No Borders and Binaries

Want a good, steady and stable job with great benefits? Head for the border!

Border Patrol agents earn at least $36,000 to start and $70,000 within three years.

ON THE WEB Information on becoming a U.S. Border Patrol agent: www.borderpatrol.gov

“There’s no chance of layoffs, especially with the way the world is going right now. It’s steady work,” said Steven Passement, 39, who has been an agent for 12 years.

Agents must be willing to spend their first three years along the nation’s southern border in Texas, New Mexico, California and Arizona. Their work involves catching illegal immigrants, terrorists and drug smugglers.

Later, agents can transfer to jobs in areas including the coastline or Canadian border, Passement said.

The Minutemen*, ALIPAC* and other nativists* that ‘copy-n-paste’ their hate speech all over the web, especially about those ‘illegal aliens taking their jobs’ should jump at this opportunity! According to the Border Patrol, they are looking to add 2000 more border patrol agents by the end of the year — if you believe in the ‘border fence’ and restrictive immigration policies, why are you still reading this?

APPLY TODAY!

* Might be ineligible prima facie due to lack of aptitude and fitness. The process includes filling out an online application and taking a 30-minute practice test to help recruits prepare for the real entrance exam, which takes 41/2 hours, with only a 40 percent passing rate. The physical test involves 25 sit-ups and 20 push-ups, each within a minute, and a five-minute test on a stair climber. Those who are accepted go to 55 days of basic training in New Mexico. If they don’t speak Spanish, they must take a 40-day crash course.

I think that is what kills the deal for the poor nativists–they still have to learn Spanish for their ‘perfect’ job.

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Fox News would like you to think so as would The Examiner and countless other anti-migrant sites that we won’t bother mentioning here.

Alas, a new study by the Public Policy Institute of California proclaims,

Medi-Cal patients are more likely than uninsured or privately insured Californians to visit hospital emergency departments for conditions that could be treated in a clinic or doctor’s office.

And (drumroll, please)

immigrants are not crowding the state’s emergency rooms – in fact, foreign-born Californians who are not U.S. citizens are among the least likely to seek treatment in the ER.

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The Population Reference Bureau just released the annual World Population Data Sheet. The report claims that the inequality in population and health profiles between rich and poor countries is widening.

While I find macro and meta-narrative style studies overly generalizing and notwithstanding unforeseen phenomenons, there is some truth to the claim that in the coming future, wealthier nations will experience population growth mostly through immigration while population growth would be centered largely in countries that are poor. The demographers and world-ranking scientists in population studies won’t admit this, but Karl Marx developed a theory that correlates to these findings.

In his debate with Thomas Malthus, Marx argued that for the bourgeoisie, the number of children reproduced depended on the optimal number required to carry on the capital accumulation process, whereas the proletariat would reproduce in large numbers to gain more control over the only means of production that they owned: labor. You can read more on the Marx-Malthus debate here.

Obviously, capital is not the only driving force of history and the bourgeoisie/proletariat dichotomy is not as clear-cut across countries. However, richer countries, on average, tend to be consumer societies especially as production is increasingly deterritorialized and dematerialized, requiring them to reproduce less for survival.
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There is this great Pakistani song titled “Yeh Hum Nahin” meaning “This is Not Us” as in “We are not Terrorists”–a truly great message. Here is a subtitled version:

Anyway, I was reminded of that song as I discovered a surprisingly good editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this past weekend. It pretty much asks Americans to discard the stereotypical images of Muslims, especially American Muslims, as robotically praying people.

In television land, it always seems to be prayer time for Muslims. Every mention of Islam evokes rows of men bowing toward Mecca, rising and falling in robotic unison.

So pervasive is this image that many Americans think Islam alone defines the attitudes and actions of all Muslims, even those in the United States. By extension, many fear that all Muslims are a threat to U.S. democracy. We see this manifested in the hostile reactions to the persistent — and false — rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim.

These attitudes cripple our debates over immigration, law enforcement, education and foreign policy. They also hide the fact that U.S. Muslims are a constituency up for grabs in the November election. Electoral swing states such as Michigan, Ohio and Virginia all have significant Muslim populations. And on some hot-button cultural issues, Muslim Americans could potentially be a strong ally to the Christian right.

If that seems improbable, think again. As a professor of sociology who studies U.S. Muslim assimilation patterns, I have analyzed numerous nationwide polls of American Muslims on a variety of topics, ranging from their satisfaction with American society to their opinions on U.S. foreign policy to their attitudes on abortion and the environment. U.S. Muslims are a diverse, well-informed group; in fact, they are the most ethnically diverse Muslim population in the world. They come from more than 80 countries on four continents. Most are not Arab. Not all are immigrants. None are Barack Obama.

