Migrant workers, activists form global alliance

“For a long time, others have spoken on our behalf. Now we speak for ourselves.”

This clarion call was the crux of the founding assembly of the International Migrant Alliance that took place in Hong Kong from June 14 to 17.

Eni Lestari, the newly-elected chairperson of the IMA.

Attendees at the conference came from all corners of the globe. One hundred and sixty-seven delegates representing 118 organizations from 25 countries participated in this founding assembly of the first international formation of grassroots migrants.

The overall number of people in attendance at this historic conference was over 300, an impressive figure when legal and economic restrictions are considered.

Some countries or regions represented included Taiwan, Kenya, Korea, Japan, Bangladesh, Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. A large delegation came from the Philippines as well as from Filipino migrants living in other nations.

The assembly noted that more organizations which are founding members were unable to attend due to visa and financial issues.

The founding assembly of the IMA was an idea that had been years in the making. The goal was to address and organize around the crisis of millions of workers who are forced to migrate—forced to leave their countries as a result of neo-liberal policies imposed by the World Trade Organization and the World Bank as well as the practices of U.S. imperialism. The Alliance has as its premise an anti-imperialist view on migration and workers issues.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that there were about 191 million migrants in the world as of 2005. About 40 million of those were undocumented.

The Philippines alone is a major exporter of human beings, a country so besieged by neocolonialism and imperialist domination that every day 3,000 people are forced to leave their homeland. The 3,000 are just those who went through the so-called legal channel and do not include Filipinos who leave the country without tourist or business visas.

It is of great importance that this conference occurred in the Asian region.

According to the Global Commission on International Migration, as of 2000, there were 49.9 million migrants in Asia, accounting for 1.4 percent of Asia’s population. This figure is, of course, low and outdated as there has been an explosion of forced migration in more recent years.

Asian countries with a high concentration of migrants are Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Taiwan. If you include west Asia or the Middle East, particularly the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have a high concentration of migrant workers as well.

The conference presented a well-thought-out and high-level analysis of conditions of migrants and policies that force migration.

Some of the statements issued from the conference include: “The time for the voice of the grassroots migrants has come with the resounding success of the International Migrants Alliance founding assembly.”

“In the spirit of international solidarity, the participants shared each other’s experiences, learned from each other’s actions, debated and reached unities that shall propel the IMA in its future programs.”

“With the approval of the IMA Constitution, the election of its leadership and first set of officers and the approval of the General Program of Action, the IMA was finally born,” declared the founders.

‘United we shall break the chains of globalization’

One of the highlights of the conference was the opening day, which took place at the City University of Hong Kong and was co-organized by the Women Empowerment in Moslem Context of the Southeast Asia Research Center (WEMC-SEARC).

It was held on a Sunday so the program was attended by more than 350 migrants, including about 200 foreign workers–mostly domestic workers–from Hong Kong.

A video showed the situation that migrants face and why building the IMA is so important. The crowd was visibly moved by this video as it reminded everyone about the brutal and merciless conditions migrants face every day around the world.

The conference, for example, condemned sexual trafficking and took note of the special oppression of women migrants.

On the final day of the conference, elections were held. To lead the IMA, members of the International Coordinating Body were chosen by the different global regions as well as elected at-large.

These 17 members comprise the newly constituted ICB of the IMA. The ICB then elected officers of the executive committee among themselves.

Elected members of the executive committee are Eni Lestari of AMCB-HK, chairperson; Ufuk Berdan of ATIK-Europe, vice chairperson; Connie Bragas-Regalado of Migrante-Philippines, secretary-general;  Tess Tesalona of Immigrant Workers Center in Canada, treasurer; as well as this writer.

The woman elected chairperson of IMA shows that the Alliance is indeed committed to having migrants in leadership. Eni Lestari, from the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body—based in Hong Kong—is a 27-year-old domestic worker from Indonesia. She has been a leader of AMCB for a long time.

In her presentation to the conference, Eni declared, “Our Assembly today creates a significant mark in the history of our movement. Although our Assembly is mainly an organizational one, it is also very educational. Just see the program and the topics to discuss and one will immediately understand that the people who will be attending this conference are really migrants, immigrants and refugees and their very reliable advocates who are truly after our rights, welfare and empowerment.

“Though we understand these topics and issues for they are part and parcel of our everyday life, this assembly transformed it from being scattered knowledge to a collective one. And after this assembly, this collective understanding will become a moving force to strengthen and expand our movement, our Alliance, nationally and internationally.”

The conference and the formation of IMA bode well for the class struggle. The IMA is yet another sign of what is on the horizon. Workers who are experiencing the most brutal conditions of all are rising. They are organizing and they are fighting back.

And the IMA shows that these most oppressed workers are extremely class conscious. A revolutionary force is stirring in Asia, including the Philippines, South Korea, etc. It is a force that is in solidarity with others from the oppressed world.

For example, when a Kenyan woman, Sister Wahu Kaara—the only representative from Africa at the conference—was introduced, there was significant applause for her.

When the brother from Oaxaca, Mexico, spoke and so much solidarity was expressed toward him, it was so clear how much this body wanted to build bridges and make connections with these struggles.

The conference organizers recognized the tremendous work ahead, especially that of uniting with migrants from Africa and Latin America.

But the political will to unite with others is there. The foundation has been set.

The goal of uniting migrants around the world is to defeat imperialism and to build the kind of society where no worker is forced to leave his or her homeland. A world with no borders or exploitation has become just a little bit more of a reality with the founding of IMA.

Gutierrez was elected at this conference to the International Migrant Alliance executive committee as deputy secretary-general on behalf of the organization she was representing, the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Worker Rights in the USA.