Not Welcome: A Critical Analysis of Ableism in Canadian Immigration Policy from 1869 to 2011

Wong, E. H. S. (2012). Not Welcome A Critical Analysis of Ableism in Canadian Immigration Policy from 1869 to 2011. Critical Disability Discourses/Discours critiques dans le champ du handicap, 4.https://cdd.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cdd/article/view/34877 A Foucauldian discourse analysis of Canadian immigration policies and state practices reveals the ableist foundations of the Canadian nation-state. Throughout much of Canadian history, people with disabilities have been excluded through the immigration system. People with disabilities are often times prohibited from obtaining legal status, and even when status is obtained, it is often marked with precariousness. In order to contextualize ableism in the immigration system, I argue that borders are socially constructed, serving to segregate the labour market and to create precarious circumstances for workers in the contexts of capitalism and neoliberalism. These foundations of the Canadian immigration system, which have existed throughout Canada’s history and can be seen in today’s policies, serve to pathologize, playing a major role in the […]

Football and Resistance

Anyone who knows me well, would’ve heard me harp on and on about how awesome football (soccer) is, and how we’re going to have a social revolution come out of the stadiums … And while I tend to exaggerate, once again, we hear news of the connections between football as a space for organizing and social change. This time, it’s Egypt. http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-01-31-596/index.html (via Ryan Hayes) Over the decades that have marked the tenure of Egypt’s “President for Life” Hosni Mubarak, there has been one consistent nexus for anger, organization, and practical experience in the ancient art of street fighting: the country’s soccer clubs. Over the past week, the most organized, militant fan clubs, also known as the “ultras,” have put those years of experience to ample use. And, it’s apparent that the Egyptian government and neighbouring governments have taken notice. The Egyptian Soccer Federation has suspended all league games, to prevent fans from […]

Choi Yuen (菜園村) Villagers Protest Eviction Plans, Continuing a Long History of HK Indigenous Resistance

Recently, there’s been news reports of confrontations between the police, security guards and demolition workers on one side, and villagers/outside solidarity activists on the other, in the village of Choi Yuen. A couple days ago, I posted an article on the loss of more rural villages in Hong Kong, as a result of urbanization and economic changes. However, this is not the case for all villages. Many villages continued to thrive and rely on farming, but they too are facing the same fate. But, instead of the village youth, attracted to employment in the city, migrating out, villagers face eviction by the state and private developers. In 馬屎埔 Ma Shi Po, private developers used loopholes to evict villagers. The village was slated for demolition, in order to implement the North East New Territories New Development Areas plan – a major infrastructure project for private housing development. Chan, an activist, explained […]

Right of Abode in Hong Kong Granted for Mainland-Born Children

For all its faults, the Hong Kong Catholic Church was pretty cool on this issue. A major issue of status in Hong Kong is that of Hong Kong families with children and spouses born in Mainland China. As a result of the one country, two system policy, (and colonialism .. and British immigration policy to ensure that there would not have been a ‘flood’ of Hong Kong people going to the UK) there are separate citizenship categories for those in the Mainland and those born in Hong Kong. Despite a Hong Kong supreme court ruling that children of Hong Kongers born in the Mainland should be granted Hong Kong citizenship in 1999, the Hong Kong government appealed to Beijing. Beijing ‘reinterpreted’ the law, indicating that the children would not be granted status in Hong Kong. By early 2002, thousands of Mainlanders and over 4,700 children faced deportation to the Mainland. […]

Rediscovering Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)

Rediscovering amazing Hong Kong public talk radio (rthk.hk). Haven’t listened to it for a long while. I used to listen to it almost daily, as it was on at home all the time. It’s surprisingly nuanced. In the last show, they spent a bunch of time interviewing and conducting phone-ins for the League of Social Democrats split and did a long interview with the spokesperson for the Choi Yuen Tsuen (Village) committee – villagers are protesting/blockading efforts to demolish their village for the construction of a new highspeed railway, seen by many in HK as paid by the poor, built for the rich. Will summarize some of the stories soon.

HK League of Social Democrats Split – Right-Faction Resigns

The League of Social Democrats, the left-most party in Hong Kong founded by Leung Kwok-Hung (affectionately known as ‘Long Hair’ for his refusal to cut his hair short until those that died during the Tiananmen Square Massacre are vindicated) and radio-host Wong ‘Mad Dog’ Yuk-Man has split after two of its legislators: Yuk-Man and Albert Chan resigned. They stated unfair accusations towards the rape allegations faced by Yuk-Man’s prodigy Yum Leung-Hin, in-fighting, and the lack of a strong response against the Democratic Party voting in favour of government proposed political reform, as reasons for their resignation. While, I am sure Beijing and Donald Tsang will be happy with this split, and on the surface it looks pretty damaging for the organized left, I am hoping that this will act as a positive impetus pushing the party further left and more grounded in building a democratic mass movement. The China Worker […]

Wary of ID Politics in Recent Campaigns

As I have communicated to others time to time,  I have been increasingly wary about campaigns in our community leaning increasingly towards ID politics and electoral politics. Here’s what I posted in response to someone asking about whose interest multiculturalism serves and how it enforces racism: The interests they serve are those in power: the privileged, the rich. As Bannerji so articulately explains in Dark Side of the Nation (much recommended to anyone interested in this question), Multicultural policies acts as a very effective way to co-opt and deflect social movements, and also to solidify broader power relations and power relations within our communities. What ‘multicultural’ represents is a definition of culture limited to specific essentializing/simplifying notions of art, food etc., the essense of our communities, its politics, its struggles are deflected. So, in response to accusations of racism, the state and racists respond ‘we love your food, we let […]

“Why do Chinese hate animals so much?” Racializing Discourse in Campaigns Against Shark Finning

I have come across a number of campaigns opposed to shark finning that specifically target Chinatown. For example, an event held in January was entitled “Shark March Through China Town”. In the description, it is stated that “Hong Kong is about 80% of the business for the Shark FIn Soup but YES it is Sold here in Toronto and Canada in the ‘Asian’ Restaurants” (my emphasis on the word Asia). I am very concerned about how the issue is being conceptualized. I am a strong believer in animal liberation and have been active in the movement in the past; however, the continued lack of an anti-racism, anti-oppression framework in much of the animal liberation/environmental movement had left me feeling alienated. An end to the trade in sharkfin is imperative. The act of cutting of fins and tossing sharks back in the water is atrocious and despicable. But the question is, […]