One-fifth are U.S.-born black Muslims (mainly converts), and a few are U.S.-born Anglo and Hispanic converts. The vast majority of Muslim immigrants have lived here 10 or more years, and they resemble the general U.S. population in their socioeconomic status. Most are employed, a quarter have a bachelor’s degree or higher and a quarter earn $75,000 a year or more.

U.S. Muslims are also like most Americans in another important way: They are not uniformly religious. Nearly half — 46.7 percent — attend a mosque seldom, never or only a few times a year. About one-fourth go weekly, and one-third go more than once a week, proportions similar to those of U.S. Christians and Jews. Like these other groups, U.S. Muslims range from ultra-conservative to ultra-liberal and from devout practicing believers to secular, non-practicing, in-name-only Muslims. More Christians say they pray daily — 70 percent to 61 percent — than do U.S. Muslims.

Like most Americans, U.S. Muslims are generally not activists. Just as regular church and synagogue attendance correlates with higher political activity for U.S. Christians and Jews, so does regular mosque attendance for U.S. Muslims. Even among the devout, however, there’s a sharp distinction between being a good Muslim and being an Islamic fundamentalist.

The elements that tell us how U.S. Muslims will behave politically are the same ones that predict the political attitudes and involvement of other Americans. People with more education, higher incomes, more group consciousness and more feelings of marginalization are the most likely to be politically active because they feel they have more at stake.

Many U.S. Muslims are immigrants and not yet eligible to vote. Only 63 percent are registered voters, compared to the U.S. average of 76 percent. But they are slightly more likely than most citizens to have contacted a politician and, like other racial and ethnic minorities, are a bit more likely to be Democrats.

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The IOC is threatening Pirate Bay for allowing users to share (upload and download) videos of the Beijing Olympics and is especially concerned that videos of the Closing Ceremony would be up shortly after the event.

If IOC thinks it can prevent technologically-equipped people from catching highlights of the Olympics by launching threats at top torrent sites, it should think again. Just by filing a complaint with the Swedish government–the country where Piratebay is based–it has alerted thousands more people to the availability of Olympics coverage on the web. BRAVO!

For millions of people in the world, the only [affordable and convenient] way to watch the Beijing games is via the web. And Youtube has not been friendly about this, erasing even 30 second videos of the games (although it did stand up to the IOC regarding protest videos by Students for a Free Tibet - Why would the IOC file a DMCA claim against this anyway)? This censorship is directly contrary to the spirit of the Olympic games that supposedly reflect unity and our mutual inter-relatedness, the five rings signifying the five different continents. Online file-sharing only helps to promote that but of course the IOC is more concerned with making money through licensing.

In light of the censorship on popular sites like Youtube, sports fans have turned to torrent sites like Piratebay, Mininova and Demonoid. And even if you get NBC coverage in America that is poor and substandard with unbearable commercial breaks, you are better off watching coverage on Eurosport than tolerating the sour, judgmental, Phelps-obsessed American commentators.

You can show your support for Piratebay here.

While you are at it, check out this related post.

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I mentioned earlier that the computer-generated 55-second video footage of giant fireworks on film at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was pure simulacrum–with no relation to ‘reality.’ It turns out that there was more “staging” than meets the eye at the 2008 Beijing games.

First, a 9-year old lip-synced the song “Ode to the Motherland” because the original singer was not considered pretty enough.

Then, we had reports of a pre-recorded “live” fireworks display as aforementioned.

Chinese officials also admitted to deploying cheer squads (legions of spectators wearing matching yellow shirts) to ‘create’ atmosphere and hide the empty seats. (Why were there empty seats at this major world spectacle? We will come back to this point soon).

Now Beijing officials are admitting that children dressed in different ethnic costumes in China who carried the Chinese flag were not actually from those ethnic groups.

And all the while, the CCP has cracked down on Olympics piracy–the sale of ‘inauthentic’ Olympic gear. In order to move away from the perception of China as a “low class pirating country” according to CNN,

On April 26, World Intellectual Property Day, cities across China demonstrated the country’s commitment to quashing piracy by staging public exhibitions and destroying pirated goods.

This is the essence of hyper-reality, the fake crackdowns on pirated goods (the brand names also representative of nothing) to allude to a China that is indeed unreal; it does not exist.

Maybe these reports do not bother average viewers who understand that they are consuming images that are not necessarily representative of reality.  And this post is by no means condemning China for “faking” the Olympics–that would be far too juvenile and hypocritical and I will leave that to the Orientalists and hate-mongers.

