Serialised book (with a progressively updated >>dashboard/ToC<< page). Part II: Philosophy of the Life Instinct

Book: Philosophy of Life Instinct: Chapter 19: Migration

Vital movement

I took longer to complete this chapter because my father passed away while I was writing it. He was a migrant. So was my mother and their families as far back as I can trace. All of us humans are migrants, for we cannot stay still. We are so migratory that other planets will soon be running over with humans.

Most species on Earth migrate. Some return to their starting point, others move to and fro, and some shift permanently. There is a necessity and pattern to their movement, which we have studied for centuries (see bibliography).

To explore our surroundings is a strong drive of the Life Instinct — to locate water, food, shelter and other necessities of self-preservation and growth. When a new location is better, we stay there and exploit it. We may also find mates at a distance from where we were born. Territorial animals, birds and fish need to move to have niches. An amoeba may move a few centimetres, an Arctic tern forty thousand kilometres and humans two hundred and ninety-eight million kilometres, to Mars.

Causes of migration

It has become a norm to classify the causes of migration into ‘push' and ‘pull' factors (from imagining people being pushed or pulled into moving). These factors can exist within a country in its regions and cities, not just between countries. In large countries with multiple languages, dialects or customs, moving within the country can be like moving to a different country. Hundreds of millions of people are internal migrants in large countries such as India, China, the USA, Brazil, etc. This chapter will focus on international migration, but much of the discussion also applies to internal migration.

Let’s follow this division of push and pull in a brief look at the reasons we relocate. (Of course, a push of one sort can be aided by a pull of the same kind. They are not mutually exclusive. It is only from the observed probability and intensity that we make a distinction.)

Push factors

Environmental — Natural disasters such as floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and drought are among the most decisive push factors for the emigration of people away from a region.

Economic — Lack of jobs, poor working conditions, low pay, and employment insecurity are significant causes for people to look at other regions within or outside a country for better prospects.

Political — Where freedom of expression, religion, democratic representation, culture or custom are curtailed, it can make life poor enough to make people leave a country or seek asylum.

Social--People fleeing from war, usually civil, comprise one of the largest bodies of migrants. There are also many countries with high crime rates and inadequate social services. These are powerful drivers to seek safety and better living elsewhere.

Pull factors

Economic — Better educational institutions, higher-paid jobs, stable economies, and more work choices are significant pull factors that pull workers into a country.

Social — Better services, living conditions, cleanliness, order, and reliable availability of the necessities of life beckon millions from less developed regions of the world towards the Americas, Europe, Australasia, and recently to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

(Political and environmental pull factors exist too but are usually less intense.)

Dual Citizenship

We may migrate in body and mind but retain the attachments of our emotions and heart to the place where we grew up and came from. Why should we cut off ties with the land of our origin? There is no good reason for it.

Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to belong to two countries formally. It may be out of love for both or the necessities of our families that we become Dual Citizens. About two-thirds of countries allow dual citizenship, but half the world’s people live in countries that do not. Approximately 1 to 2 per cent of the global population are dual citizens.

We can be primary citizens of one country where we have full rights and secondary citizens of another where our rights are somewhat restricted. These restrictions could be about voting, working for the government, owning agricultural land, etc.

In the age of mobility today, multiple simultaneous citizenships make a lot of sense as a way to add value to more than one country and for frequent movement between them. However, the law to grant it varies from country to country and is open to interpretation in several of them. If more countries allow it, they will benefit economically and make the world more vibrant and exciting.

The history of migration

We are all Ethiopian. Or Kenyan. We may even be Botswanan or Moroccan (see bibliography). That is if we go back to the origin of Homo sapiens. If we go back to the beginning of life, we could be from anywhere on Earth or are extraterrestrial.

Ancient human migrations

Since we emerged in Africa as Homo sapiens, we have populated the hospitable regions of the world through long migrations by small groups of individuals across generations. Over about 180,000 years, we settled all the livable areas of the world. Let us look at the pre-historic period, from about 200,000 years to 12,000 years ago, when farming, large settlements and recorded history began. The periods and population sizes are quite approximate for apparent reasons.

