Further, migration fueled through economic, socio-political and/or climate crises has become even more difficult to manage as countries grapple with multiple and complex challenges. Yet migrants and refugees become easy targets and scapegoats as countries shore up national borders while relying on migrant labour and treating migrants as pariah and disposable. There is something here to be unravelled in the violence towards women and children and the violence towards migrants — entangled at the intersections of class, race and gender.
Meanwhile in Guyana, 26 Haitian women, men and children were detained after arriving on travel visas and being granted up to 6 months of stay. Officials initially claimed they were put into protective custody over fear of human trafficking (raising the question of why those defined as ‘vcitims’ would then be revictimized by detention?), even as the Haitians themselves have insisted that they entered legally and are not trafficked. Media reports that the Haitian children have been separated from their families. Activists and civil society organisations (from Guyana and across the region) have called upon the Government of Guyana to respond to requests for clarifications on this matter and urged sensitivity and compassion for Haitian migrants. Moreover, the separation of children from their parents is unacceptable, in the wake of horrifying news reports from the United States where thousands have been deported and hundreds of children have been not just separated from parents but also sexually and physically abused in detention centres. This inhumane treatment and violation of people’s human rights has become part of the xenophobic landscape and accepted treatment of migrants around the world.
Tourism and the outward migration of Caribbean people should have equipped us to accommodate persons migrating into our spaces. Yet migration remains a highly contentious issue in the region. While Venezuelans are hyper-visible in the current moment, they certainly are not the only migrants to experience xenophobia and deportation. Guyanese, Jamaicans, and Haitians are regularly singled out for deportation and unfair treatment across the region, in spite of CARICOM obligations and the CSME supposed freedom of movement and visiting visa agreements.
Ironically, we call out the mistreatment of Caribbean people as migrants in the Global North while ignoring or endorsing the similar inhumane treatment of migrants within our region. The contradictions and hypocrisy are clear when it comes to intra-Caribbean migration, particularly towards people from countries in the worst economic and political situations — historically this has been Jamaica, Guyana, and Haiti – and since 2014, Venezuela. Guyana as a neighbour of Venezuela also has its share of refugees and asylum seekers escaping political and socio-economic turmoil, now exacerbated by the pandemic. The response in this latest situation with Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago highlights another contradiction; while our own problems are cited as justification to not assist migrants and refugees, the Trinidadian state has done little to meaningfully address some of the same issues, in particular the alarming rates of gender based and other forms of structural violence.
Further, xenophobia becomes political and fueled during these already vexed times. The Opposition Leader accused the Prime Minister of allowing Venezuelans to enter Trinidad and Tobago in order to win more votes in elections, while the Prime Minister aimed his ire at the organisations demanding a more compassionate and comprehensive state approach to migration. The lack of leadership on both sides points to what lies at the heart of the migrant crisis: a lack of coherent and expert-informed action. With only short-term solutions, the response remains weak and without leadership to dispel the most common myths, many are using Global North narratives to frame their understanding. Every utterance of “they’re taking our jobs’’ should remind us that our claims to “sovereignty” are complicated and vexed through the failures of globalisation and capitalism, working class struggles, and foreign dependency. People’s fears and anxieties are understandable amidst layoffs, business closures, and economic uncertainty due to the pandemic. Yet we also know that migrant labour is relied upon as parts of informal and formal economies, and at the same time, the desire to move with freedom is a core concern and ought to be a right in our region.
Anti-migrant and xenophobic sentiments ought to be understood within the contexts of violence, economic insecurity, racial and class violence, and the continued assault on the lives of women and girls. Too often when we make these kinds of connections we are told, these are different and we must prioritise focus and deal with “local issues” first or “one issue at a time”. But we do not live single issue lives, as the Black feminist poet Audre Lorde reminds us. It is important to connect the tangled webs of intersecting violences — the lack of value we place on poor lives, migrant lives, Black lives, LGBTQI lives, women’s lives and children’s lives, all of which are rooted in historical legacies of colonial violence and racism.
In recognising the role of culture and popular thought in challenging both gender based violence and xenophobia, organisations in Trinidad and Tobago have been creating spaces for public education. One of those spaces took the form of a social media campaign by the intersectional feminist organisation WOMANTRA called “Thrive Together – A Refugee Rights campaign” (you can find this on Facebook/Instgram @holeishole). The project searches for common ground between the Trinidadian and Venezuelan migrant communities and addresses a problem that both communities face: Gender Based Violence. In order to highlight this intersection, “Thrive Together” uses vibrant graphics that explain our shared history, language, and culture, including our shared culture of machismo. Xenophobia has resurfaced at various points of our history: before the Venezuelans, recently-migrated Chinese persons were the subjects of xenophobic ire, and before that, Guyanese and Grenadians. The campaign highlights and explains the specific vulnerabilities of migrant women to violence and exploitation in the larger context of this national (and indeed global) crisis of gender based violence.
Karyn Diaz is a Trinidadian scholar, writer, educator, and activist. She’s a graduate student at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, and Project Coordinator for the “Thrive Together: Refugee Rights Campaign” with WOMANTRA.
Comments
De oil money almost done Trinidad.
Now wait for many Trinis to smuggle themselves illegally into the ABCEU countries. There is no money to give to the Trinis and crime is terrible.
The bigots in Trinidad are nomadic people who have loyalty to their own people since the days of the British Raj. They are loyal to Asia and no one else.
Now look here—If Haiti discovered oil, many Trinis and Guyanese of PPP descent will overstay their tourist visa while being loyal to a foreign country.