BY R.B.
Growing
up my family use to send money back to the Caribbean very frequently. I never
thought to much about it. But the more I think about it they were sending
remittances and it made a big difference. Many individuals come to the United
States primarily in large cities to work and send money back to their home countries.
You can see this quite often among the Latino population. This is exemplified
in the documentary, The Sixth Section.
As I watched the documentary I was fascinated with what Grupo Union had
accomplished. Which brought me to ask the question how much of a role does
remittances play in the development of the global south? And are immigrants
working overseas in the developed world necessary for the global south to
develop? I aim to prove how important immigrants are to globalization and
urbanization of the global south.
In
“National and Transnational Urban
Systems” by Sassen Saskia, Sassen talks about this “bottom up” system.
Where the minority population commonly overlooked, in fact are the ones that
have the power, and are making an impact and contributing to urbanization. As
oppose to the “top down” system where the people in authority that being the
politicians having more of an influence because they have the resources and
ability to influence policy. But as The
Sixth Section showed us remittances make a big difference. For example,
Grupo Union were able to accomplish many things in Mexico, i.e. building a
stadium which is an economic symbol. According to (TimeLabs) “Mexico receives
$24.4B in remittances from immigrants in the United States. This accounts for
1.905% of Mexico’s national GDP of $1.5T. The average person from Mexico remits
$1.9K back annually.” Thus proving the importance for immigrants to continue to
send money back home. Many of these countries depend on the cash flow. Politicians
have recognized the importance of remittances. As a result, politicians are meeting
more frequently with immigrant union groups overseas that send remittances back
to their home country.
It
is evident that immigrants overseas play an imperative role in the development
of countries in the global south. Remittances sent to home countries allows
these local villages commonly forgotten about by politicians to develop. Due to
the lack of economic opportunities in the global south immigrants play a major
role in cash flow. As much as we try to ignore it, the truth of the matter is
that, not only are these immigrants necessary for the growth of underdeveloped
nations, they play a major role in our society as well. They are doing the jobs
American’s do not have the time to do due to the rapid growth of globalization
and urbanization. In my opinion immigrants and the people belonging to
the “lower class” in this globalized world we live in are some of the major key
players in urbanization allowing globalization to occur.
I also agree that remittances definitely play a huge role in the development of the 'global south'. Just last year in 2015, remittances in Mexico overtook the revenues for the oil industry in Mexico for the first time ever. In fact, Mexico is the largest receiving nation for remittances from the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, for the year 2016, it is estimated that remittances to Mexico will reach nearly $28 billion. What I think is pretty spectacular is the resiliency of hard-working Mexican immigrants here in the U.S. As we saw in the documentary The Sixth Section, through multiple deportations and economic struggles, the members of Grupo Union were still able to come together to provide for their families and the community members of their hometown. I think that without remittances, most of the people living in these rural areas would still be struggling significantly, as would their economy. The remittances do not just provide a means for income, they also provide that sense of tight-knit community through things like the baseball stadium, for example.
ReplyDeleteI.V.:
ReplyDeleteI can relate because my mom would always send remittances to my home country and it wasn't till now that I realized how much affect it would have in my home countries development. My uncle would use the money to build houses to sell so that my family can make profit. In a third world country a house can meet a lot to a family that doesn't have one so we would help and make money back