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cloudydamage3 · 5 years

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It’s time for music and music technology to be a voice for migrants

From countries across Europe to the USA, migration is at the center of Western politics at the moment. But that raises a question: why aren’t more people who make music, music instruments, and music tech louder about these issues?

Migration – temporary and permanent – is simply a fact of life for a huge group of people, across backgrounds and aspirations. That can involve migration to follow opportunities, and refugees and asylum seekers who move for their own safety and freedom. So if you don’t picture immigrants, migrants, and refugees when you think of your society, you just aren’t thinking.

Musicians ought to be uniquely qualified to speak to these issues, though. Extreme anti-immigration arguments all assume that migrants take away more from a society than they give back. And people in the music world ought to know better. Music has always been based on cultural exchange. Musicians across cultures have always considered touring to make a living. And to put it bluntly, music isn’t a zero sum game. The more you add, the more you create.

Music gets schooled in borders

As music has grown more international, as more artists tour and cross borders, at least the awareness is changing. That’s been especially true in electronic music, in a DJ industry that relies on travel. Resident Advisor has consistently picked up this story over the last couple of years, as artists spoke up about being denied entry to countries while touring.

In a full-length podcast documentary last year, they dug into the ways in which the visa system hurts artists outside the US and EU, with a focus on non-EU artists trying to gain entry to the UK:

Andrew Ryce also wrote about a visa rate hike in the USA back in 2016 – and this in the Obama Administration, not under Trump:

US raises touring artist visa fees by 42%

Now, being a DJ crossing a border isn’t the same as being a refugee running for your life. But then on some other level, it can allow artists to experience immigration infrastructure – both when it works for them, and when it works against them. A whole generation of artists, including even those from relatively privileged Western nations, is now learning the hard way about the immigration system. And that’s something they might have missed as tourists, particularly if they come from places like the USA, western Europe, Australia, and other places well positioned in the system.

The immigration system they see will often come off as absurdist. National policies worldwide categorize music as migrant labor and require a visa. In many countries, these requirements are unenforced in all but big-money gigs. But in some countries – the USA, Canada, and UK being prime examples – they’re rigorously enforced, and not coincidentally, the required visas have high fees.

Showing up at a border carrying music equipment or a bag of vinyl records is an instant red flag – whether a paid gig is your intention or not. (I’m surprised, actually, that no one talks about this in regards to the rise of the USB stick DJ. If you aren’t carrying a controller or any records, sailing through as a tourist is a lot easier.) Border officials will often ask visitors to unlock phones, hand over social media passwords. They’ll search Facebook events by name to find gigs. Or they’ll even just view the presence of a musical instrument as a violation.

Being seen as “illegal” because you’re traveling with a guitar or some records is a pretty good illustration of how immigration can criminalize simple, innocent acts. Whatever the intention behind that law, it’s clear there’s something off here – especially given the kinds of illegality that can cross borders.

When protection isn’t

This is not to argue for open borders. There are times when you want border protections. I worked briefly in environmental advocacy as we worked on invasive species that were hitching a ride on container ships – think bugs killing trees and no more maple syrup on your pancakes, among other things. I was also in New York on 9/11 and watched from my roof – that was a very visible demonstration of visa security oversight that had failed. Part of the aim of customs and immigration is to stop the movement of dangerous people and things, and I don’t think any rational person would argue with that.

But even as a tiny microcosm of the larger immigration system, music is a good example of how laws can be uneven, counter-intuitive, and counterproductive. The US and Canada, for instance, do have an open border for tourists. So if an experimental ambient musician from Toronto comes to play a gig in Cleveland, that’s not a security threat – they could do the same as a tourist. It’s also a stretch of the imagination that this individual would have a negative impact on the US economy. Maybe the artist makes a hundred bucks cash and … spends it all inside the USA, not to mention brings in more money for the venue and the people employed by it. Or maybe they make $1000 – a sum that would be wiped out by the US visa fee, to say nothing of slow US visa processing. Again, that concert creates more economic activity inside the US economy, and it’s very likely the American artist sharing the bill goes up to Montreal and plays with them next month on top of it. I could go on, but it’s … well, boring and obvious.

Artists and presenters worldwide often simply ignore this visa system because it’s slow, expensive, and unreliable. And so it costs economies (and likely many immigration authorities) revenue. It costs societies value and artistic and cultural exchange.

