immigration

"Vietnamese people are the largest immigrant community whose culture is not European. It is difficult to determine their number. It is currently estimated at 35 thousand. In Poland, which more frequently “sends” its citizens abroad than “welcomes” foreigners, the Vietnamese group attracts attention of scholars. What they find interesting is the manner in which Vietnamese people adapt to the Polish environment, diverse identity strategies of various groups, and the functioning of Polish-Vietnamese marriages. In the subject literature, it is highlighted that Vietnamese people usually enter the Polish community through group adaptation processes and, to a large extent, remain socially closed within their own ethnic group. Their social contacts with Poles are usually superficial and their cultural bonds with Poland are most frequently limited. Despite the above, there are Vietnamese immigrants who deeply relate to the Polish culture and have close relations with Poles, including Polish spouse."

"Currently, the Vietnamese community is the biggest non-European migrant population in Poland, with an estimated population of 50,000–80,000. The Vietnamese community has been part of Polish society for many generations, and to this day Poland continues to be an attractive destination for Vietnamese immigrants."

"Vietnamese immigrants began to arrive in Poland in the 1950s, initially on the basis of student exchanges. In the 1950s and 1960s, Vietnam favored fellow communist nations and rewarded students with good grades with the possibility of studying in Soviet countries. Upon finishing their studies, some former students decided to stay in Poland."

"Unlike the Vietnamese diaspora in the United States, who are often of refugee origin, the Vietnamese communities in Poland were formed of student exchanges mutually agreed between the two socialist countries. While it is common knowledge that the Soviet Union was Vietnam’s major economic benefactor in the 80s, the diplomatic relations between Poland, then a Soviet satellite state, and Vietnam are little known."

"On the other hand, Vietnamese people are "labeled" as not integrated very well, that is, slightly isolated from mainstream society. However, in light of recent migration issues in Europe, to Polish society, Vietnamese are seen as a good example of immigrants who work hard and push their children's education. Therefore, the view of the Polish people about the Vietnamese community here is generally very good."

"The Vietnamese have been present in Poland from the 1950s onwards and now have reached the second and third generation. The third generation is now also adults, they integrate well and adapt very quickly to Polish society. They also have a much better education than the average person in Polish society and find work in many fields."

"The Vietnamese in Poland are a very active minority. They have businesses, schools and temples. The noticeable majority of the Vietnamese in Poland deal with trade in clothes or restaurants."

"It seems that the Vietnamese have made their home in Warsaw for good. Today they are no longer perceived here as exotic guests from a distant country, but as a natural part of Polish society. Young Vietnamese are successful and became recognizable in Poland."

"In the last decade of the 20th century, the second wave of immigration from Vietnam began - mass and much more socially diverse. Due to the lack of knowledge of foreign languages ​​and Polish culture, this group of migrants, after arriving in Poland, needed the support of their compatriots who were already at home here. The new arrivals took advantage of family and friendly ties with the Vietnamese living in Warsaw and settled in their vicinity. Thus, hermetic Vietnamese communities began to form in Warsaw."

"Within only two months in Warsaw, the Vietnamese had provided Polish doctors with approximately 21,000 hot meals. In addition, the community joined the nationwide action of sewing masks for doctors and donated protective masks, latex gloves and disinfectant fluid to hospitals and other public institutions. A shipment from Vietnam was also organised, containing a large number of SARS-Cov-2 virus detection tests, protective suits and disposable gloves. These activities were particularly intensified during the worst waves of infection: initially in the spring and then again in the autumn of 2020. During the first wave the actions were spontaneous, while during the second they were more organised."

"Against the common belief, the Vietnamese do not want to be isolated from Poles. The difficulty in the assimilation process is caused mainly by the poor command of Polish and the lack of time. Young immigrants who speak Polish, are willing to present their culture to Poles. They organise various artistic, social and cultural meetings. Maybe these activities will make Poles know the Vietnamese better and will make them see the advantages of mutual cooperation. This is especially important to Polish businessman."

"In recent years, the pattern of illegal immigration from Bangladesh has changed in that Muslims have been infiltrating in large numbers. In fact, Muslim infiltrators... now far outnumber the Hindu immigrants."

"The Hindu immigrants have been generally staying in shanties in miserable conditions.... The Muslim infiltrators have fanned out to urban areas in other states most notably in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra etc. In the metropolitan cities of Delhi and Bombay not less than 4 to 5 lakh Bangladeshi Muslims have been residing."

"The influx in cetain cases, has changed the demographic character .... Its serious religious and cultural dimensions are being increasingly felt in the states of West Bengal, Tripura and Bihar.... The simmering communal tension in some of the border areas is one of the manifestations of the effects of large scale illegal migration of Bangladeshi nationals who have slowly displaced or dispossessed the local population, particularly those belonging to the Hindu community, in these areas."

