Syria.

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http://www.kalayaan.org.uk/ campaigns for the rights of migrant domestic workers in the UK.

From 6 April, Domestic workers who apply to accompany their employers to the UK will be tied to one employer. If they experience abuse and exploitation they will face the choice of continuing to suffer or fleeing and becoming illegal.

This can only facilitate slavery. Employers and traffickers who already threaten domestic workers with deportation if they do not comply with their demands, will in future know that the UK Government will make good on these promises. They will have a license to abuse and exploit.

More women forced into slavery after change to immigration law : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/more-women-forced-into-slavery-after-change-to-immigration-law-8478998.html

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Immigration reform's tough call: illegal immigrants married to US citizens.

Illegal immigrants who want to legalize their status must leave the country for as many as 10 years to apply. That's too harsh on those who marry spouses who are US citizens, critics say.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0214/Immigration-reform-s-tough-call-illegal-immigrants-married-to-US-citizens
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Here but not here: photographs of families held together by Skype.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/here-but-not-here-photographs-of-families-held-together-by-love-skype/262053/
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Bangladesh: One billion rising flash mob.

http://www.panigram.com/2013/02/one-billion-rising-bangladesh-flash-mob/

Via http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/15/one-billion-rising-dance-flash-mob/
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Chinese social media's guerrilla war against army privileges.

http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/02/social-medias-guerrilla-warfare-on-pla-privileges/
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British-Sri Lankan journalist shot in his bedroom.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/britishsri-lankan-journalist-shot-in-his-bedroom-8497658.html
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