Of course, scale that up and the same is true, across other fields. Immigrants tend to give more into government services than they take out, they tend to own businesses that employ more local people (so they create jobs), they tend to invent new technologies (so they create jobs again), and so on.

Ellis Island, NYC. 12 million people passed through here – not all of my family who came to the USA, but some. I’ve now come the other way through Tegel Airport and the Ausländerbehörde , Berlin. Photo (CC-BY-ND “>A. Strakey.

Advocacy and music

Immigration advocacy could be seen as something in the charter of anyone in the music industry or musical instruments industry.

Music technology suffers as borders are shut down, too. Making musical instruments and tools requires highly specialized labor working in highly specialized environments. From production to engineering to marketing, it’s an international business. I actually can’t think of any major manufacturer that doesn’t rely on immigrants in key roles. (Even many tiny makers involve immigrants.)

And the traditional music industry lean heavily on immigrant talent, too. Those at the top of the industry have powerful lobbying efforts – efforts that could support greater cultural exchange and rights for travelers. Certainly, its members are often on the road. But let’s take the Recording Academy (the folks behind the Grammy Awards).

Instead, their efforts seem to fixate on domestic intellectual property law. So the Recording Academy and others were big on the Music Modernization Act – okay, fine, a law to support compensation for creators.

But while the same organization advocated on behalf of instruments traveling – domestic rules around carry-on and checked instruments – but not necessarily humans. So it could be that there’s more interest in your guitar getting across borders than people.

I don’t want to be unfair to the Recording Association – and not just because I think it might hurt my Grammy winning chances. (Hey, stop laughing.) No, I think it’s more that we as a community have generally failed to take up this issue in any widespread way. (I sincerely hope someone out there works for the record industry and writes to say that you’re actually working on this and I’m wrong.)

More than anything else, music can cross borders. It can speak to people when you don’t speak their language, literally. When music travels, emotion and expression travels – artists and technology alike.

It’s personal – isn’t it for you?

I personally feel the impact of all of this, now having been seven years in Berlin, and able to enjoy opportunities, connections, and perspective that come from living in Germany and working with people both from Germany and abroad. I feel hugely grateful to the German state for allowing my business to immigrate (my initial visa was a business visa, which involved some interesting bureaucracy explaining to the Berlin Senate what this site is about). I’ve even benefited from the support of programs like the Goethe Institut and host governments to work in cultural diplomacy.

I’ve also had the chance to be involved writing in support of visas and financial backing for artists coming from Iran, Mexico, Kazakhstan, and many other places, for programs I’ve worked on.

And all of this is really a luxury – even when we’re talking about artists traveling to support their careers and feed themselves. For so many people, migration is a matter of survival. Now that we’ve lived the system, we have an added obligation to make it work for them. Sometimes the threats to their lives come from geopolitical and economic policies engineered by the governments we come from – meaning as citizens, we share some responsibility for the impact others have felt. But whether or not that’s the case, I would hope we feel that obligation as human beings. That’s the basis of international rule of law on accepting refugees and granting asylum. It’s the reason those principles are uncompromising and sometimes even challenging. Our world is held together – or not – based on that basic fairness we afford to fellow humans. If people come to where we live and claim their survival and freedom depends on taking them in, we accept the obligation to at least listen to their case.

Those of us in the music world could use our privilege, and the fact that our medium is so essential to human expression, to be among the loudest voices for these human rights. When we live in countries who listen to us, we should talk to other citizens and talk to our governments. We should tell the stories that make these issues more relatable. We should do what some people I know are doing in the music world, too – work on education and involvement for refugees, help them to feel at home in our communities and to develop whatever they need to make a home here, and make people feel welcome at the events we produce.

That’s just the principles, not policies. But I know a lot of people in my own circle have worked on the policy and advocacy sides here. I certainly would invite you to share what we might do. If you’ve been impacted by immigration obstacles and have ideas of how we help, I hope we hear that, too.

Some likely policy areas: Supporting the rights of refugees and asylum seekers Supporting refugee and asylum seeker integration Advocating for more open visa policies for artists – keeping fees low, and supporting exchange Advocating the use of music and culture, and music technology, as a form of cultural diplomacy Supporting organizations that connect artists and creative technologists across borders

And so on…

But I do hope that as musicians, we work with people who share basic beliefs in caring for other people. I know there’s no single “community” or “industry” that can offer that. But we certainly can try to build our own circle in a way that does.