"It would be interesting to note that a group of intellectuals in Dacca is seeking to legitimize the migration of Muslims into the adjoining areas of North East region by invoking the theory of Lebensraum or living space."

"The infiltrators are not only by minorities of Bangladesh but also from the majority community Muslims. In absolute terms, the number of Muslims crossing into India is likely to much larger than that of non-Muslims."

"With the steep fall in the numerical strength of the religious minorities, there is, however, a qualitative change in the causes of migration. Riots and killings have yielded place to other means of oppression. Minorities today find that they are seldom able to protect their faith, property and women. Reports of forced marriages and conversions have been pouring in. With the Muslim population growing at a faster rate, there is a rising pressure on land and minority properties are the obvious targets. Even temple lands are not being spared. Certain iniquitous laws in force like the Vested Properties Act and the enemy Properties Act are handy weapons to deprive the minorities of their properties."

"During my 2014 fact-finding trip to Assam, locals frequently impressed on me how they believe the influx of “infiltrators” from Bangladesh is not only changing Assam’s culture, ecology, and demographics; they also are building support for radical Islam inside the state. I have been tracking the demographic change in West Bengal for almost a decade and have seen village after village on the border with Bangladesh, formerly with robust Hindu and Muslim populations, become entirely Muslim, the Hindu population having been forced to leave. The growth of Islamism in West Bengal through the influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh is well-documented."

"This country is not a dharamshala that anyone can come and settle down here."

"Unlike the BJP, the Congre­ss (I) views both Hindus and Muslim from Bangladesh as in­filtrat­ors."

"The Hindu population in East Bengal had declined from 33% in 1901 to 28% in 1941. It fell to 22% by 1951 due to the Partition and the post-Partition exodus, and to 18.5% in 1961. By 1971, it had fallen to 13.5%, partly due to the 1971 massacre by the Pakistani Army, partly due to intermittent waves of emigrati­on. The 1981 figure was 12.1%. In 1989 and 1990, due to "large-scale destru­ction, desecration and damage inflic­ted on Hindu temples and religious institutions", "clandestine migrat­ion­­­ by the Hindus to India went up"."

"Immigration from Bangladesh is of two types. Firstly there are members of the minority communities fleeing occasional waves of per­secution or the more general sense of being second-class citiz­ens under the Islamic dispensation. Few Hindus would disput­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­e their right to settle down in India. Secondly, there are Mus­lims seek­ing econom­­ic oppor­tunities or sheer living space, which dirt-poor and inten­sely overc­rowded Banglad­esh cannot offer to the ever-larger num­bers of newcomers on the hous­ing and labour market... The BJP argues that refugees from persecution and illegal economic migrants merit a different treat­ment, as is assumed in the arrangements for refugee relief of most countries... Terminology is a part of the problem here, with secularists systematically describing Hindu refugees as "migrants" if not "infiltrators", and Muslim illegal immigrants as "refugees"."

"When Kashmiri Hindus have to flee their homes after reading open threats in the Urdu papers and seeing relatives butchered, they are called "migrants"; but when Bangladeshi Muslims terrorize their Hindu neighbours and then migrate from their Islamic state to India in search of job opportunities, they are called "refugees". This type of inversion of word meanings is part of a wider mind-set of mendaciousness expressed through more ordinary lies, often of breathtaking effrontery."

"Following large-scale destruction on Hindu temples and religious institutions for four days between 30.10.90 and 2.11.90 ... clandestine migration by the Hindus to India went up."

"The story of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is one of the most tragic episodes in recent history. Once inhabited by tribals, this beautiful land has been substantially captured by the Muslims. Between 1979 and 1984 the Government settled about 4 lakh Muslims in the CHT area. [... it] led to clashes and protracted armed resistance by the major tribal group - the Chakmas. In this explosive situation, the regime sought a military solution and thousands of refugees crossed over to India. In 1974, there were 5.08 lakh people in the CHT area. .... The threats to the ethnic identity and culture as well as their land were evident."

"There is a direct correlation between the rise of fundamentalism and increase in influx."

"Meanwhile, running counter to all the grandiose plans for German colonization of foreign living space, the insatiable demand for labour of the Third Reich's military-industrial complex and the conscription of a rising share of able-bodied Germans into the armed forces meant that Germany itself began to be 'colonized' by foreign workers. The number in the Reich rose from 301,000 in 1939 (less than 1 per cent of all employees) to around two million in the autumn of 1940, to more than seven million by 1944 - nearly a fifth of the workforce. They came from all over Europe, some voluntarily, others under duress: from Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland and Italy; from Hungary and Yugoslavia too. At first, it was skilled workers from Western Europe who were attracted by the rapidly growing German economy; the men who built the road to the Eagle's Nest were in fact Italian stonemasons, willing beneficiaries of Hitler's boom. As the war wore on, however, it was Poles who came to predominate. Few of them came of their own volition."

