Introduction: Migration Politics and the Left -- Socialism, Marxism, and Migration -- Imperialism and Migrant Labour in the Capitalist World Economy -- Borders, Militarism and Inequality -- Wages, Organised Labour and Post-Work Utopianism -- The Production of Class Antagonisms in Capitalism -- Strikes, Internationalism and Solidarity -- Moving Beyond Cheap Labour, National Chauvinism and Class Prejudice in a Socialist Approach to Migration.
As dangerous trans-Atlantic crossings between Africa and Europe continue to rise, Hannah Cross examines the roots of the ongoing crisis. The discussion around migration, she notes, "overlooks the imperial role of Europe and the United States over borders, migration regimes, regional (de-)integration, and national development projects within Africa." The solution, therefore, can only be found through genuine liberation and autonomy across the continent, rather than internationally imposed mechanisms benefitting the powerful in the Global North.
Migration into Mauritania from the south is composed of the following highly volatile and confluent channels: 1) pendular border crossings of the Senegal River from neighbouring regions in Senegal and Mali, which may be daily or itinerant for traders, and seasonal or longer-term for those seeking employment; these migrations also incorporate southern Mauritanians moving northwards to urban areas; 2) labour migration from further afield in West Africa, linked historically to fishing and mineral-led growth; 3) intended migration to Europe from West and Central Africa, including people who head directly to the coast to depart for the Canary Islands, or "step-wise" migrants who will seek informal employment to fund the onward journey; 4) refugees.
Recent waves of accumulation have been well documented in this journal with regard to land and natural resources, but labour is missing from these important analyses of profound continuity and change. This article focuses on 'step-wise' migrations and specifically on cases of emigration from Senegal and entry to the Spanish labour market. The labour regime is conceptualised as unfree labour mobility, which integrates dispossession, territorial control, illegalisation, the ideology of racism and the exploitation of labour. Finding salience in earlier theories of unfree labour, this article shows how the control of capital over migration to Europe perpetuates underdevelopment. [Travail et sous-développement? Migration, dépossession et accumulation en Afrique de l'Ouest et en Europe.] Les vagues récentes d'accumulation ont été bien documentées dans cette revue en ce qui concerne les ressources foncières et naturelles mais le travail n'est pas pris en considération dans ces analyses de continuité et de changement profonds. Cet article se concentre sur les migrations progressives et en particulier les cas d'émigration du Sénégal et d'entrée sur le marché du travail espagnol. Le régime du travail est conçu comme une mobilité du travail non-libre qui intègre la dépossession, le contrôle territorial, le travail illégal, l'idéologie du racisme et l'exploitation de la main d'œuvre. Recherchant le point saillant des théories existantes du travail non-libre, cet article montre comment le contrôle du capital sur les migrations vers l'Europe perpétue le sous-développement.
Mots-clés : mobilité de la main d'œuvre; migration; Sénégal; accumulation par dépossession; sous-développement; Europe