African migrants plight in China: Afrophobia impedes China's race for Africa's resources and markets

ABSTRACT & RÉSUMÉ : Discrimination against the approximately 500,000 African (mostly irregular) immigrants has recently spread in China. During the corona pandemic, it degenerates into a true Afrophobia. Shortly before, five Nigerians in Guangzhou had reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. Africans are widely accused as drug traffickers and criminals. Also, they would endanger China's global competitiveness for Africa's resources through media baiting abroad. Current reports testify the displacement of African migrants from homes and hotels in Guangzhou (Canton), where most of the Africans live. They are dependent on informal, mostly illegal networks in order to be able to stay in the country. In online social networks Afrophobia as cyber racism is particularly pronounced. Thereby, racism is more deeply rooted in the mentality of many Chinese than is commonly assumed. According to a traditional Chinese proverb, the greatest evil to be avoided is ‘the destroyed nation and the annihilated race’. In addition, since 2005 land-grabbing by Chinese entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa arose international attention. Its main purpose is to ensure food security in China and to profit from international grain speculation. It was racially legitimized from the start, with slogans such as, only Chinese investments could save Africans from their traditional ‘laziness’. This repeats deeply rooted neo-colonial European prejudices of a ‘wild, ahistoric and uncivilized Africa’. The prejudices are still associated with a feeling of racial superiority. The social fabric of China has always embodied essential characteristics of the exclusion of ‘foreigners’, focused on ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender. The African Union, various African governments and even the United States have sharply criticized Beijing for mistreating migrants, particularly those from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. Racist attacks on Africans in China have an oppressively long tradition, associated with the expansion of bilateral Chinese petty trade in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 2000s and the subsequent influx of African petty traders into China. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RÉSUMÉ : La discrimination à l'encontre des quelque 500 000 immigrés africains (pour la plupart irréguliers) s'est récemment répandue en Chine. Pendant la pandémie de corona, cela dégénère en une véritable afrophobie. Peu de temps auparavant, cinq Nigérians de Guangzhou auraient été testés positifs pour Covid-19. Les Africains sont largement accusés d'être des trafiquants de drogue et des criminels. En outre, ils mettraient en danger la compétitivité mondiale de la Chine pour les ressources de l'Afrique par le biais du dénigrement médiatiques à l'étranger. Les rapports actuels témoignent du déplacement des migrants africains des maisons et des hôtels de Guangzhou (Canton), où vivent la plupart des Africains. Ils dépendent de réseaux informels, pour la plupart illégaux, pour pouvoir rester dans le pays. Dans les réseaux sociaux en ligne, l'afrophobie et le cyber-racisme sont particulièrement prononcés. Ainsi, le racisme est plus profondément enraciné dans la mentalité de nombreux Chinois qu'on ne le pense généralement. Selon un proverbe chinois traditionnel, le plus grand mal à éviter est « la nation détruite et la race anéantie ». En outre, depuis 2005, l'accaparement des terres par des entrepreneurs chinois en Afrique subsaharienne a attiré l'attention de la communauté internationale. Son objectif principal est d'assurer la sécurité alimentaire en Chine et de profiter de la spéculation céréalière internationale. Il a été légitimé racialement dès le départ, avec des slogans tels que, seuls les investissements chinois pouvaient sauver les Africains de leur « paresse » traditionnelle.

Le sort des migrants africains en Chine : L' afrophobie entrave la course de la Chine pour les ressources et les marchés de l'Afrique

