Emigrations, immigrations, precarious lives

Grazia.tanta@gmail.com 2/5/2021 1
Emigrations, immigrations, precarious lives
Today's world is the product of immense migrations -
through invasions or small groups - that have
contributed to the enrichment of the human species, in
genetic and cultural terms. To speak of homelands and
nation-states is nonsense that suits some. Symbolically,
we are all Lucy's grandchildren.
Summary
1 - Immigrants and emigrants, all natives of the planet
2 - Native population and resident foreigners
<<<<<<<<<< ||||| >>>>>>>>>>
1 - Immigrants and emigrants, all natives of the planet
If the Earth is just one. If Humanity is totally composed of homo sapiens, the divisions
between states are artificial, transitory and, the borders result from wars and
bloodbaths, based on seigneurial ambitions.
As a rule, borders do not divide anything substantial, of necessary; they are only the
application of ephemeral property rights, successive spheres of property, with humans
divided between owners and not owners, with the former controlling the State, an
authoritarian and repressive structure to enforce that order, that convenient exclusion,
on a political level that, today, usually and with a serious look, they call … democracy !

Democracy is a concept that in its long history, from the times of ancient Athens,
essentially suffered the repudiation or tampering, by groups or dominant social classes,
manager of the property, whose access or enjoyment refuse or affect the great
majority. These groups always knew how to surround gunmen, judges, bureaucrats,
police, armies and, more recently, the figure of plumitivos1
, paid by the owners of the
newspapers to maintain a convenient segmentation of people between "top" and
"low".
When nation-states were constituted, their central concern was the fixation of their
population, subordinated, not only to their masters, but later, to the capitalists; and,
within this preoccupation, there was the refusal and antagonism towards other nation-
states, with disastrous implications for their natural ones.
The ability to transform nature through work, the creativity of peoples, the collective
interaction as a matrix for the production of goods and services, they have become,
more and more, a desire for the control of the elites and, the acceptance of that
appropriation by those in lower positions. Firstly, by the nobles, for simple tasks,
common in agricultural societies; then, by the capitalists, for more complex tasks,
inherent to industry work; and later, in services, becoming increasingly diverse,
absorbing more and more labor.
In a first phase, the services included, among others, education, health, transport, postal
services, personal services to the rich, military service, sexual services and the filling of
the state machinery. Later, the conflict inherent to the densification of economic and
personal relationship developed judicial apparatuses, cohorts of bureaucrats and
policemen. On the other hand, vocational training and school reached the entire
population, contributing to the encystment of a diversified state apparatus, immense
and invasive, filled by career bureaucrats, entwined with the political class.
1
In Portuguese, a kind of obedient journalist, “his master´s voice”

The consolidation of nation-states corresponded to the affirmation of nationalism;
nationality started to be a central element of distinction between people born and
raised in a given nation-state and, those coming from other territories. To the former all
the rights and duties inherent to their nature as “nationals” and the non-nationals,
especially immigrants, with fewer rights and more duties. This distinction has made
immigrants victims of distancing, adversity and marginalization, oriented towards the
lowest paid functions, taking advantage of their situations as foreigners, pointed out as
competitors by the less qualified indigenous people.
The distinctions are shown, often, under the form of racism, related to the color of skin,
religious creed, national origin; there, the darker loses against the lighter one, the
Muslim gains in suspicion in the face of Christian overtones; and, a being from
Northern Europe deserves more respect than a Balkan. As it is evident, all these social
or legal disqualifications aim to create a more submissive, poorer, undemanding but,
necessary workforce for the viability of the existence of the less qualified segments of
the employers.
The current capitalism works "a tous les azimuths", using or not, difficulties in the
boundaries and according to the relationship between the exporting country and
importing country, the goods characterization, including work or technology; and, in
the context of these aspects, if more or less import/export of labor is needed. For
example, in USA an immigration of Europeans is more considered than that of the poor
who cross Rio Grande risking his life crossing Mexican border (and Trump's wall) in
order to survive clandestinely by accepting low wages and the absence of rights.
Capitalism, in a time of highly globalized competition, generates and exploits these
differences between natives and immigrants, not only in terms of income and rights,
but also exploiting rivalries, antagonisms and inventing anathemas against chosen
groups. But it becomes much more tolerant for retired people looking to live in a
warmer climate. And, above all, for well-heeled oligarchs who pay big money to be able
to live peacefully on their dirty money in complacent countries, where the presence of
corrupt people in the government is customary. Let us remember the so-called “gold
visas” and the chain of scoundrels linked to them, in Portugal – Paulo Portas, Miguel
Macedo2
and the sect installed in the extinct SEF – Foreigners and Borders Service.
Agrarian, pre-capitalist societies, even when they built rich temples and palaces, used
slavery on a scale far below that practiced by European countries involved in the
conquest and occupation of lands overseas, from the 16th century onwards. The needs
for labor in the European colonies of America are evident in the typologies of their
2
Ancient right-wing ministers under the time of troika intervention in Portugal