Some examples from here in Berlin working on refugee issues here. I would argue immigration policy can find connections across refugees and migrants, asylum seekers and touring musicians, as everyone encounters the same larger apparatus and set of laws:

Photo at top: CC-BY Nicola Romagna.

Source: http://cdm.link/2018/11/opinion-immigration-music-advocacy/

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hookhumor67-blog · 5 years

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It’s time for music and music technology to be a voice for migrants

Music gets schooled in borders

In a full-length podcast documentary last year, they dug into the ways in which the visa system hurts artists outside the US and EU, with a focus on non-EU artists trying to gain entry to the UK:

Andrew Ryce also wrote about a visa rate hike in the USA back in 2016 – and this in the Obama Administration, not under Trump:

US raises touring artist visa fees by 42%

When protection isn’t

Advocacy and music

Immigration advocacy could be seen as something in the charter of anyone in the music industry or musical instruments industry.

It’s personal – isn’t it for you?

I’ve also had the chance to be involved writing in support of visas and financial backing for artists coming from Iran, Mexico, Kazakhstan, and many other places, for programs I’ve worked on.

And so on…

Photo at top: CC-BY Nicola Romagna.

Source: http://cdm.link/2018/11/opinion-immigration-music-advocacy/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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kansascityhappenings · 5 years

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Trump seeks to cut foreign aid to 3 Central American nations

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Taking drastic action over illegal immigration, President Donald Trump moved Saturday to cut direct aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, whose citizens are fleeing north and overwhelming U.S. resources at the southern border.

The State Department notified Congress that it would look to suspend 2017 and 2018 payments to the trio of nations, which have been home to some of the migrant caravans that have marched through Mexico to the U.S. border.

Amplified by conservative media, Trump has turned the caravans into the symbol of what he says are the dangers of illegal immigration — a central theme of his midterm campaigning last fall. With the special counsel’s Russia probe seemingly behind him, Trump has revived his warnings of the caravans’ presence.

Trump also has returned to a previous threat he never carried out — closing the border with Mexico. He brought up that possibility on Friday and revisited it in tweets Saturday, blaming Democrats and Mexico for problems at the border and beyond despite warnings that a closed border could create economic havoc on both sides.

“It would be so easy to fix our weak and very stupid Democrat inspired immigration laws,” Trump tweeted Saturday. “In less than one hour, and then a vote, the problem would be solved. But the Dems don’t care about the crime, they don’t want any victory for Trump and the Republicans, even if good for USA!’

As far as Mexico’s role, he tweeted: “Mexico must use its very strong immigration laws to stop the many thousands of people trying to get into the USA. Our detention areas are maxed out & we will take no more illegals. Next step is to close the Border! This will also help us with stopping the Drug flow from Mexico!”

When reporters asked Trump on Friday what closing the border could entail, he said “it could mean all trade” with Mexico and added, “We will close it for a long time.”

Trump has been promising for more than two years to build a long, impenetrable wall along the border to stop illegal immigration, though Congress has been reluctant to provide the money he needs. In the meantime, he has repeatedly threatened to close the border, but this time, with a new group of migrants heading north , he gave a definite timetable and suggested a visit to the border within the next two weeks.

A substantial closure could have an especially heavy impact on cross-border communities from San Diego to South Texas, as well as supermarkets that sell Mexican produce, factories that rely on imported parts, and other businesses across the U.S.

The U.S. and Mexico trade about $1.7 billion in goods daily, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which said closing the border would be “an unmitigated economic debacle” that would threaten 5 million American jobs.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke out Saturday against cutting off aid to Central America, declaring that “foreign assistance is not charity; it advances our strategic interests and funds initiatives that protect American citizens.”

And a group of House Democrats visiting El Salvador denounced the administration’s decision to cut aid to the region.

“As we visit El Salvador evaluating the importance of U.S. assistance to Central America to address the root causes of family and child migration, we are extremely disappointed to learn that President Trump intends to cut off aid to the region,” said the statement from five lawmakers, including Rep. Eliot L. Engel of New York, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The President’s approach is entirely counterproductive.”