In ‘postmodern’ society, the simulated copy has preceded the real and while I am not asserting like Jean Baudrillard did that “the real no longer exists,” I do hold that the mass profusion of images for consumption–the systemic act of the manipulation of signs–play a major role in masking and convoluting our perceptions of reality.

The most disturbing part of the Olympic spectacle does not have to do with the 55 second CGI, lip-synching or child actors; it has little to do with the spectacularly grand banquet of scrolls, drums, processions, songs and dances that were supposed to reflect 5000 years of Chinese civilization. This hyper-reality and idealized transposition blanketed the ‘real’ people of China, the people that would ideally occupy those empty seats, the ones in rural areas who would never even see the games but have their land taken away in an attempt to create the facade, those that toiled behind the scenes to make these Olympics a success, the ‘undesirables’ that China was all too eager to eliminate from the screens before the games begun even while appearing to extoll the values of its own historical laboring past and present during the staged simulation.

The migrant laborers that toiled hard with little-to-no legal and health protections, and built the Bird’s Nest are nowhere to be seen. They came, they built, and they left knowing that they would never have access to the amazing sites that they have put together, that the world may never recognize their amazing feats and reward them with medals. After all, we are glued to our screens watching and applauding people running, swimming, cycling and jumping for medals, sponsorships, and fame. But the true achievers are the migrant workers, the unsung heroes who made these games possible.
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The Times of India reports:

BEIJING: In a perfect world, Raj Bhavsar should have won an Olympic medal for India. Instead, the gymnast did America proud in Beijing. The 28-year-old Houston lad, born to Gujarati parents Bob and Sue, was part of the sixmember American men’s team which won the bronze medal in artistic gymnastics in the Beijing Olympics here yesterday.
Bhavsar thus became the second Indo-American gymnast, after Mohini Bhardwaj, to win an Olympic medal. Mohini was part of the American women’s team which won a silver in Athens. Bhavsar proved third time lucky after twice coming close to make it to the Olympic team in Sydney and Athens. It was only a fortnight ago that he got a call-up to fill the void created by Paul Hamm’s injury and Bhavsar finally had his day under the sun yesterday.
FAIRYTALE ENDING
“I’M SO grateful to everyone. This has been a fairytale. This medal represents the heart and soul of the team. No one thought we could win a medal together but deep down, we knew we could do it. This makes all the blood, sweat and tears worth it.
“Personally, I exceeded my own expectations and I think the team did so as well,” he gushed. PTI

A minor correction in the article–Alexi Grewal is the other Indian-American to have won a medal at the Olympics. Congratulations to Raj Bhavsar; I actually did see him perform and he kept American hopes alive where others fell short–a great team player.

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“I’m here and this is my dream. So it’s cool.”

Cejudo, crying the moment the match ended and wrapping himself in an American flag, defeated Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan 2-2 on tiebreaker and 3-0 in the best-of-three match.

He is the son of undocumented Mexican immigrants who bypassed college to pursue his dreams of being an Olympian and won the gold medal in the freestyle wrestling event–the first U.S. champion of the sport’s lightest weight class since 1960.

“He’s testament to the fighting spirit of America,” his coach Mike Duroe said. “This means so much to him. Gold medals are the American dream.”

At just 5-feet-4 and 121 pounds, Henry Cejudo is the the youngest of six children. The Denver Post reported on July 31:

Being the youngest, Cejudo said, “I always had to fight for things - blanket, remote control, food.”
In Phoenix, Cejudo remembers living in rough apartment complexes where crime was ever present, murders not unusual.
“I never forget where I come from,” he said. “The struggles, everything, I just use it as motivation.”
That fire comes out when he’s on the mat, even in a practice match here, where you can feel his intensity.
“You’re going to lose if you think you are,” he said. “I was always like that, ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always had that mentality.”

Organizations like Americans for Legal Immigration (a euphemism for Americans Against Latino Immigration), a site that advocates strict immigration levels, would also love to do-away with “birthright-citizenship,” which would have ripped a talent like Henry Cejudo from the United States. William Gheen does not care; for him, the issue is black and white:
“America and Spain are the only two countries left in the world that have birthright citizenship. And that is something that our organization and many others would like to see changed because of its wild and flagrant abuse by illegal aliens.”
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Too much of a good thing syndrome?

Congratulations to him though, for becoming the “greatest Olympian ever.”

However, I would like it if that label was used to describe winners of the decathlon event, all-round athletes, rather than someone participating in aquatic events differentiated by strokes and lengths.