1. Homo Sapiens spreads through Africa 200,000 to 60,000 years ago. Probable size — 300,000 individuals.
2. Humans migrate out of Africa via the Horn of Africa to settle North India, Southeast Asia and Australasia — 60,000 to 50,000 years ago. Probable size — 1 to 2M individuals.
3. In a second almost contemporaneous wave out of Africa, taking a more northerly route, humans spread into and settled in Eurasia, the Middle East, South India and Central Asia. Period — 60,000 to 35,000 years ago. Probable size — 1 to 2M individuals.
4. Complex migrations within Eurasia spread settlements of humans into the Baltic region, Scandinavia, North Europe, Western Europe, Southern Europe and back into North Africa. It happened between about 35,000 to 25,000 years ago. Probable size — 2 to 3M people.
5. There were two movements across the Bering Strait into North America — from Southeast Asia via Japan; and Northern China and Siberia. From North America, we moved to settle in South America. It was between about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago. Probable size — 1 to 2M individuals.

Large modern migrations

By about 12,000 years ago, we had started farming in many areas of the world, and the population rapidly rose to about 170M people by year 1 CE.

Some of the enormous migrations in recorded history since then are:

1. The forced transport of slaves from Africa to America, from the 16th to 19th century. Probable size — 20M individuals.
2. The migration of Europeans to America between 1820 and 1980. Probable size — 37M people.
3. The migration of Jewish people to Israel after the second world war, between 1948 and 2000. Probable size — 3.6M people.
4. The resettlement of Europe after the second world war, between 1945 to 1949. Probable size — 12M people.
5. The migration between partitioned India and Pakistan from 1947 to 1950. Probable size — 15M people.
6. The movement of the rural population in China to cities between 1976 and 2005. Probable size — 150M people.

Today, early in the twenty-first century, there are about 275 million first-generation migrants worldwide.

The value of migration

Evolutionary benefits

The definition of the term species now allows that they can interbreed with other closely related species. The offspring are known as hybrids and can go on to become a new species.

It is likely that several similar species of pre-humans and early humans inter-bred, which produced new hominid variants and accelerated our evolution. Examples of the former are Australopithecus africanus, A. sediba, A. afarensis, A. garhi, A. boisei, etc. Early human interbreeding examples could be between Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus. The outcomes of this mixing of genes led to more intelligent hominid species and eventually to us as we are today, anatomically modern Homo sapiens.

Migration played a large part in allowing this interbreeding. Please see the bibliography for the fascinating studies on the potential migration of Homo species from southern Africa to East Africa and possibly even to northwest Africa (e.g., Morocco). They would have come across local closely related populations of hominids, and mating with them would have resulted in new species variants.

To an extent, even now, although all humans are alike genetically, migration provides opportunities for a wider variety of men and women to mate, and the resulting genetic variations are more significant than if populations were static. It naturally increases the chances of producing more intelligent and adaptable new generations of children.

Better lives for everyone

The largest class of migrants moves legally in skilled migrant quotas, as family members or by naturalisation as citizens after studying or working in the destination country. They have the innate drive to prove to themselves and others that it was a good decision. They strive hard to make a success of the significant transition they have made.

Immigrants bring enterprise and growth to the receiving countries, businesses and communities. They often add innovation and new ideas to stand out and succeed. These improve the previous inhabitants' lives (although it may not be evident, and they may remain hostile or only reluctantly accept the immigrants).

Economic benefits to the receiving countries are challenging to assess. Still, some studies show a 2 per cent rise in GDP per capita for every 1 per cent increase in the population from migration. It does not consider the higher impact in countries that systematically promote the immigration of highly skilled workers and clearly show more significant economic gains.

Besides economics, as the population of developed countries ages and the growth rate falls below replacement level, they need young migrants for care and essential work.

For the countries of origin, the capital sent back by their emigrants amounts to about 550 billion dollars annually. It is more than the foreign direct investments by multinationals in these countries and nearly three times greater than the cost of migration and services incurred by the migrants. This inflow significantly improves the economies of the countries of origin, and it reduces the push factors. The differences in living conditions and job opportunities between countries diminish, and the pressure on migration and numbers go down.

It is, of course, natural that we will be more welcoming of similar people. It comes from the innate instinct in us to group with similar life forms for greater survivability. But many people and countries have begun to accept that our differences are superficial and a multicultural society not only works but adds to everyone’s life and joy. The foods, festivals, clothes and customs of migrants add colour, variety and interest to a country. The benefits outweigh the initial apprehensions and frictions of adjustment.

