iris
01-20-2003, 12:01 AM
I just got my new copy of The Economist (http://www.economist.com) in the mail and it was a surprisingly good issue this week. One of the articles is about diaspora and transnationalism. Now even more than ever, Asians are leading the immigration numbers to America, but how does that affect us or the "homelands?"
We talk about the Taiwan and China issue all the time, but do we look at it from a Western, Americanized ethnocentric perspective? Or do we actually know what people living in these countries think about the situation? How do their lives affect ours? Because we have relatives there? Because it is our heritage that we need to perserve? Is diasporic influence exerted on the homeland necessarily a bad thing?
Though this article doesn't deal exclusively with Asian diaspora, it's a good read. If you have the time, take a look. :)
Diasporas: A World of Exiles (http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1511765)
Jan 2nd 2003
From The Economist print edition
Emigres have long sought to bring pressure to bear on governments in their adopted countries. Now their influence is being felt at home too
Why does Macedonia have no embassy in Australia? Why might a mountain in northern Greece soon be disfigured by an image of Alexander the Great 73 metres (nearly 240 feet) high? Who paid for the bloody war between Ethiopia and Eritrea? How did Croatia succeed in winning early international recognition as an independent country? And why do Mexican candidates for political office campaign in the United States?
The short answer to each of these questions is a diaspora community of people living outside their country of origin. Macedonia has no embassy in Australia because Greeks think the former Yugoslav republic that calls itself Macedonia has purloined the name from them, and the Greek vote counts for a lot in Australia. So, as a sop to local Greeks outraged by its decision to recognise the upstart Macedonia, the Australian government has not yet allowed it to open an embassy in Canberra.
The case of the missing embassy is an extreme, but typical, example of how diasporas have long exerted their influence: they have lobbied in their adopted countries for policies favourable to the homeland. But now something new is taking place: diasporas are increasingly exerting influence on the politics of the countries they have physically, but not emotionally, abandoned. An example of this trend is the case of the monumental Alexander. The Greek diaspora is so proud of Alexander the Great, whose Macedonian kingdom encompassed what are now parts of northern Greece, and so keen to establish him as Greek, that it wants to carve his effigy on a cliff face on Mount Kerdyllion. The Greek authorities in Athens are horrified, but the Alexander the Great Foundation, based in Chicago, is eager to get chipping, and says its members will cover the $45m cost. Grotesque as it may consider the scheme. The monument would be four times the size of the American presidents carved on Mount Rushmore. The Greek government may yield. It is to rich Greek-Americans that it turns when it wants to promote its interests in America.
Similarly, it was to its citizens abroad that Eritrea looked when it decided to wage a pointless border war between 1998 and 2000. Small, poor and just six years old, the country was in no position to fight its much bigger neighbour, Ethiopia. But of Eritrea's 3.8m people, about 333,000 were overseas emigres and, astonishingly, the government was able to tax their personal income at 2% a year. This helped to finance, and thus to perpetuate, a terrible war.
Complete Story (http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1511765)
*I wasn't sure this was the right place to put it, so CSB or SWK, feel free to move the thread to the appropriate place if warranted.*
We talk about the Taiwan and China issue all the time, but do we look at it from a Western, Americanized ethnocentric perspective? Or do we actually know what people living in these countries think about the situation? How do their lives affect ours? Because we have relatives there? Because it is our heritage that we need to perserve? Is diasporic influence exerted on the homeland necessarily a bad thing?
Though this article doesn't deal exclusively with Asian diaspora, it's a good read. If you have the time, take a look. :)
Diasporas: A World of Exiles (http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1511765)
Jan 2nd 2003
From The Economist print edition
Emigres have long sought to bring pressure to bear on governments in their adopted countries. Now their influence is being felt at home too
Why does Macedonia have no embassy in Australia? Why might a mountain in northern Greece soon be disfigured by an image of Alexander the Great 73 metres (nearly 240 feet) high? Who paid for the bloody war between Ethiopia and Eritrea? How did Croatia succeed in winning early international recognition as an independent country? And why do Mexican candidates for political office campaign in the United States?
The short answer to each of these questions is a diaspora community of people living outside their country of origin. Macedonia has no embassy in Australia because Greeks think the former Yugoslav republic that calls itself Macedonia has purloined the name from them, and the Greek vote counts for a lot in Australia. So, as a sop to local Greeks outraged by its decision to recognise the upstart Macedonia, the Australian government has not yet allowed it to open an embassy in Canberra.
The case of the missing embassy is an extreme, but typical, example of how diasporas have long exerted their influence: they have lobbied in their adopted countries for policies favourable to the homeland. But now something new is taking place: diasporas are increasingly exerting influence on the politics of the countries they have physically, but not emotionally, abandoned. An example of this trend is the case of the monumental Alexander. The Greek diaspora is so proud of Alexander the Great, whose Macedonian kingdom encompassed what are now parts of northern Greece, and so keen to establish him as Greek, that it wants to carve his effigy on a cliff face on Mount Kerdyllion. The Greek authorities in Athens are horrified, but the Alexander the Great Foundation, based in Chicago, is eager to get chipping, and says its members will cover the $45m cost. Grotesque as it may consider the scheme. The monument would be four times the size of the American presidents carved on Mount Rushmore. The Greek government may yield. It is to rich Greek-Americans that it turns when it wants to promote its interests in America.
Similarly, it was to its citizens abroad that Eritrea looked when it decided to wage a pointless border war between 1998 and 2000. Small, poor and just six years old, the country was in no position to fight its much bigger neighbour, Ethiopia. But of Eritrea's 3.8m people, about 333,000 were overseas emigres and, astonishingly, the government was able to tax their personal income at 2% a year. This helped to finance, and thus to perpetuate, a terrible war.
Complete Story (http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1511765)
*I wasn't sure this was the right place to put it, so CSB or SWK, feel free to move the thread to the appropriate place if warranted.*