I would also have preferred the newscasters to pay more attention to the 41-year-young miracle Dara Torres. Her gold medal and even the silver during the relay, is truly inspiring for all women! Too often, sports feats by men overshadow ones by women. Everyone is speaking about Michael Phelp’s record-breaking 14 gold medals but how many people know that a woman–Larissa Latynina of the former Soviet Union–held the previous record? And that her record of 18 Olympics medal is still unbroken?

Larissa Semyonovna Latynina (born December 27, 1934 in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR) is a Soviet gymnast who was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic golds. She holds the record for winning the most Olympic medals at 18 (nine gold medals, five silver and four bronze). After the 1966 World Championships she became a coach for the Soviet national gymnastics team, a position she held until 1977. She organized the gymnastics competition at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. During her life she was awarded with many noble honors, among them is the Olympic Order (silver) by the International Olympic Committee. In 1998 her name was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Anyway, not to take away from Phelp’s amazing feat, but winning the most number of medals hardly makes someone the “greatest” Olympian ever, especially in the age of revolutionary racing suits, training facilities, major endorsements that enhance quality of life and prolong careers.

I wonder what Jean Baudrillard would have thought of the entire Olympics spectacle this year; it is right up there with the epitome of hyper-reality, Disneyland. But namely the part of the Olympics that was computer-generated–the 55 second video footage of giant fireworks on film, drained of authenticity and meaning in the traditional sense. Our reality is so often derived from images that we see on screen and not from our own experiences that it is easy to distort reality. Anyway, this is not about to become a post that leads Neo into a room to choose a blue or red pill so I will spare you.

I know we have some DREAMer fans of Phelps. So here are some clippings I got just for you. You can find all the men’s swimming videos here and the women’s swimming links here.

For the Michael Phelps fans, you would most certainly love this article as well.

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Mumbai: Almost 150 years after the British enacted a law in India criminalising homosexuality, a rainbow coalition of lesbian, gay and transgender groups in the city came together on Saturday asking the British government to apologise for Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
“We invoke the Father of our Nation’s spirit and call on them to apologise for the legacy of hatred they left us in the form of Section 377,’’ said Manvendra Singh Gohil, the prince of Rajpipla, who issued a statement on behalf of the groups at one of the most well attended gay pride parades that the city has seen. “The idea of treating homosexuals as criminals was imposed on the more tolerant traditions of India and the Union government must abandon this abhorrent alien legacy of the Raj,’’he added.

This should come as vital insight for all those that purport the spread of “Western democracy, institutions and ideals” to the rest of the world. Often, you would hear the anti-migrant lobby, the neo-con developmentalists, and liberal feminists firmly asserting that the spread of democracy and “Western civilization” or values is vital to the promotion of human rights.

Sometimes, you even hear Indians say that British colonization helped to ‘modernize’ India and ended the caste system. Of course, not much is said about how the British CREATED the dowry system that the “West” now criticizes and sees as a part and parcel of Indian tradition. Self-proclaimed “Third World” feminist, Uma Narayan provides a great discussion on this in Dislocating Cultures, a must-read (and quite captivating) for anyone interested in these subjects.

My MA thesis was on decolonizing International Relations and specifically Fiji–how it is a failure of the colonial imagination, how the legal and political systems in postcolonial nations like India and Fiji are degenerate relics of colonial rule, how a colonial globality thrives today through the preservation of colonial structures, values and ideals in so-called ‘post-colonial’ nations.

Being anti-gay and banning ‘homosexual’ practices is indeed a legacy of British colonial rule. Despite the tolerance of homosexuality in ancient Hindu religious texts and culture (see here), what is shocking is that homosexuality is seen as a ‘Western affliction’ by a large segment of the Indian population-you cannot possible be gay if you are Indian (Remember the “BUT you are Indian” line from Bend it Like Beckham)? In effect, the historical memory of an entire colonized peoples was effectively erased and replaced with a colonial memory. When I was younger, I remember joking that “Western civilization” was an oxymoron.

So for all my desi friends, next time anyone points a finger at the ‘motherland’ or puts down our country or culture for not living up to ‘the largest democracy in the world’ label, just send them packing by citing how intolerance of homosexuality is actually a legacy of those very ‘Western’ ideals and values they hold so dear.

Disclaimer: This post is by no means in defense of how India has treated its homosexuals and minority populations. Nor do I mean to dichotomize West/East by using those binary terms or ‘blame the British’–that game is outdated. Obviously, India should repeal Section 377 not because it is a legacy of British colonialism, but because it is the right thing to do, period.

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