ABSTRACT & RÉSUMÉ : Discrimination against the approximately 500,000 African (mostly irregular) immigrants has recently spread in China. During the corona pandemic, it degenerates into a true Afrophobia. Shortly before, five Nigerians in Guangzhou had reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. Africans are widely accused as drug traffickers and criminals. Also, they would endanger China's global competitiveness for Africa's resources through media baiting abroad. Current reports testify the displacement of African migrants from homes and hotels in Guangzhou (Canton), where most of the Africans live. They are dependent on informal, mostly illegal networks in order to be able to stay in the country. In online social networks Afrophobia as cyber racism is particularly pronounced. Thereby, racism is more deeply rooted in the mentality of many Chinese than is commonly assumed. According to a traditional Chinese proverb, the greatest evil to be avoided is ‘the destroyed nation and the annihilated race’. In addition, since 2005 land-grabbing by Chinese entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa arose international attention. Its main purpose is to ensure food security in China and to profit from international grain speculation. It was racially legitimized from the start, with slogans such as, only Chinese investments could save Africans from their traditional ‘laziness’. This repeats deeply rooted neo-colonial European prejudices of a ‘wild, ahistoric and uncivilized Africa’. The prejudices are still associated with a feeling of racial superiority. The social fabric of China has always embodied essential characteristics of the exclusion of ‘foreigners’, focused on ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender. The African Union, various African governments and even the United States have sharply criticized Beijing for mistreating migrants, particularly those from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. Racist attacks on Africans in China have an oppressively long tradition, associated with the expansion of bilateral Chinese petty trade in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 2000s and the subsequent influx of African petty traders into China. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RÉSUMÉ : La discrimination à l'encontre des quelque 500 000 immigrés africains (pour la plupart irréguliers) s'est récemment répandue en Chine. Pendant la pandémie de corona, cela dégénère en une véritable afrophobie. Peu de temps auparavant, cinq Nigérians de Guangzhou auraient été testés positifs pour Covid-19. Les Africains sont largement accusés d'être des trafiquants de drogue et des criminels. En outre, ils mettraient en danger la compétitivité mondiale de la Chine pour les ressources de l'Afrique par le biais du dénigrement médiatiques à l'étranger. Les rapports actuels témoignent du déplacement des migrants africains des maisons et des hôtels de Guangzhou (Canton), où vivent la plupart des Africains. Ils dépendent de réseaux informels, pour la plupart illégaux, pour pouvoir rester dans le pays. Dans les réseaux sociaux en ligne, l'afrophobie et le cyber-racisme sont particulièrement prononcés. Ainsi, le racisme est plus profondément enraciné dans la mentalité de nombreux Chinois qu'on ne le pense généralement. Selon un proverbe chinois traditionnel, le plus grand mal à éviter est « la nation détruite et la race anéantie ». En outre, depuis 2005, l'accaparement des terres par des entrepreneurs chinois en Afrique subsaharienne a attiré l'attention de la communauté internationale. Son objectif principal est d'assurer la sécurité alimentaire en Chine et de profiter de la spéculation céréalière internationale. Il a été légitimé racialement dès le départ, avec des slogans tels que, seuls les investissements chinois pouvaient sauver les Africains de leur « paresse » traditionnelle.

Collusion, Co-Optation, or Evasion: The Politics of Drug Trafficking Violence in Central America

Why do drug traffickers sometimes decide to use violence, but other times demonstrate restraint? Building on recent work on the politics of drug violence, this article explores how Central American drug trafficking organizations’ strategies impact their use of violence. I argue that three inter-related political factors—corruption, electoral competition, and the politicization of the security apparatus—collectively determine the type of relationship between traffickers and the state that will emerge. That relationship, in turn, determines the primary strategy used by traffickers in that country. Drawing on over two years of comparative ethnographic fieldwork in key transshipment points along the Caribbean coast of Central America, I show how co-optation strategies in Honduras have resulted in high levels of violence, evasion strategies in Costa Rica have produced moderate levels of violence, and collusion strategies in Nicaragua have generated the lowest levels of drug-related violence.