Refuge

We, humans, are social life forms and possess empathy. We have an instinct to help other humans who are in distress. Unfortunately, war is a reality in our world. Whether wars are just or not, civilians suffer in every war-torn region of the world. And there are still far too many. They flee for their lives with the bare minimum possessions and as many together as possible. There are about 80 million refugee migrants worldwide. About 35M are children. Allowing them entry and giving them haven is the duty of every civilised society and country.

This form of migration is the most abject but also the most necessary. It should be allowed rapidly with the cooperation of nations. As we can expect, the conditions in which refugees live are miserable, rife with disease, sickness, malnutrition, insecurity and hopelessness.

Some refugees cannot return to their homeland in their lifetimes. Those who can be repatriated should be, and they must co-operate, for the burden of such a large number of migrants cannot be borne in a manner that will benefit them or the receiving state. Once the war ends, the originating country also needs them for its recovery, reconciliation and progress.

The dark side of migration

Of the approximately 275 million migrants worldwide, about 80 million are either refugees or displaced people, with about 35M being children. A few million are trafficked migrants.

Illegal immigration

Migrating to a country in violation of its immigration laws is common in many destination countries. Push factors in the originating region drive them, along with the migrants' inability to meet the criteria for legal immigration or fit within the annual quotas. Illegal immigrants face tremendous hardships such as lack of access to services, poor quality of life, living in constant fear of discovery and deportation, mental health issues, slavery, prostitution, crime, exploitation for cheap labour, kidnapping, and death. It is only for the desperate.

Local populations are also affected materially and in their attitude towards illegal migrants, and the effect can spill over into the mistreatment of legal immigrants from the same origin.

Some of the destination countries most affected by illegal immigration are India, Russia, the USA, UK, Germany, and Brazil. The total number of illegal immigrants across the world could be about 35 to 40 million. Illicit and undocumented migration is an ongoing humanitarian crisis that is difficult to address due to the macroscopic factors that cause it.

Human trafficking

At least illegal immigrants are choosing to break the law and enter or overstay in a country. Human trafficking is an entirely different problem. About 40 million people have been forced, threatened or deceived within their own country or moved to another for sexual exploitation or use as cheap or slave labour. Some are even trafficked for their organs.

It is difficult to estimate migrant numbers resulting from trafficking due to its clandestine nature, but it would be several million. It is hard to believe that this is still possible and shows how much of a dark side exists in humankind.

Discrimination and separateness

If the religion of the immigrants is different from those of the majority of locals, it can cause open or hidden discomfort. Racial differences also cause misgivings, even now. The higher income and education observed in specific immigrant communities can be causes for feelings of unfairness and dislike.

One of the worst outcomes for immigrants and the previous inhabitants of an area is their physical separation into enclaves, divided by one or more of the above differences. Without assimilation, misconceptions and misgivings do not go away, and we do not benefit from the full potential of the migrants.

The exclusion of outsiders is a natural part of the human psyche, both individually and as a group. Bigotry is a persistent feature of humanity. Migrants become easy targets for its worst forms — racial and religious. When it combines with resentment of the migrants taking up jobs and utilising public services, it can turn into active hatred and aggression.

Exploitation

A part of the migrant population is highly educated and skilled, with median incomes above the destination country’s average. But there is a large class of legal immigrants and refugees who are taken advantage of for their willingness to take up menial, low-paid and unsavoury work. Many of them work in difficult conditions and for long hours.

It is particularly true for those who live in destination countries solely on work permits for years and decades without the option of becoming citizens. In such forms of migration, employers may take away the passports of the immigrant workers and effectively make them bonded labourers. When their movement and other freedoms are curtailed, it is equivalent to slavery.

Politics

Wherever there is a semblance of democracy and people vote, there will be politics to exploit them for what they are. There are two ways politicians exploit immigration. One sort tries to get the franchise of the original population by encouraging anti-migrant sentiment. The other tries to get the votes of the migrants (when documented and enfranchised) by making them promises of citizenship, jobs, cash or facilities. The former harms a country by creating division and a hostile environment. The latter is better but can equally cause resentment in the non-immigrant population and encourage illegal immigration to such countries.

Short-term adverse effects on countries of origin and destination

Despite our position that migration is a good thing for our species over a longer timescale, there may be periods when migration affects a country negatively.

