Critical Reflection Five:Why No Borders?

The article by Anderson, Sharma and Wright (2011) is a look at why we have borders and what life would be like if we had the political project No Borders. Areas in the West like Canada have strict immigration policies. As the article states throughout the world “there are now about 200 million international migrants each year” (Anderson, Sharma and Wright, 2005: pp. 5). Obviously each country has different policies in place and these policies do have an effect. Costs have gone up for migrants which involve transportation to get to their destination and living costs. People are willing to risk their lives in order to migrate to other parts of the world, sometimes leading to death. They are willing to risk their lives in order to seek refuge. It is quite clear these people need to leave their current location for whatever reasons. More blame is put on migrants and people who help them to move then the actual policies that borders have in place.

         

   Fewer immigrants are given rights such as refuges, permanent residents and illegal immigrants. Since their rights are not equal they are forced to work in unfair working conditions where they are not getting paid as much and work longer hours then the law states. But because most times they are illegal or only here on a work term they have no rights to complain and if they were to complain they would most likely lose their job and have to leave the country. I know here in Nova Scotia we have workers from Mexico and Jamaica who come here to do seasonal farming because farmers in places like the Annapolis Valley cannot find people to work. They have a deal were the worker comes for a certain amount of time but he does not have the same rights as a Canadian and he can not apply to be a citizen when working here. It is unfair that they would not have the same rights as Canadians if they are working here doing the jobs that Canadians do not want to do. Some seasonal workers are here all year long depending on what type of farm they are working on. I personally find it unfair because people come here to work and they work really hard yet there are people in Canada who do not work and are on EI but have benefits and rights. It just does not make sense to me.

            Through history archaeologists and historians have noticed people were always migrating, it was part of their lives. Now it is questionable why anyone would ever want to move. Things are viewed completely different then they were previously. With No Borders “politics from other immigrant-rights approaches is their refusal to settle for “fairer” immigration laws” (Anderson, Sharma and Wright, 2005: pp. 11). In order to seek change people “must reject borders that work to multiply both control devices and differentiated labour regimes” (Anderson, Sharma and Wright, 2005: pp. 11). One counter point brought up against No Borders is “claims that a world without borders would not be altogether that different not many people would move migration had a very limited impact on labour markets, and non-migrants as well as citizens” (Anderson, Sharma and Wright, 2005: pp. 12). In order to seek the change of No Borders the whole world would have to reshape its who economical and societal life.

            I believe my stance on No Borders is a bit mixed. I am the type of person who can see both sides. I support immigration and believe where I am from that it is an important part of my life. Without seasonal workers in the Annapolis Valley it would greatly affect the amount of produce that can be distributed. I believe policies should be more welcoming and that everyone working and living in Canada should have equal rights, resident or non-residents, does not matter. If it was not for immigration I would not be in Canada today. Both my father’s parents immigrated to Canada and if they had no been welcomed and given employment and later their citizenship I would not be where I am today. I think borders are in place more or less to say “this is who we are and this is what we believe in”. But if people are trying to get into Canada and other countries obviously they are not happy where they are living and see a more hopeful future for them here in Canada. It is really hard for me to take just one side when I can see it from both perspectives.