Cocaine

The contributors to Cocaine analyze the contemporary production, transit, and consumption of cocaine throughout the Americas and the illicit economy's entanglement with local communities. Based on in-depth interviews and archival research, these essays examine how government agents, acting both within and outside the law, and criminal actors seek to manage the flow of illicit drugs to both maintain order and earn profits. Whether discussing the moral economy of coca cultivation in Bolivia, criminal organizations and drug traffickers in Mexico, or the routes cocaine takes as it travels into and through Guatemala, the contributors demonstrate how entire ways of life are built around cocaine commodification. They consider how the authority of state actors is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers, complicating notions of governance and of the relationships between economic and moral economies. The collection also outlines a more progressive drug policy that acknowledges the important role drugs play in the lives of those at the urban and rural margins. Contributors. Enrique Desmond Arias, Lilian Bobea, Philippe Bourgois, Anthony W. Fontes, Robert Gay, Paul Gootenberg, Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Thomas Grisaffi, Laurie Kain Hart, Annette Idler, George Karandinos, Fernando Montero, Dennis Rodgers, Taniele Rui, Cyrus Veeser, Autumn Zellers-León

As Autodefesas Unidas da Colômbia (AUC) e sua Estratégia Paramilitar no Fim do Século XX: Origem, Organização e Ideologia l The United Self-Defenses of Colombia (AUC) and its Paramilitary Strategy at the End of the 20th Century: Origin, Organization and Ideology

Criadas em 1994 como uma confederação de exércitos privados colombianos, as Autodefesas Unidas da Colômbia (AUC) marcaram uma expansão do paramilitarismo e um recrudescimento do conflito armado naquele país, tendo sido atuantes até seu processo de desmobilização, em 2002. Buscando compreender as origens, a organização e os discursos desse fenômeno paramilitar, o presente trabalho realiza uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental que inclui, entre outros, os documentos originais das AUC e entrevistas com suas principais lideranças. Verifica-se que as AUC constituíram, por um lado, uma continuidade em relação ao paramilitarismo das doutrinas contrainsurgentes da Guerra Fria e aos grupos de civis armados financiados por narcotraficantes e proprietários de terra do final dos anos 70, e, por outro, um ponto de inflexão da estratégia paramilitar na Colômbia, quando esses exércitos buscam se projetar como atores políticos e independentes diante da opinião pública, buscando imitar pelo avesso a retórica e as estruturas guerrilheiras.Palavras-Chave: Paramilitarismo; Contrainsurgência; Colômbia.ABSTRACTCreated in 1994 as a confederation of Colombian private armies, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) marked an expansion of paramilitary and a renewed armed conflict in that country, having been active until its demobilization process in 2002. Seeking to understand the origins, the organization and the speeches of this paramilitary phenomenon, the present work conducts a bibliographic and documentary research that includes, among others, the original documents of the AUC and interviews with its main leaders. It appears that the AUC constituted, on the one hand, a continuity in relation to the paramilitarism of counterinsurgent Cold War doctrines and groups of armed civilians financed by drug traffickers and landowners in the late 1970s, and, on the other hand, a point inflection of the paramilitary strategy in Colombia, when these armies seek to project themselves as political and independent actors before the public opinion, trying to imitate the rhetoric and guerrilla structures inside out.Keywords: Paramilitarism; Counterinsurgency; Colombia. Recebido em: 04/04/2021 | Aceito em: 09/06/2021.

Birth of a Nomadic European People, History and Actuality of the Transmigrant Territories of Globalisation from Below in Southern Europe