The country of origin may suffer for the period when the outflow of skills and labour is higher than its economy could have used, and the inflow of capital is less than the loss of gross domestic product (GDP).

The destination country may be unprepared to process, absorb and provide services initially for the immigrant flow. It can lead to long waiting periods without work, shabby living conditions, social tensions, and other issues. The cost can be greater than the contribution of the migrants in this period. There can also be an environmental impact due to the over-burdening of the land, water and other natural resources.

Morality and ethics of migration

While life on the planet was scanty and after global catastrophes and mass extinctions, there were vast areas for species to explore, exploit and evolve. But now, we are in a stable geological period with a proliferation of species and a large human population.

The Life Instinct causes those who arrived somewhere earlier to think of it as their own and try to keep out further immigrants. But there are no original inhabitants. Initially, there were no life forms in any place on earth. And there are no species that evolved while rooted to one spot, to be considered its first and forever owners.

We have to accept the reality of countries and states for their utility in planning, governance and self-defence. If all regions and countries were well developed, peaceful, democratic and guaranteed essential freedoms, there would be less pressure on people to seek better conditions elsewhere. But this is not likely for centuries yet, seen from the early part of the twenty-first century.

It is difficult for modern politically divided areas to accept uncontrolled immigration. The Life Instinct dictates that if a group or individual has created better conditions for life in a region, it will also try to maintain it and guard it. Naturally, once other groups observe that it is significantly better for life, and the difference is sufficient to overcome barriers to moving, they will want to relocate there. If the pressure on the destination's resources is not enormous, the earlier inhabitants may accept the newcomers until shortages emerge.

We have seen the great benefits and few problems of migration. It has been integral to our existence, and we would be poorer if we were to eliminate it or attempt to do so. So how do we balance the need to exchange people permanently between countries while ensuring it is healthy for them and those settled for a generation or more?

We will construct a foundation on which our thinking about right attitudes, behaviour and actions can firmly stand.

Foundational facts and positions

From the viewpoint of the Life Instinct, the essential features of life become its rights if we allow that life is a chance but specific formulation of matter, and we have no reason to let it die out or destroy it. Our innate characteristics become the following claims:

• We have the right to live.
• We have the right to live well.
• Every fertile part of the Earth can provide for a certain number of plants and animals, including humans. Until we reach that number, sharing it with newcomers is ethical in the context of the Life Instinct. It should also translate into an internal feeling of goodness (i.e. morality) if we place ourselves in the immigrant's shoes.
• There is a limited amount of unpopulated area left to move into. Sharing land, water and other resources of a region to an extent and working on them together is the way our Life Instinct delivers progress for all of us.
• Migration supports the survival of the fittest and strengthens the species. It has improved the condition of humanity on the whole in evolution and history. (E.g. the migrant colonisation of America.)
• As a species, migration is a necessity for humanity’s continued improvement.
• For an individual or family, migration may be a necessity or a choice.
• Family is indispensable for human well-being. Migration has to take family togetherness into account.
• A borderless world is not possible, not where we are in our evolution.
• Countries will always have different natural resources and human skills.
• Even if the world becomes uniformly wealthy, there will be a need to exchange humans as resources between regions.
• Migration can be both organic and systematic.
• A human has a right to belong to more than one place, free to move between them if there is no harm to either. It is sound for our well-being and value to society.
• Migration has an environmental impact at source and destination, and when the net effect is negative, it makes many lives worse.

Ethical and moral guidelines

The benefits to humanity through migration need not be at the expense of the minority if we apply our intelligence well. (E.g., we could have avoided the decimation of natives that occurred in America and Australia.)

Now that we have our natural foundation, we can lay guidelines for the migrants, countries involved and international bodies.

For the migrants

1. In migrating, we will not harm anyone in our country of destination or origin.
2. We will assimilate well with the local majority population by choosing mixed neighbourhoods and local education norms, work, communities, cultural events, and customs.
3. We will learn the local language if we don’t know it. The more fluent and close we are in idiom and accent to the local people, the better we will fit in.
4. We will maintain our original identity if we wish to while assimilating and following local laws.
5. We will be good citizens of the country we move to, allegiant and loyal to it.
6. We will legally help others migrate who wish or need to.
7. We will help our country of origin in legal ways.

