101985

Ana Kresovic

Student Number: 17052753

Politics, Power and Resistance Continuous Analytical Reflection, Immigration,

Feminism and the Power of Protesting

Immigration is a much anticipated topic of many Medias around the globe, specifically in Western Nations as these are the Nations that have significant numbers of immigrant’s migrating every year. Jonathon Portes reviewed David Goodhart’s book ‘The British Dream’ which is a book that is considered to have values that are accepted by many people in the UK and even between many British politicians (Portes, 2013).

The issue of Immigration

Goodhart claims the cause of many native ‘white’ British people losing their jobs or being unemployed is due to Immigration of under skilled people who appear to have taken the jobs from non-skilled residents. This argument however does not attain enough valid evidence (Portes, 2013). Goodhart’s ideas consist of reducing immigration in order to offer more possibilities to the ‘natives ’ (Portes, 2013).Goodhart describes the years between 1979 and the early 1990’s as the era of low and stable immigration, however Portes points out that during this period is when the people on ‘Out of Work’ benefits tripled in numbers, clarifying further that immigration may not have much to do with unemployment in the UK (Portes, 2013).Goodhart insists that immigration is responsible for at least one third of job positions being occupied by people who were not born in Britian. However Portes identifies that statistics show a different picture, according to statistical information graduates tend to earn more money in London than any other region, and London has more graduates both native and foreign (Portes, 2013).

Scott Blinder suggests in his article ‘How Many Bulgarians and Romanians will come to the UK?’ from The Guardian, that the uproar of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrant emigrating to the UK and taking jobs off locals is to some point unrealistic and highly exaggerated (Blinder,2013). In October 2012 the Daily Express ran the headline “Now 29M Bulgarians and Romanians can soon move to Britain”, apparently most other news outlets decided to take the same route with this matter. Firstly 29 million people makes up the combined populations of both nations, it is very unlikely that everyone in Bulgaria and Romania would migrate to the UK (Blinder,2013). Another point is that Romania and Bulgaria have been a part of The European Union for over 6 years and the residents if decided could have migrated for a while now, statistics also indicate that Romanian immigrants are most likely to move to either Spain or Italy (Blinder,2013).

Goodhart even discuss the rates of children who require ‘Special Help’ due to a range of disabilities, in the Bradford area, where there is a significant number of British Pakistani people, Goodhart claims that due to first cousin marriage in Pakistani communities, there is a significant rise in children requiring ‘special help’ and approximates the number to be roughly half of all the children in the area. Statistics show however that twenty one per cent of children from Bradford require ‘Special Help’, which is one per cent above the national average of twenty percent. Further statistic show that the area that holds the highest figure of children requiring ‘special help’ is in Lincolnshire which is at twenty seven percent, and Lincolnshire happens to be a more predominant white British area (Portes, 2013).

Immigrants bring a diverse number of skills into the workforce, which can result in increased competition in labour markets which may result in locals improving their skills due to the higher demands, and foreign entrepreneurs can increase competition with particular products, in both cases these can result in positive situations (Portes, 2013).

If you were to ask a group of women what feminism means to them, they may very well each come up with their own versions of what feminism is. Of course not every female is pro feminism; but there are still a number of the ones who each and every day in some way strives for equality. Which raises the question of what feminism is and how has it been used in order to make a difference.

Nina Power who wrote the book One-Dimensional Woman argues that feminism has become a perception that is measured upon the womans corporate success, ownership of material objects, relationship status and sexuality (Power, 2009).

The Question of Feminism

Capitalism is the main link between the complex of the working woman, it pressurises women to work harder and be more ambitious not that there is anything wrong with that, however it is still a very knowm fact that statistically women tend to earn less than men in the same positions (Power, 2009).

Since the role of women has changed from generalized housewife to now the ‘working woman’, the inclusion of women into the workforce has brought about a number of changes (Power, 2009). The idea of the natural role of women is slowly fading and changing. Working women have also demonstrated a different kind of work ethic then men, due to women being paid less for the same amount of work as men, women have a established a reputation for being harder workers (Power, 2009).

The book explores different concepts of feminism, starting with the ‘every woman’ who in this case exemplifies Sarah Palin who is described as the woman who has it all; the possessions, the career, the beauty, the family and still manages to exceed in all her roles, but is constantly perceived in the media as a negative figure due to her femininity and the threat that causes to many (Power, 2009).