"Already in September 1941 there were more than a million Poles working in the Reich, accounting for just under half the total foreign workforce. By July 1943 around 1.3 million workers, not including prisoners of war, had been sent to the Reich from the Government-General. There were soon more Poles in Germany than Germans in Poland. After 1941 they were joined by comparable numbers of Ukrainians and other former Soviet citizens. Many of these were women; in the autumn of 1943, there were 1.7 million female foreign workers employed in the Reich, most of them from occupied Polish or Soviet territory. Here was a headache for a regime that aspired to Germanizing Europe - an ethnographic Europeanization of Germany, a process in conflict at once with their own racial theory and with the sentiments of ordinary Germans."

"The 40-day lockdown was further extended at a time of sporadic expressions of resistance and anger by migrant workers in a few cities. Extreme precarity doesn’t have a singular expression. While some are responding with anger, others are responding with resignation. The severe distress among is not entirely by chance. It has been marinating for a while but the epic new scale has been manufactured due to the unplanned and unilateral decision of a lockdown taken by the prime minister. The arbitrariness and unpreparedness are evident from the confusing messages from the central government concerning transport for migrants. [...] Notwithstanding the confusing orders, the constant shuffling of travel modes and costs further expose the central government’s lack of empathy, thought and planning."

"The migrant worker distress has also exposed the inherent fractures of the “one nation” narrative that is one of the unique selling propositions of the BJP government. While it goes against the grain of the idea of India that has a rich tradition of pluralism, it is also meaningless from a governance standpoint. Migrant workers don’t carry their ration cards and so haven’t been able to avail of government rations in the states where they are stranded. The employers, s mostly, have largely abandoned them without paying them wages. Consequently, they are left to scrounge for food and are left without money. In many cases, they are stranded without knowing the local language. In this situation, it is the poorer state governments of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, etc. that have attempted to seek out “their people” stranded in richer states such as Maharashtra or Haryana and make cash transfers to their account. The economies of these richer states have benefited from the labour of migrants from the poorer states. However, the richer states have neither extended any financial support nor forced employers to pay wages to the workers."

"Barring examples from Kerala and Telengana, most host states have demonstrated disregard for migrant workers. It behooves the host states to care about the migrant workers not only from a humanitarian standpoint but also from the perspective of the health of the economy. On its part, the central government has maintained a calibrated silence regarding this. Monopolising decisions and socialising losses are not what federalism is supposed to mean. Therefore, it is time that the poorer states realise that the unilateral lockdown is not just an assault on the dignity of the poor, but also an economic assault on the poorer state governments. Further, there has been a concerted effort by the central government and some host states to hold the labour captive in the richer states by making transportation procedures unreasonable."

"India seems to have lost that urge to consistently relate to injustice as an assault on democracy. Be it plight of migrants or minorities, their failure to strike wider chord tells truths about us. [...] There was no public outcry over this human tragedy and the victims themselves chose to mostly suffer in silence. They may have grumbled, or cursed under their breath, but our democracy does not seem to have encouraged them to really assert or demand their rights."

"I wanted to document, somehow, the strength of those people that I had known . . . when the migrant worker was living without any kind of protection."

"…And I was only concerned about the migrant worker, the people I had known best. I had been a migrant worker. So I began to see that my role—if I want to call it that—would be to document that period of time, but giving it some kind of spiritual strength or spiritual history."

"Migrant workers, dismissed by employers, enjoying no protection from their governments, often thrown out of their accommodation by their landlords, in urgent need of food, transport and money, driven by desperation to walk home. It is a scene many have described as reminiscent of the migration at Partition. This is the outcome of the largest and one of the strictest lockdowns in the world enforced during the coronavirus disease crisis — a lockdown that has been widely applauded internationally. Why has the outcry against this suffering inflicted on men and women who are more than 90% of India’s workforce been so muted? It is, I believe, in part at least, because those in a position to raise their voices have not identified themselves with those who are suffering."

"Gautam Sen Jun 13 2020 Faltering India"

"Because of that law (Citizenship Amendment Act) these people had faith that we would come. What would have happened to these people if that law had not been there? Sometimes we politicise everything, this is not a matter of politics but a matter of humanity. Who could have left these people in that situation?"

"I wanted to meet the Sikhs who have come to India from Afghanistan and understand their issues. They have some problems regarding visas and citizenship. We will address the issues that they have discussed with us. Some people are still waiting to get their citizenship. We will provide all possible help regarding citizenship and visas. It is our responsibility to help them out."

"Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act;[101]"

"On humanitarian grounds, it is India’s moral duty to accommodate such people who have no place to go. I want to ask those who talk of minority rights, is it not our moral duty to provide a helping hand to persecuted minorities in our neighbourhood? We are concerned about all minorities who live there… whether Christians, Parsis, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists or Hindus. The atrocities against these minorities are forcing them to flee to India. This has been the situation since 1947. They have no rights. We will have to come up with a solution."

"“For them (opposition), they are Muslims. For us, they are all Indians. The Act does not affect any Indian.”... “I want to clearly state that with the CAA coming, there will be no impact on any citizen of India, practising any faith. CAA does not affect any Indian, it doesn’t harm minority interests,”... “Pandit Nehru himself was in favour of protecting minorities in Pakistan, I want to ask Congress, was Pandit Nehru communal? Did he want a Hindu Rashtra?” ... [much has been said about Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by those who] “love getting photographed with the group of people who want ‘Tukde Tukde’ of India.”... “There has been talk of ‘save constitution’. I agree, Congress should say this 100 times in a day. Maybe they will realize their past mistakes. Did you forget this slogan during emergency? When state Governments were dismissed? When cabinet resolutions were torn?”"

"An atmosphere of hate was systematically built up. The whole purpose of it was to suggest that only one community has a veto over decision-making in India."

"The facts here are very clear, but rest assured that they will be contested. Like most Hindu-Muslim riots, this riot started as a Muslim pogrom on Hindus, with some spectacular killings of Hindu policemen, but then Hindus started striking back, and ultimately the Muslim death toll surpassed the Hindu one. ... Major media have been caught in the act of fabricating fake news... Same manipulation in Wikipedia, which suppressed corrections; or how blatantly fake news was quickly turned into the received wisdom."

"There is nothing anti-Muslim about CAA but it is anti-Hindu not to recognize the suffering and oppression Hindus in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have had to endure, as well as the other religious minorities in these Islamic states."

"The 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act violates India’s international obligations to prevent deprivation of citizenship on the basis of race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin as found in the and other human rights treaties that India has ratified. The 1992 Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities calls on governments to protect the existence and identity of religious minorities within their territories and to adopt the appropriate measures to achieve this end. Governments are obligated to ensure that people belonging to , including , may exercise their human rights without discrimination and in full . Governments also have an obligation to ensure . To the extent that the process has a disproportionately harmful impact on the citizenship rights of women and girls, it also violates the ."

"The citizenship law and verification process are contrary to the basic principles of secularism and equality enshrined in the Indian constitution and in domestic law. Indian authorities should immediately reverse course and adopt rights-respecting laws and policies regarding citizenship. They should also uphold the rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly."

"I think it is, without exaggeration, probably the most dangerous piece of that we've had because it amounts to truly destroying the very character of the Indian state and the constitution. [...] Central to the idea was that your would be irrelevant to your belonging, and it's that which is being turned on its head. It's extremely worrying."

"What exactly did I say that Ankit Sharma was stabbed 400 times? Or that Shahrukh picked up gun and roamed about on the streets of Delhi? What made them collect petrol bombs and acid on the roofs? And more importantly, there are no riots when people chant ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ or ‘Afzal hum sharminda hai’, painting Khilafat 2.0 on Jamia walls is not considered provocative nor is giving a call to hit the streets. But my request to the police to get the road opened is considered provocative."

"I asked the ruling government in the Parliament whether they had the numbers or data to prove that there was pervasive persecution of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Sikhs, and Christians. Amit Shah said ‘lakhon-crorodon’ (lakhs and crores) – which is a very tall and unverified claim and not even remotely substantiated. I asked him for the exact number, broken down nation-wise between the three Islamic nations, and there was no answer given."

"A global coalition has unleashed a campaign to overthrow the elected government of Narendra Modi and prominent academics privately hint at the need for his removal, along with Home Minister, Amit Shah, by any means. These luminaries include some of the most celebrated Indian-origin academics in the world’s leading institutions, one of whom once proposed the ceding of J&K to Pakistan in the presence of the bureaucrat who went on to become India’s Prime Minister. The same academic advised the government of Tony Blair in London to refuse engagement with the Vajpayee administration after the 1998 nuclear tests. Some of these individuals are indubitably engaged with foreign security services of hostile countries and conspire with their arms-length intelligence operations through media assets in New York, Washington and London. Unfortunately, the narrative on India is completely beyond the sway of the Indian authorities and their official and unofficial spokespersons. The latter apparently have neither the intellectual skills to prevail in the deadly contest of fabricated insinuation nor the political will or means to gain access to major media outlets abroad. There can be no starker instance of the dismal situation than their total inability to refute the outrageous portrayal of India’s humane CAA legislation as discriminatory and unjust. The shocking intellectual nullity and illiteracy of the putative nationalist agents deputed abroad, many of them, it is suspected, compromised with foreign governments as well, is a cause for utter dismay."