populations today and in the genocide suffered by the original peoples of the
Caribbean, Brazil or the USA. Interestingly, there are about 4 500 years ago, the
construction of the Egyptian pyramids was made by employees, not by slaves, without
the use of the wheel (!) but, with the presence of caregivers for the event of accident at
work and, accountants to the measurement of working times!
It is known that Lisbon, in the sixteenth century, had a huge portion of the population
of African slaves and even black youth groups "specialized" to get pregnant women
slaves; subsequenly the owners get the profit from the sale of the offspring, as slaves,
of course, under a factory logic... Very probably those gentlemen would be fervent
Christians...
In the European context of the same century, the forced emigration of Muslims and
Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, orchestrated by the kings, with the appropriation of
property expelled and, the children… to be christianized. Columbus and Magellan
carried out their exploits as emigrants in Spanish lands. Spinoza was the grandson of
Portuguese emigrants and David Ricardo had in his ancestors an Iberian origin. Handel
emigrated clandestinely to England where he was offered a far more interesting
contract than in his native Saxony. The potato crisis in Ireland, in the 19th century,
forced an important part of the Irish to emigrate to the USA; and, in Germany, whoever
could, emigrated to escape the Hitlerian delirium. Italian and German emigrants of
recent date fought against Hitler and Mussolini in the US army. Even when the memory
is lost, History was designed by emigrants; we are all emigrants.
In more recent times, the economic disruption that capitalism causes in Africa, forces an
emigration fraught with great risks to enter Europe, where reception is difficult, with
people filling jobs with worse pay and lesser rights. The escape from Syria and Iraq,
unstructured countries by the intervention of the so-called West (via ISIS) and under the baton
of peace Nobel, Obama, sent millions of people into Europe. Receiving refugees is receiving
cheap labour but there are quantitative limits; and so EU pays Turkey to retain four million
potential migrants bound for Europe. In turn, Trump has erected a wall guarded and
electrified to prevent the arrival of people coming from the South, impoverished by the
action of American multinationals, by the elite of Creoles, etc...
In current times, the great facility in the circulation of information and bodies,
produced by technologies, has made emigration commonplace within the European
community. The inequalities between the various countries became enormous, which
did not happen until the integration of Greece in 1981, followed by Spain, Portugal and,
later, with the enlargements to the East, resulting from the dismantling of Comecon
and Yugoslavia. Well-known inequalities as we have highlighted recently.