What comes as most of a shock is the use of feminism for manipulation of the public, consumers, feminists and everyday women (Power, 2009). The idea that Middle Eastern women are oppressed and need the help of the Western power known as the United States of America, was heavily employed as one of the reasons for need of the war on Iraq and Afghanistan (Power, 2009).

Ironically Muslim Feminists did not favour this idea at all as the US Invasion had branded themselves as the saviours of ‘women’s rights’ in the Middle East (Power, 2009).

What is feminism? For me the answer is, it’s every woman, not specified to the job position, relationship status or ownership of material objects. Feminism does not discriminate religion, culture, race or even gender of the individual. A feminist is someone who stands up to what they believe in, is strong and certain, and strives for equality because they know it shouldn’t end here.

Protests have played a crucial role in many historical events. Most protestor’s posse’s courage and passion as they demonstrate and partake in protests that could potentially be dangerous, and could lead into being violently beaten, being arrested and in some cases even death.

Protest movements may not always show that much is changing or is going to be changed, however with consistent protesting and passionate activists, protesting has demonstrated that it can indeed be effective in making some political and social changes.

Protesting: the effect and aftermath

Crucial events in history have been a result of many consistent protests, which have consisted of hard work, days, months and years spent, and in many cases violence, arrests and death. Examples of the events include the South African abolishment of the Apartheid law (Mamdani, 2011), the founding of the republic in the United States, the abolishment of slavery in the United States and many other events that haven’t been mentioned (Piven, 2007).

One particular event of interest as it is an ongoing struggle, and is a more recent one is the struggles and protests in Egypt. The Egyptian Revolutions has said to have been triggered by Mohammed Bouazizi, who is known as the man who burned himself at Tunisia. Bouazizi is now seen as a hero, as he himself was living in what was known as a corrupt society, and he was attempting to make a living due to the local corruption Bouazizi found it extremely difficult. Bouazizi found it difficult also to get the attention of the government so in order to make a statement he burned himself in December 2010. This outrageous statement triggered a revolution of protesting in Tunisia and also a revolution in The Arab Spring areas for a change in political and social issues (Mamdani, 2011).

The Egyptian Revolution started in 2011, due to many youth in the country who like Bouazizi were tired of the unjust social and political issues that were interfering with their lives. The president at the time Hosni Mubarak had been in power for thirty years along with his son and there was speculation his presidency would continue on for the next presidential term. The Tunisian revolution triggered the Egyptian revolution and the protests in Egypt have been continuing since (Mamdani, 2011).

Unfortunately the protests resulted in violence, deaths and arrests. The government used its force of fear in order to suppress the people from protesting, the media attempted to manipulate the public into thinking they were not required to have any social change. After much blood and tears the president decided to step down, however the protests did not stop there as there was no real change and the government was still enforcing fear on protestors (Mamdani, 2011).

During the protests, social media played a crucial part in keeping the rest of the world updated on the events and news of the protests and unfortunate violence. Although the protests would have taken part regardless, social media acted as a counterpart in being another media outlet for the unaware public. It also offered a different perspective to the world and particularly the Western World as the information was coming from civilians and not the controlled media (Beaumont, 2011).

Information:Beaumont, P. (2011, February 25). The truth about Twitter,

Facebook and the uprisings in the Arab world. The Guardian.

Blinder, S. (2013, January 16). How many Bulgarians and Romanians will come to the UK?. The Guardian.

Mamdani, M. An African Reflection on Tahrir Square. Globalizations, 559-566.

Portes, J. (2013) 'An exercie in Scapegoating', London review of Books, 35(12), pp. 1-12.

Piven, F. F. Can Power from Below Change the World?. American Sociological Review, 1-14.

Power, N. (2009). One-dimensional woman. Winchester, UK ; Washington, USA: 0 [Zero] Books.

Bibliography

The issue of Immigration www.theomnivore.com www.telegraph.co.uk blogs.spectator.co.uk http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4776276/Romanians-Bulgarians-are-q

ueueing-up-for-handout-Britain.html www.novinite.com The Question of Feminism libcom.org sciencepenguin.com www.telegraph.co.uk goatmilkblog.com   Protesting: the effect and aftermath newshopper.sulekha.com speakerscornerme.wordpress.com www.telegraph.co.uk www.aljazeera.com kpishnik.kpi.ua

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