GLOBAL ONLINE RALLY: COMMEMORATION OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY 2020
Nearly 200 peoples organizations, unions, and migrants rights defenders gathered for IMA'S Global Online Rally last December 17 to commemmorate the International Migrants Day 2020, December 18.
United in their call to fight for our rights, dignity, and the well-being of all, the 2-hour Zoom gathering bannered cultural performances, video presentations and speakers from the migrants movement all over the world that highlight the strenghtened solidarity among advocates in the midst of the worsening exploitation inflicted upon migrants, refugees and displaced peoples by host governments and that of their country of origin.
As migrants leaders shared statements that detail the institutionalized oppression of migrants, migrant workers who participated in the online rally on the other hand shared their own personal experiences of abuse under governments which are rooted in the monopoly capitalist structure.
The participants of the global online rally, unhampered by the language barrier as it translations were available, spoke in universality with their exploitative and vulnerable conditions as their common and persisting situation. This was given a clear picture by one of the speakers, Sring Atin of the Indonesian Migrants Workers Union, as she summarized the levels of abuse a migrant worker goes through in the pretext their social status. “Women migrant have it worse as they are discriminated not only because of their occupation, but also because of their being women which regarded as undeserving of equal, if not fair, opportunity given to her male migrant counterparts, who to begin with do not even receive humane treatment as it is," Sring Atin said.
While 2020 for all of us has been a great challenge, it is particularly a dehumanizing challenge for migrant workers, refugees, and displaced peoples due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With countries placed under lockdown, not only the movement of the people were curtailed but also their fundamental human rights. Because of their status and nature of work, migrant workers were put at greater risk of contracting and transmitting the coronavirus. They received little to nothing medical attention as the pandemic brought out the worst of racism and xenophobia in institutions that were supposed to attend to the welfare every person, regardless of race, gender, and social status. Unemployment, discrimination, and destitution abound as government negligence spread as fast as the virus itself all while their policies remain focused on profit alone.
Testimonials shared during the global online rally showed how migrant workers bear the brunt of the pandemic. According to Ali Akbar, a migrant ambassador from Bangladesh, he lost his job and his small business closed down due to the pandemic. He said that undocumented migrants have the most difficulty as they could not get support either from host country or destination country. They are not protected by existing laws and that's why even before the pandemic, they've been demanding for a) access to simple and migrant-friendly soft loans for migrants and their families; and b) for the (UAE) government to reduce fines and visa fees. Many working permits and visas of migrants have now expired and they cannot renew it. Many migrants face mental health problems due to not having work, staying at home, and not being able to earn. “The lack of support during the pandemic compounded the situations of migrants,” Akbar said.
The Global Online Rally, with COVID-19 as the newest burden on the backs of the working migrants shows once again how we need a new social and economic order where labour is employed to ensure the needs of everyone are fulfilled and that it continuously enhances the peoples' welfare, and with the environment placed as a priority and not just the security of a few. It demonstrated that we can go around a pandemic to express our outrage on the continuing negligence of governments without putting our health in peril. It demostrated that we will not be swayed by the governments' scapegoat to use the pandemic to limit our rights to movement and actions.
IMA's commemoration of this year's International Migrants Day, as it has always been in the past, is a reminder that those who benefit from the existing monopoly capitalist order and the institutions that serve them are the primary obstacles to our aspiration for a just world, and that we must not tire on our resolve to raise awareness and organize ourselves for us to see through this collective aspiration.