Rich Nomads, Poor Migrants: Human Flows Of Neoliberalsm
Today’s economy is a global one in which many specific geographies are witnessing vicissitudinous changes and shifts in demographics, cultures and prosperity. The current national backlash against globalization focuses on immigration while rhetorically and materially ignoring and downplaying the overseas investment of capital, displacing analysis or regulation of the genuine causes of economic crisis and stagnation in a global economy. While there has been a long justification of free movement of capital, the same cannot be said of laborers, who often lack the means to go to places where they would be guaranteed a better life. Certain migratory patterns are teated in public discourse as an outright invasion, su
ch as the forced resettlement of Syrian refugees or the northern migration of Latin Americans to the US and Canada, while others are teated as ‘development’ and ‘revitalization,’ such as the mass inhabitation of inner cities by educated suburban-raised ‘millennials.’ While many millions of people—usually poor—who are displaced by war and economic devastation are castigated and treated as a problem to be managed, managerial elites and educated technology and financial workers (‘nomads’) jetset around the world freely, with relatively little restriction placed on their patterns of movement. Special legislation and restrictions are placed on visa applications from specific regions, while other regions are passively encouraged to travel to the U.S. and elsewhere. This salon will explore and dissect the cultural, class, political and ethical dimensions of human movement in a selectively-globalized economy, and seek to generate shifts in the conceptual and cultural lenses that we use to approach these issues.
There exist two groups:
- Rich nomad - celebrated people that move around by choice
- Poor migrants - moving around by necessity, do not possess wealth or skills by todays competitive economies.
Tonight we will frame this by looking at neoliberalism.
The global economy is not stable and this effects some more than others, leading to conflict to some areas. These are the people that are fleeing an economy that doesn't work for everyone.
We see people that are forced into migratory pattern as a problem 'over there', but perhaps we should see that these regions are affected by the wealth that accumulates in other areas. This leads to arbitrary borders, and back lashes. US has funded radical militant groups bc were opposing our enemies e.g. soviets. or backed a certain leader bc we thought they would bring access to energy or stability of kinds.
This is not to say that we create the distance but our interventions have consequences for those regions.
Why are some people sought after and others not?
Iceland advertised for certain kinds of people - young tech workers - if you can work from home you can work from here. Visa processes. Visa's are created for these skilled individuals.
Capital can move relatively freely around the world, but labour (Humans beings) can not. U these natrions want your money, not you.
"Flight of the creative class" - countries need to compete for the creative class/ millennial.
The great inversion - suburban people are moving into cities, and poor people are being forces out of these cities. Poverty stricken people are far less well served in the suburbs - lack of transport etc. So we are setting ourselves up for a cerain kind of crisis.
The culture
It's seen as sexy to travel - tinder displays this, instagram, it's portrayed in films etc. The same cultural value is not applied to those who move out of necessity. They are not offered the same regard.
How are different populations governed?
Foucault
- Sovereign power - physically policed, threatened .
- Disciplinary power - you are being watched and you start to self police and check yourself.
- Governmental power - you control a field of possibilities su ch that people will make decision that are better for them, takes a lot less resources, and is all encompasses as people's actually subjectivity are aligned with you interest.
Perhaps these two different groups of people belong to different levels, operated under different forms of power. Perhaps the way in which power treats you, created two different groups of people, who are treated very differently.
Quetsions
Dissect some of the cultural and political issues around human movement.
Can we imagine a world where we treat different kinds of movement with different cultural regard.
What role does movement play into different subjectivities?
Discussion
Why do we value worldly travel? There is definitely an exploitative mode of travel, but there is also a participatory role, to join and be part of the culture. This is true of people at BM also, some are there for fun, others are there to learn and take notes about how to live in the DW.
The hand book of human ownership - states are each a form of human farm. If we see it this way, we can understand
"Nomad Citizenship" nations states are depending on this winning depending on loosing, but there are alternatives
Deluze and Guattari - nomadism which came out of various tactics of resistance. e.g. running from your country, this can be emancipatory in one circumstance and reactive in another. Drew inspiration from Braudel - connected the layers of history.