This context of mobility leaves to the countries of migrants origin the costs of
technique formation, unbalances their age pyramids, fattening the upper echelons and
tapering those nearby base; and, it offers to the destination countries, skilled labor or,
devalued, precarious, when not despising the immigrants, and as object of violence
from xenophobes and neo-nazis.
2 - Native population and resident foreigners
Let us observe the size and evolution, in recent years, of the population of European
countries and the share of foreigners who live in each one of them, marking the cases
of demographic reduction with a distinct color.
Europe - total population and share of resident foreigners
thousands
foreign residents
(% of total)
var. native
pop.
2009/19
(thousands)
var. foreign
pop.
2009/19
(thousands)
2009 2014 2019 2009 2014 2019
Belgium 10 753 11 181 11 456 9.4 11.1 12.5 703 429
Bulgaria 7 467 7 246 7 000 0.5 0.8 1.5 -467 69
Czech R. 10 426 10 512 10 694 3.9 4.1 5.5 268 179
Denmark 5 511 5 627 5 806 5.8 7.1 9.3 295 217
Germany 82 002 80 767 83 019 8.8 8.7 12.5 1 017 3212
Estonia 1 336 1 316 1 325 16.1 14.8 15.1 -11 -15
Ireland 4,521 4,638 4,904 12.8 11.4 13.1 383 64
Greece 11 095 10 927 10 725 8.4 7,8 8.5 -370 -21
Spain 46 239 46 512 46 937 11.6 10.1 11.1 698 -160
France 64 350 66 166 67 178 5.8 6.4 7.6 2 828 1387
Croatia 4 310 4 247 4,076 - 0.7 2.1 -234 55
italy 59 001 60 783 60 360 5.8 8.1 8.3 1 359 1637
Cyprus 797 858 876 15.6 18.6 18.4 79 36
Letonia 2 163 2001 1,920 17.7 15.2 13.6 -243 -122
Lithuania 3 184 2 943 2 794 1.0 0.7 2.4 -390 35
Luxembourg 494 550 614 43.5 45.3 48.3 120 81
Hungary 10 031 9 877 9 773 1.9 1.4 2.0 -258 13
Malte 411 429 494 4.1 6.8 20.9 83 86
Pays-Bas 16 486 16 829 17 282 3.9 4.4 6,7 796 518
Austria 8 335 8 508 8 859 10.3 12.5 16.6 524 618
Poland 38 136 38 018 37 973 0.2 0.3 0.9 -163 283
Portugal 10 563 10 427 10 277 4.2 3.8 5.7 -286 150
Roumania 20 440 19 947 19 414 - 0.4 0.7 -1026 66
Slovenia 2,032 2,061 2,081 3.5 4.7 7.5 49 86
Slovakia 5 382 5 416 5450 1.1 1.1 1.4 68 18
Finland 5 326 5 451 5 518 2.7 3.8 4.8 192 124

Sweden 9 256 9 645 10 230 5.9 7.1 9.1 974 380
Iceland 319 326 357 7.6 7.0 13.8 38 25
Liechtenstein 36 37 38 32.7 33.8 34.9 2 1
Norway 4,799 5 108 5 328 6.3 9.4 11.3 529 301
Switzerland 7 702 8 140 8 545 21.7 23.8 25.4 843 504
UK 62 042 64 351 66 647 6.8 7,8 9.3 4,605 1928
Total 514 945 520 844 527 950 6.5 7.0 8.6 13 005 12290
Source: Eurostat
In 2014, comparing to 2009, the population of European countries increased by 5.9
million people and 7.1 million in the following five years.
In 2014 all countries with population breaks are Baltic or Balkan; and Germany (minus
1.2 million) and Portugal are the only exceptions to those locations. Conversely, the
main contributors to the demographic increase were the UK, France and Italy.
In 2019, the major contributors to the demographic increase are again the United
Kingdom and France, and also Germany, with Romania and Italy appearing with the
main population declines.
Portugal is the only country in Western Europe to show demographic declines in both
periods, with a total of 286,000 inhabitants, with a population size very close to
Sweden, which in 2009 had a population lower by 1.3 million.
In absolute numbers and in the considered decade, the main falls in the native
population are registered in Romania (just over one million), followed by Bulgaria,
Lithuania and Greece. Conversely, the largest population increases in 2009/19 take
place in the United Kingdom (4.6 million), followed by France, Italy, Sweden and the
Netherlands.
As for immigrants in European countries in 2009/19, the main flows were directed to
Germany (3.2 million people), United Kingdom, France and Italy, knowing that in the
first and the last of these countries, the arrival of refugees and migrants was due to the
economic and political disruption promoted in Libya, Iraq and Syria; in addition to the
actions of ISIS, armed by the US with money coming from the Gulf sultans. Those four
countries incorporated 2/3 of the net increase in immigrants in that period.
The decreases in the immigrant population are registered in Spain (160 thousand),
Latvia (122 thousand) and also Greece and Estonia, all with strong economic and
financial difficulties during part of the decade.
The share of foreigners settled in European countries (including, in each nation-state,
people coming from other European backgrounds) is growing, especially in the most