1980s: Algerian immigrants since 1962, little visible on the public scene, developed transnational commercial initiatives to supply vast underground markets emerging in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, then in Spain, while strengthening their ties with the Maghreb. After 1990, the Algerians of Europe, who were suffering the aftershocks of the civil war in Algeria, withdrew to local micro markets at the same time as the great Moroccan migration was unfolding: more than a million people in the decade created all sorts of European networks for housing, work, ... took over the cross‑border commercial activities of the Algerians, with more flexible and diversified logistics. It was in the early 2000s that they met the Afghan, Georgian, Russian and Ukrainian cohorts of East Asian transmigrants working for Southeast Asian firms, negotiating “poor to poor”, i.e. “by the poor for the poor”, duty and quota‑free, electronic products. Goods sent from Hong Kong to the Persian Gulf Emirates, where they escape the control of the WTO in order to invade, through sales at half price, the huge market of the poor in Europe, who are solvent under these conditions. Taking the trans‑Balkan route, they merged in 2003 in Italy with the Moroccans: a major route of Globalization from below, or among the poor, was thus born from the Black Sea to Andalusia via Bulgaria, Albania, Italy, Southern France and the Spanish Levant. Informal notaries» ensure the ethics of exchanges along this “circulatory territory”. Bypassing the survival markets of the big metropolises, Istanbul, Sofia, Naples, Marseilles, Barcelona, the capitals of the territories of the transmigrants of the “poor among the poor” are medium‑sized cities. In France, Perpignan is one of them. Little by little, Balkan women are joining the sex work movement in Spain, with psychotropic drug traffickers linked to the Italian ‘ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita, and the Russian‑Ukrainian Dnieper mafia, who are particularly active in the border areas of the Adriatic Sea, from Albania to Italian Puglia, and in the Catalan area, from Perpignan, Andorra, La Junquère, Sitges. Années 1980 : des « beurs, orphelins de la République » succèdent à leurs pères Algériens immigrés depuis 1962, peu visibles sur la scène publique. Échappés au regard, au contrôle, à la soumission étatique nombre de ces « pères disparus » ont développé des initiatives commerciales transnationales, pour alimenter de vastes marchés souterrains en France, en Italie, en Allemagne, Belgique et Pays Bas, puis en Espagne tout enrenforçant leurs liens avec le Maghreb. Organisés en interminables tournées, ces transmigrants deviennent des nomades de la mondialisation par le bas. Après 1990, les Algériens d’Europe, qui subissent les contrecoups de la guerre civile en Algérie se replient vers des micro‑marchés locaux alors même que se déploie la grande migration marocaine : plus d’un million de personnes créant toute sorte de réseaux européens pour se loger ou travailler, reprennent les activités commerciales transfrontalières des Algériens, avec des logistiques plus souples et diversifiées. C’est au début des années 2000 qu’ils rencontrent les cohortes afghanes, géorgiennes, russes et ukrainiennes de transmigrants de l’Est oeuvrant pour les fabriques du sud‑est‑asiatique en négociant en « poor to poor » c’est à dire « par les pauvres pour les pauvres », hors taxes et contingentements, des produits électroniques. Marchandises envoyées de Hong Kong vers les Émirats du golfe Persique où elles échappent au contrôle de l’OMC afin d’envahir, par des ventes à moitié prix, l’immense marché des pauvres en Europe, solvable à ces conditions. Empruntant la route trans‑balkanique, ils fusionnent, dès 2003, en Italie, avec les Marocains : une route majeure de la mondialisation par le bas, ou entre pauvres, naît ainsi de la mer Noire à l’Andalousie par la Bulgarie, l’Albanie, l’Italie, le Sud français et le Levant espagnol. Peu à peu des femmes balkaniques s’agrègent aux circulations pour le travail du sexe en Espagne, avec des trafiquants de psychotropes liés à la ‘ndrangheta, à la Sacra Unita italiennes, et à la mafia russo‑ukrainienne du Dniepr particulièrement actives dans les espaces frontaliers de la mer Adriatique, d’Albanie aux Pouilles italiennes, et dans l’espace Catalan, de Perpignan, Andorre, La Junquère, Sitges. Ces milieux financent les réseaux du poor to poor, après que Gordon‑Brown et Sarkozy l’aient interdit aux banques émiraties en 2006. Contournant les marchés de survie des grandes métropoles, Istanbul, Sofia, Naples, Marseille, Barcelone, les capitales des territoires des nomades de « l’entre pauvre » sont des villes moyennes. Désormais plus de deux cent mille nomades forment avec plusieurs millions de sédentaires une société cosmopolite en mouvement le long de l’Europe méridionale, susceptible de modifier les équilibres locaux

Possessing Drugs, Possessing Rights: Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Reform in Argentina