For the receiving state and community

1. Migration will be based on a balance between the rights and responsibilities of the migrants and the receiving populations.
2. Migration will balance the needs of businesses with the well-being of the migrants and local populations.
3. Immigration rules will not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, sexual or other natural human differences.
4. Migration quotas and types will be decided based on economic, humanitarian and environmental impact.
5. Immediate family members will be a part of the immigration planning. They will not be excluded based on age, sex, health or skills.
6. Businesses will not curtail the freedoms of migrant workers.
7. Businesses will treat local and immigrant workers equally for employment, based solely on skills and market compensation.
8. We will not use immigration to take advantage of people for political, military, religious, racial, cultural, or other reasons.
9. Immigrants will not be discriminated against for being immigrants. They will be treated on par with the original citizens, and all public services, including healthcare and the justice system, will be available to them.
10. Those immigrants who give up citizenship of their country of origin will have no restrictions applied to them. They shall be treated on par with original local citizens, with the right to serve in the armed forces, own and work the land, vote, represent local communities, etc. The only restriction may be on standing for state and country government posts.
11. Legal immigrants will be protected against risks and dangers at origin, in transit and on arrival.
12. We will rescue illegal immigrants if they are at risk. We will not use excessive or lethal force to prevent their entry.
13. Illegal immigrants will be treated humanely and confined only for the period required to return them to their country of origin. They will be held separately from criminals. Their children will be with them, and the holding facilities will be pleasant.
14. Immigrants who are not yet citizens may have committed crimes in the country of origin, asking for their return. In that case, they shall be sent back to be handled as per the laws of the originating country and international legal agreements.
15. Human trafficking and other illegal migration modes shall be reduced actively, with the help of international organisations and countries of origin and transit.

For countries of origin

1. Illegal emigrants that the transit country or receiving country wish to return shall be accepted back.
2. The citizenship of those who emigrate will not be cancelled.
3. Legal emigrants will be protected against risks and dangers at the starting point and in transit.
4. They will advocate the interests and rights of our emigrant diaspora in transit and destination countries.
5. A returning emigrant will not be discriminated against for having emigrated.
6. Emigrants who have not become citizens abroad and indulge in criminal behaviour in a destination country that asks for deportation shall be accepted back and handled as per the laws of the originating country and international legal agreements.
7. Push factors will be reduced, and pull factors created within the country so that fewer people need or wish to leave. It will utilise human capital more effectively and with less uprooting and risks.
8. Human trafficking and other illegal migration modes shall be reduced actively, with the help of international organisations and transit and destination countries.

For transit countries

1. Legal migrants shall be treated humanely, aided and protected, with the help of the countries of destination, origin and international bodies.
2. Illegal migrants shall be turned back or discouraged actively from arriving.
3. Illegal immigrants will be treated humanely and confined only for the period required to return them to their country of origin.

For world bodies

• We need to study migration systematically in all its aspects — economic, individual, social and ethical. The UN International Organisation for Migration has been established for this. It should be adequately funded and supported by all countries, business interests and non-governmental organisations.
• Migrant, local and refugee community representatives will be involved in the decision-making in all concerned countries and bodies.
• We will manage migration based on a balance between the rights and responsibilities of the migrants and the receiving populations.
• Migration will balance the needs of the source and destination countries.
• Assessing the net impact on the environment due to migration will play a significant role in planning and management.
• Transit countries will be supported legally, economically, and for security and safety by the governments of origin, destination, and the UN IOM.
• It will be legal for humans to live in any part of the world if they meet the criteria of the countries of destination and origin and international laws.
• Multiple citizenships will be promoted for the betterment of the world.
• Refugees need special treatment. They are among the most unfortunate members of humanity. It is in everyone’s interest to address the root causes of displacement due to war and ecological deterioration. All nations must support the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other refugee organisations for our common good.

Conclusions

Life needs movement, small and big. We have to constantly find and use what’s better to stay alive and keep growing. We cannot suppress our mobility without taking something vital out of humanity.

Let’s recognise migration's inherent goodness and value and its glorious exploration and churning that make the world healthy, vibrant and progressive.

© 2020 Shashidhar Sastry. All rights reserved.

(As each chapter of the book is published, its link is updated in the ToC below.)

Table of Contents

Part I Metaphysics of The Life Instinct

Part II Philosophy of The Life Instinct

Part III The Life Instinct and The Future

Join my email list? — it’s easy to unsubscribe if you change your mind.

There’s more for you at quality-thinking.com.