The Trump administration has threatened before to scale back or cut off U.S. assistance to Central America. Congress has not approved most of those proposed cuts, however, and a report this year by the Congressional Research Service said any change in that funding would depend on what Congress does.

Short of a widespread border shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the U.S. might close designated ports of entry to re-deploy staff to help process parents and children. Ports of entry are official crossing points that are used by residents and commercial vehicles. Many people who cross the border illegally ultimately request asylum under U.S. law, which does not require asylum seekers to enter at an official crossing.

Border officials are also planning to more than quadruple the number of asylum seekers sent back over the border to wait out their immigration cases, said an administration official. The official said right now about 60 migrants per day are returned and officials are hoping to send as many as 300 per day. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about internal plans and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday his country was doing its part to fight migrant smuggling. Criminal networks charge thousands of dollars a person to move migrants through Mexico, increasingly in large groups toward remote sections of the border.

“We want to have a good relationship with the government of the United States,” Lopez Obrador said. He added: “We are going to continue helping so that the migratory flow, those who pass through our country, do so according to the law, in an orderly way.”

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, tweeted that his country “doesn’t act based on threats” and is “the best neighbor” the U.S. could have.

Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce in San Diego, said the mere threat of border closures sends the wrong message to businesses in Mexico and may eventually scare companies into turning to Asia for their supply chains.

“I think the impact would be absolutely devastating on so many fronts,” said Mier y Teran, whose members rely on the Otay Mesa crossing to bring televisions, medical devices and a wide range of products to the U.S. “In terms of a long-term effect, it’s basically shooting yourself in your foot. It’s sending out a message to other countries that, ‘Don’t come because our borders may not work at any time.’ That is extremely scary and dangerous.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/03/30/trump-seeks-to-cut-foreign-aid-to-3-central-american-nations/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/trump-seeks-to-cut-foreign-aid-to-3-central-american-nations/

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rounaq-comm3p18-blog · 7 years

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Is Free speech actually Free?

The notion that people should have the right to say what they feel has been debated throughout centuries. The most classic example of the conflict between free speech is displayed through democracy and communism. These two opposing views have outlasted centuries and the argument still stands till today. Why has this issue not been unresolved for this long? I believe power is the number aspect of this ongoing conflict. The term power has many interpretations and can be used in negative and positive connotations. For the sake of this discussion I will using Sullivan's textbook definition of power, which he defines as, "the ability of one actor to alter the decisions made and/or welfare experienced by another actor relative to the choices that would have been made and/or welfare that would have been experienced had the actor not existed or acted." (Sullivan, 2013). Power is depicted through different forms, for example in communist and democratic countries the power is held by the state where they conduct policies and laws for the citizens to abide. The abuse of power is what differentiates the two views. Throughout this blog, I intend to discuss the concept of free speech pertaining to communist regimes and democratic countries such as Canada and USA to argue whether free speech exists in today's society.

Communist leaders tend to dictate how a society conducts its lifestyle, from the literature they read to the media they consume. This totalitarian view of society is still prevalent in today's world by countries such as North Korea, Russia etc. Especially in North Korea where the citizens are completely alienated from the rest of world which causes a limited view of the world and the agency or power of information lies in the hands of the state. The citizens of North Korea praise their leader and Kim Jon Un has established himself as the superior leader, convincing his country that North Korea is the world's leader but in fact, North Korea's GDP is in the bottom 10% and has the same GDP as Haiti (CIA, 2014). This illusion of superiority has been embodied to the country's citizens and this can be explained by cultivation theory. Cultivation theory was developed by George Gerbner and he argued that the "audiences' conceptions of reality are developed through exposure to television over a period of months and years" (Sullivan, 2012). The state in North Korea used the media to repeat and relay information to set the status quo that North Korea is a paradise.

Democratic countries on the other hand pride themselves on having the right to speak freely. For example, the first amendment on the Bill of rights is the right to practice any religion and the right to freedom of speech and the press. The idea of "free speech" seems pretty straightforward, anyone can freely express their opinions to an individual or to the public. The problem arises when certain parties influence opinions and decisions. For example, the past US election with Donald Trump has been the most controversial election in history. An entitled rich white man divided the country in half by claiming to ultimately perform an ethnic cleansing of all immigrant people. Firstly, his platform was based on the fact he wanted to construct a wall to stop illegal immigration from the Mexican border. After his disappointing win, he placed a travel ban on middle eastern countries except for the few rich ones, probably because he did not want to lose America's oil revenue. He clearly targeted ethnic individuals and appealed to the white America by making false promises and his outrageous publicity stunts attracted daily news attention. Prior to his candidacy, he actively spoke out against Obama claiming he was part of Islam and throughout his precedency, he constantly attacked Islam and went against the first amendment. Through his influence, white extremists rose up and defended him and then it got to a point of violence where acts such as the Charlottesville attack and even the recent Las Vegas shooting took place.

