'Obstacles and Challenges to Migrant Organising in Global Economic Immigration Debates'

Abstract

The regulation and control of international migration is a central issue for activists, including for organisers of immigrant background. Operating as immigration policy does from a basis of exclusion and differential rights it reinforces existing global class, ethnicity and gender-based stratification. Within this context, how do minorities within immigrant-receiving societies bring attention to race and gender issues within their organizing around immigration policy? How, if at all are the positions of immigrant activists (referred to in this paper as "diversity-seeking groups") responsible for shaping economic immigration policy debates? This paper argues that organizational and institutional factors within immigration countries are important in shaping the ultimate activism levels of such groups. Drawing upon a study of 25-years of organizing by immigrant activists and coalitional partners around the area of economic immigration policy in Australia and Canada, I demonstrate the relevance of three key factors: First, the extent of coalition building by diversity-seeking groups with broader social justice partners is central in shaping the successful engagement of those groups. Second, within hierarchical and umbrella arrangements, immigrant activists, particularly women, have been less efficient in having their voices heard over a longer period of time. Thirdly, in systems where there is a direct line of accountability between the immigration bureaucracy and funding of such groups, there is also a gradual reduction in the level of activism over time. Despite many shared challenges faced by activists in both countries, in Canada, a combination of coalition-building between immigrants and other social partners, a flatter organizing structure within the ethnic movement and a less direct line of funding from the immigration bureaucracy than in Australia buttressed enduring activist engagement over time.