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Globalization and Migrant Labour Conference
Focus on South Asia
November 25-27, 2011
SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC
Coast Salish Territory
Globalization is a complex phenomenon grounded in the flow of capital, mainly from the North to the South, and the flow of labour, mainly in the counter direction. Within the global “South” there is a differential in development, with flows of capital within developing nations, and a flow of labour from the less developed to the more. Globalization is thus marked by an unprecedented migration of labour that is further distinguished from previous historical migrations by its largely temporary character. Migrant labour in the period of globalization is characterized by its total subservience to the needs of capital: its flow, its temporary character, and its conditions of existence are governed by the nation states to purely serve the interests of capital.
While Canada as one of the most developed nations of the global North exports capital both through direct investment abroad and the hiring out of services that can be performed abroad, it also imports labour in the most cost-effective way to work on its fixed capital in the agricultural sector, in construction, and in the service industry. These are temporary foreign workers, whose numbers now surpass the number of regular immigrants, who constitute the most exploited section of the labour force, a second class of labour without the historically earned rights of workers in Canada.
Within South Asia labour migration produces both the lure of prosperity and the overwhelming experience of misery. On the one hand the failure of nation states to provide the basic necessities of life to vast numbers of their people drive them to seek work abroad, attracted by the prospect of good wages that they can remit home for the betterment of their families. On the other hand this binds them to the most oppressive exploitation in the receiving countries, where they are dehumanized and often deprived of health and life.
The conference will explore a common framework within which the various experiences of labour migration in the period of globalization can be brought together. It will focus on the experience of South Asian migrant labour in the specificity of national conditions but attempt to integrate these different experiences into a global understanding.
The proceedings of the conference will be published and will include submissions by scholars and activists unable to attend the conference.
The conference is being organized by Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation for South Asian Advancement and is sponsored by the Morgan Centre for Labour Studies at Simon Fraser University, the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, SFU, Dean of Arts and Social Sciences, SFU, Institute for the Humanities, SFU, Race, Autobiography, Gender, and Aging Centre (RAGA), University of British Columbia, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Langara College, Vancouver, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, SFU, Canadian Farmworkers’ Union (CFU), and Progressive Intercultural Services Society (PICS), and South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD).
Registration for Globalization and Migrant Labour Conference
Pre-registration for the conference is required as seats are limited. The opening plenary is open to people not registered for the conference but requires prior notification to: cbanerjee@telus.net
For registration contact: Chinmoy Banerjee: cbanerjee@telus.net
Registration fee for the conference: $40.00 (includes lunch and refreshments on November 26 and November 27)
Registration for conference and dinner on November 26: $60.00
Cheques should be made out to: “Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation” and mailed to: 9155 Wiltshire Place, Burnaby, BC, V3N 4L6.
Presenters at Globalization and Migrant Labour Conference
Mr. Vinod K Adhikary
Former Joint secretary
Ministry of labour
Govt of Nepal;
Former Director General
Dept of labour
Govt of Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal
Dr. Chinmoy Banerjee
President
Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation for South Asian Advancement
Burnaby, BC
Ms Cecilia Diocson
Executive Director
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada; Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC)
Montreal, Quebec
Dr. Jamie Doucette
Lecturer
Dept. of Geography
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Mr. Haris Gazdar
Director and Senior Researcher
Collective for Social Science Research
Karachi, Pakistan
Mr. Larry Grant
Elder-in-Residence
Fist Nations House of Learning
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Dr. Tania Das Gupta
Professor, Department of Equity Studies
Cross-appointed to Department of Sociology
York University, Toronto
Dr. Samarajit Jana
Principal, Sonagachi Research and Training Institute (SRTI), Kolkata
Chief Advisor, Durbar Mahial Samanya Committee (DMSC)
Kolkata, India
Dr. Mahendra P Lama
Founding Vice-Chancellor,
Central University of Sikkim, Gangtok
India
Dr. Genevieve LeBaron
Researcher, Liu Institute for Global Issues
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Mr. Hussain Bux Malha
Research Officer
Collective for Social Science Research
Karachi, Pakistan
Mrs. Viola Perera
Senior Programme officer
Women and Media Collective
Coordinator: Action Network for Migrant Workers.