Argentina’s national drug law, Law 23.737, has been in effect since 1989. Based on prohibitionist drug policy, this law was intended to severely punish drug traffickers and protect the public from drug use-related health concerns. However, it has failed to achieve these goals, and instead targets people who use drugs (PWUD) and brands them “criminals.” In response, the Argentine government announced its intent to reform Law 23.737 in 2008, sparking widespread debate among health, legal, and social service professionals. This article discusses this debate from the perspective of harm reductionists, those who work to reduce the negative effects of drug use rather than eliminate drug use or ensure abstinence. Drawing on archival research and 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Argentina, this article examines the positionality of harm reductionists in this drug policy reform, particularly the controversial proposal to decriminalize drug possession for personal use. Demonstrating their contention that Argentina’s legal apparatus is a major contributor to PWUD’s discrimination, stigmatization, and isolation from health and social services, I argue that challenging these problems through policy engagement allows Argentine harm reductionists to draw attention to the broader question of PWUD’s rights and to ultimately recast PWUD as rights-bearing citizens.

Peran Badan Narkotika Nasional Propinsi DIY Dalam Pencegahan Narkoba di Kota Yogyakarta

The issue of drug abuse or drug use is still a problem that is quite concerning for the Indonesian people until now. Indonesia is the right target for drug traffickers because of its large population and a large number of young people. This is a big challenge for the government to overcome this problem, through the institution, namely the National Narcotics Agency. This research was conducted with the aim to finding out what steps have been taken by the National Narcotics Agency to overcoming the problem of drug use, especially in Yogyakarta. This research used descriptive research methods that try to obtain facts and provides an overview of events and phenomena in people's lives to describe what is currently applicable. In overcoming the problem of drug abuse, especially in Yogyakarta, the Yogyakarta Provincial National Narcotics Agency has taken several steps, including increasing knowledge, give understanding and awareness of drug use. Take preventive measures and carry out advocacy. In carrying out its duties, BNNP DIY also always collaborates with other institutions, such as government agencies, private agencies, educational institutions and the community.

Violence and Migration on the Arizona-Sonora Border

2010 was a significant year for immigration issues along the United States-Mexico border. In April, Arizona signed the most extreme law against undocumented immigrants. In August, 72 hopeful migrants were massacred in Tamaulipas by alleged drug traffickers, and the Arizona desert claimed a record 252 lives in fiscal year 2010. These events were part of the trend that began with border militarization in the mid-1990s and escalated in the wake of 9/11, resulting in the extremely violent character of the undocumented border crossing experience. This is manifest, not only in the frequent reports of abuses by various actors along the border, but also in the consolidation of undocumented migration with the trafficking of narcotics. The authors have documented many cases of robbery, kidnapping, physical abuse, rape, and manipulation by drug traffickers. In this article, we discuss these different manifestations of violence by understanding both the structural constraints that create and characterize violence, as well as the individual reactions to the factors. The authors propose the conceptualization of “post structural violence” as a manner of enhancing the discussion of agency within and as a reaction to the structural conditions generated by border security and immigration policy.

Narcos in Jesús María: Dystopian empowerment in the amateur exploitation film Corazón cubano/Cuban Heart (2014)

This article analyses the film Corazón cubano/Cuban Heart (Liyuen Valdés 2014), a story about drug traffickers in the Jesús María neighbourhood of Havana, circulated only through the Paquete Semanal (Weekly Package). Examining the creators’ symbolic identification with the figure of the narco, this article explores Corazón as an example of amateur, alternative and informal media within the Paquete and its relationship with exploitation, cult and trash cinema. It argues that Corazón’s appropriation of narconarratives through reparteros (the inhabitants of Havana’s peripheric and poorest neighbourhoods) is linked to the relationship between reparteros, rap and reggaeton and points to the filmmakers’ will to combine social criticism and entertainment. Corazón also reproduces controversial practices and discourses like ‘necroempowerment’ (Valencia) or ‘fascinating violence’ (Valencia and Sepúlveda), developing dystopian empowerment by appropriating the narco as a ‘cultural persona’ (Edberg).