Immigration - new material (79)
01 November 2005
"Salud mental e inmigración" [Mental health and immigration], Mugak, n.32 July-September 2005, pp. 59, (6 Euros). This issue looks at the mental health disorders that are experienced by a growing number of migrants (most notably Ulysses' syndrome, aka Syndrome of Immigrants with Chronic and Multiple Stress disorder), as well as events in the border region of the North African Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. The enclaves produced "images that are too strong for our stomachs [to bear]". The editorial is entitled "Paying the executioner" in reference to Spanish and European pressure on, and funding for, Morocco to take care of the enclave problem. This has seen Morocco resort to its "sadly famous" security forces and army, the shooting of six migrants in Melilla and the abandonment of hundreds in the desert where many died. "But well", the author ironically concludes, "now it is others who are in charge of the massacre. Now we can sleep better". Another essay analyses the mental disorders that migrants are suffering as a result of their journey, because "Today, migrating is becoming, for millions of people, a process that involves such intense levels of stress that they surpass human beings' ability to adapt". Available from: Centro de Estudios y Documentación sobre racismo y xenofobia, Peña y Goñi, 13-1_- 20002, San Sebastián.
Making the City Work: low paid employment in London, Yara Evans, Joanna Herbert, Kavita Datta, Jon May, Cathy McIlwaine & Jane Willis. Queen Mary, University of London, 2005 (ISBN 0-902-23818-3), pp 37. This report examines four sectors of the London economy (hospitality work, home care, food processing and contracted cleaning) and concludes that the overwhelming majority of London's low paid workers are migrants. It found that 90% out 341 randomly selected low paid workers who were interviewed were born outside of the UK; they earned less than one third of the average earnings in London. The report also found that half of the workers do not get annual pay increases; half of them work unsocial hours and 70% have no access to a pension scheme. The report also found that, contrary to popular opinion, 94% pay tax and national insurance while only 16% claim any kind of state benefit: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/Report2.pdf
"Nodi e snodi. Progetti e percorsi di integrazione degli stranieri immigrati", Rita Bichi & G. Giulio Valtolina. Fondazione ISMU, Iniziative e Studi sulla Multietnicità, pp.227, July 2005. This study looks at the different stages involved in migration, from the initial decision to emigrate to the ways in which migrants structure their daily existence, seek to fulfil their needs and overcome the obstacles they face with regards to employment, housing and documents; it also examines how migrants interact with the host society and its institutions, as well as networks of fellow migrants on their arrival. A number of interviews with migrants are included, and the authors draw up a useful table in which they identify up to eight key stages during this process, and analyse the different options that are open to, and adopted by, migrants, in key moments when they must make decisions that have important implications. Available from: Fondazione ISMU, Via Copernico, 1 20125 Milano.
"The Tenth Italian report on Migrations 2004. Ten Years of Immigration in Italy", Fondazione ISMU, Iniziative e Studi Sulla Multietnicità, pp.290, July 2004. This report traces the evolution and characteristics of immigration to Italy over a ten-year period. It includes a wealth of data and statistics as well as examining developments in fields including law, labour, schooling, health, housing crime and "deviance", and community trends and the attitudes towards immigration in Italian society. Significant issues that are raised include strategies for managing migration (from amnesty to regularisation, bilateral agreements, border checks and rejections), shifts in employment patterns, housing (f