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Dr. Satya P Sharma
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Dept. of Religion and Culture
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon. Saskatchewan
Dr. S Irudaya Rajan
Chair Professor
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
Research Unit on International Migration
Centre for Development Studies
Trivandrum, Kerala
India
Dr. Junaid Rana
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies
Affiliated with Dept of Anthropology, Center for the Study of Asia and Middle East
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
USA
Session Chairs
Dr. Indira Prahst
Chair, Dept of Sociology and Anthropology
Langara College
Vancouver, BC
Dr. Gary Teeple
Professor, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Director, Morgan Centre for Labour Studies
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
Ms Harsha Walia
Activist and writer
Downtown Eastside Women’s Association
Vancouver, BC
Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
Plenary Chairs
Mr. Harinder Mahil
Former Chair, BC Human Rights Commission
Vice President, Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation
Vancouver, BC
Mr. Zahid Makhdoom
President, World Sindhi Institute
Sitting Judge, Provincial Court, BC
Director, Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation
Vancouver, BC
Closing Plenary
Mr. Jim Sinclair
President, BC Federation of Labor
Vancouver, BC
Participants at the Roundtable
Mr. Raj Chouhan
MLA, Province of British Columbia
Labour Critic, NDP
Former President, Canadian Farmworkers Union
Burnaby, BC
Mr. Raul Gatica
Writer and Union Activist
Representative of Agricultural Workers Alliance (AWA) and UFCW-Surrey
Mr. Charan Gill
Executive Director
Progressive Intercultural Services Society (PICS)
Canadian Farmworkers’ Union (CFW)
Surrey, BC
Ms. Adriana Paz
Co-Founder and Organizer, Justicia/Justice for Migrant Workers-BC (J4MW)
Vancouver. BC
Mr. Zool Suleman
Lawyer
Suleman & Co., Canadian Immigration Lawyers
Member, Vancouver Mayor's Task for on Immigration (MTFI)
Director, Metropolis BC Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Diversity
Vancouver, BC
Dr. Sunera Thobani
Director, RAGA Centre
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Program
Click here for downloadable/printable program (pdf format 12 KB)
GLOBALIZATION AND MIGRANT LABOUR CONFERENCE
FOCUS ON SOUTH ASIA
November 25-27, 2011
PROGRAMME
November 25 |
6:00 pm |
Reception |
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7:00 pm |
Opening Plenary: Chair Zahid Makhdoom |
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Larry Grant: Welcome from the First Nations |
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Chinmoy Banerjee: Dr. Hari Sharma and the Hari Sharma Foundation |
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Gary Teeple: The Morgan Centre for Labour Studies and the Labour Studies Programme at Simon Fraser University |
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7:45 pm |
Screening of El CONTRATO (2006) Written and Directed by Min Sook Lee National Film Board of Canada |
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November 26 |
9:30 am |
Registration |
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10:00 am |
Morning Session: Chair Gary Teeple Room 1700, Labatt Hall |
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Genevieve LeBaron: Neoliberalism, Migration, and the Changing Contours of Labor Unfreedom |
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Tania Das Gupta: Precarious workers in the South Asian Community: Race, Gender, Class and Migration Status |
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Satya Sharma: Where Ethnicity and Class Intersect: The Political Economy of Farm Working in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia |
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Cecilia Diocson: Resisting the Temporariness of Migrant Labour: Organizing and Educating Migrant Workers in Philippines and Canada |
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12:00 pm |
Lunch |
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2:00 pm |
Afternoon Session: Chair Habiba Zaman Room 1700, Labatt Hall |
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Vinod Kumar Adhikary: Issues in Nepali Migration under Globalization |
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Viola Perera: Rights and Challenges of Sri Lankan Female |
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Hussain Bux Mallah and Haris Gazdar: South-South migration |
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Samarajit Jana: Sex-Workers Led Initiatives for Rights and Justice: |
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5:30 pm |
Banquet |
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November 27 |
10:00 am |
Morning Session: Chair Indira Prahst |
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S Irudaya Rajan: Impact of Global Crisis in the Gulf |
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Mahendra K Lama: Irregular Migration from South Asia in Japan: |
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Junaid Rana: Pakistani Migrant Workers and Post-9/11 Islamophobia |
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Jamie Doucette: South Asian Migrants and the Politics of Migrant Trade Unionism in South Korea |
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12:00 pm |
Lunch |
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1:00 pm |
Roundtable: Chair Harsha Walia |
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Charan Gill, Sunera Thobani, Zool Suleman, Raj Chouhan, Adriana Paz (J4MW-BC),Raul Gatica (UFCW-Surrey) |
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3:00 pm |
Closing Plenary: Chair Harinder Mahil |
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Jim Sinclair: Changing Times, Changing Labour—the Challenge to Organize and Fight Back |