With influence from leaders such as Donald Trump, I wonder if free speech is even "free" anymore. I believe public opinion in North America is more of an illusion than a right, due to media swaying decisions and being supported by political parties. The prime example of bias is Fox news. No other media source can compare to the bias Fox news has depicted throughout this past decade. They are constantly wrong on facts and apologizing for false information. The reason for their popularity is that they target right winged individuals and spew propaganda in order to attract a larger audience. This is where the bandwagon effect comes into play. Sullivan describes the bandwagon effect as an individual shifting his or her views based on the majority opinion. The way Fox news frames certain stories cause these changes to occur. A study conducted by Kelsey Grover published a paper titled "CNN and Fox News Networks' Framing of Muslim Brotherhood", discusses the Egyptian revolution that unfolded in January of 2011 and how the two networks framed the issue and what effects it had on the public. "Fox News routinely discussed the Muslim Brotherhood as the enemy of democracy, while CNN provided slightly more moderate comments and discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood amongst its Islamic democracy naysayers and reporting" (Glover, 2011). It is clear that Fox News appeals to the less educated individuals in order to get a large idea across. Even though the issues were occurring in Egypt the network had to step in and include personal opinions about an entire group of people and knew the American public would eat it up. I believe news program such as Fox cause bias amongst media and act no better than a Hollywood tabloid that publishes false rumours about celebrities.

The issue that got me started to think whether free speech is actually free was a video I viewed on YouTube titled "Divide and Conquer with Arnold Schwarzenegger | VICE on HBO Extra Scene". In this video the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses his fight against Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is where politicians can control the lines of a district to fit new population. Often politicians will draw a border where they know they can get a lot of votes. Ultimately it is unfair to the entire district because only about 60% of their district has a say in policymaking. Also, this is where bandwagon effects come into play as well. In a suburb, if the majority of the people are republican it is more likely that the new neighbours will side with them in order to fit into the community. Therefore, politicians will draw their own borders so they have the best chance of being reelected. This idea is bias for policy making because you are picking and choosing what the public wants and the illusion of free speech is there to the public but the people in charge are selective with their issues. Schwarzenegger also states that many presidents have tried to talk about gerrymandering but the topic has been pushed on and on. How can the US claim free speech be a right when the public opinion is carefully chosen to meet their needs?

With the creation of social media, the public got more of a sense of free speech. With various outlets to express their opinions such as Facebook, Reddit and Twitter allowed individuals to freely speak for a cause and not be harassed for it. This worked well until more information about the NSA was revealed by Edward Snowden. Snowden exposed the fact that the NSA had established a program that could ultimately look up anyone's personal conversation and it was all in the name of "national security". It is understandable that the government is trying to prevent attacks from taking place but breaching privacy and profiling subjects cross the line from episteme (knowledge) to doxa (opinion) (Sullivan, 2013). This causes an ethical dilemma and skews the facts into people's opinions. Although, Snowden was the first to actively speak out others knew about the act the NSA was committing and participated in the spiral of silence (Sullivan, 2013). When individuals are put in a difficult position, for example, losing their careers, silence is the best option in their minds. But Snowden's whistleblowing opened up secrets that the American government was keeping from its citizens.

No matter how much we claim that free speech is a right in our world, there are always parties trying to influence opinions and decisions. Restrictions will constantly be placed on society and I believe that exposure to corrupt activity is the only way we as humans can move forward and develop new ways to advance our political and economic systems.

Sources VICE NEWS, (2017, September 27). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PDXUujVmEE

GDP – per capita (PPP), The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency.

Glover, K. (2011). Analysis of CNN and The Fox News Networks’ framing of the Muslim Brotherhood during the Egyptian revolution in 2011. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications • Vol. 2, No. 2 • Fall 2011

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oldguardaudio · 7 years

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