recent period, since in 2009/14 the consequences of the financial crisis limited
emigration. Thus, population coming from outside in Europe went from 6.5% in 2009 to
7% five years later but, reaching 8.6% in 2019, a result from the economic recovery
related to the financial crisis.
Cyprus and Latvia are the only countries that reduced the weight of the foreign
population, with a marginal importance in the case of the former; Latvia registers one
continuous decrease of the weight of foreign or immigrant population.
The volume of foreign residents is particularly high (and growing) in Luxembourg,
approaching half of the population (48.3%), followed by Liechtenstein, although with a
very small total population, and Switzerland, where ¼ of the population has a outsider
origin in 2019. Otherwise, in 2019, the smallest shares of resident foreigners are
observed in Romania (0.7%), Slovakia (1.4%) and Bulgaria (1.5%).
For all European countries, the increase in the indigenous population in 2009/19
surpasses that of the foreign population, but only by a total of 715 thousand, which
reveals the enormous importance of the emigrant population in the demographic
evolution in those ten years. In more detailed terms, several situations are observed;
 Cases of increase in the indigenous population greater than the increase of
immigrants – Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Iceland, Switzerland;
 Cases of increases in indigenous population less than the verified to immigrants
- France, Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom;
 Cases of increase in the indigenous population and reduction of immigrants –
Germany, Malta, Austria, Slovenia;
 Cases of fall in the indigenous population smaller than the breaking of
immigrants - Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal,
Romania;
 Cases of fall in indigenous population greater than the reduction in immigrants
- Italy
As we have observed in other texts[1], Europe is a space of great inequalities; among
the various nation-states, some are rich, others… not so much. Within each one, there is
showed the presence of immigrants whose origin goes far beyond the European scene;
those whose size is proportional to the degree of wealth of the host country; and the

departure of emigrants from the various nation-states to other European countries but
also outside Europe. Will the world walk towards being a great village?
This and other texts in:
http://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/durgarrai/documents
https://pt.scribd.com/uploads
[1] Demography in Europe – a world of inequalities (2015-2020)
http://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2021/04/demografia-na-europa-um-mundo-de.html
The evolution of wealth in Europe (2000/19)
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-evolucao-da-riqueza-na-europa-200019.html
Portrait of inequalities in Europe - 1995/2018 (concl)
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2020/02/retrato-das-desigualdades-na-europa.html
Inequalities in demographic dynamics in the Iberian Peninsula (1990/2019)
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2020/07/desigualdades-na-dinamica-demografica.html
Portugal 2020, a poor and imprisoned people
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2020/04/portugal-2020-um-povo-pobre-e.html
Europe - School difficulties for young people under 15 years old
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2019/11/europa-dificuldades-escolares-de-jovens.html
School leaving in Europe (2000-2018) - 2nd part
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2019/08/o-abandono-escolar-na-europa-2000-2018.html
Center and peripheries in Europe (2) - Portugal, a case of peripheral disaster
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2018/10/center-and-peripheries-in-europe-2.html
Center and peripheries in Europe (3) - Portugal, an Iberian periphery
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2018/10/centre-and-peripheries-3-portugal.html
Evolution of the world population 1950/2050 - The case of Europe
http://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2018/07/evolution-of-world-population-19502050_16.html
Evolution of the world population 1950/2050 – The case of Europe
https://grazia-tanta.blogspot.pt/2018/05/evolucao-da-populacao-mundial-19502050.html
Evolution of the world population 1950/2050 - The case of Europe
http://grazia-tanta.blogspot.com/2018/07/evolution-of-world-population-19502050_16.html

Emigrations, immigrations, precarious lives

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