The problem of migrants pitching up on the shores of the developed world is headline news daily. And it’s changing the political map. We call it ‘populism’ and associate it with the far Right ideologies which convulsed the world within living memory. It’s what happens when people feel under threat by something which is out of control. But it’s not new.
Migration has gone on forever. The numbers have never been very big – about 3% of the total. And not always bad. About 6 million African Americans fled the Southern states to escape Jim Crow, and supplied the US army and industries in the North with vital manpower. An earlier 55 million migrated out of Europe and built America. East African nurses are headhunted to fill gaps in the NHS in the UK. Poland offers a safety valve to Ukrainians.
And it's not just humans. Migratory birds play a fundamental role in long distance seed dispersal. Bees pollinate fruits, vegetables and crops.
The problem starts when migrants want to come more than the receiving country wants to accept them e.g. when 11 million S. Americans funnel their way through Mexico to the US border. Or when dengue fever and West Nile virus fail to check in at migration control.
Walls can be built, but circumnavigated. Small boats can be destroyed, but they can be replaced. Welfare systems can be redesigned to be less accommodating, and still be more attractive than terror, hunger and loss of hope.
Ashok listens and watches and understands that treating the symptoms of the problem is like trying to push steam back into a boiling kettle. The source of the problem is the lack of security and public goods like jobs, education, health which provide the glue of community. Without them the grass will always be greener somewhere else, and great risks will be taken to reach it. ‘Patches’ of dark green and paler green will help move resources around productively. ‘No green’ and societies will implode from excessive migration, violence become the order of the day, military rule the default option and Humpty Dumpty will break and fall.
His Schools for the Common Good show how to solve the deep problems of uncontrolled migration through greater productivity and the potential for balance in both minds and the distribution of resources.
Who we are
Where to buy
Epiphanies
Leslie is an economist who challenges economics’ dominance in public life. His work includes social autobiographies, Little Books of the Common Good and other essays. Find out more about Leslie, our illustrator, Jennifer, and how Ashok came to be.
Find out more on how to purchase a copy of the book. All author royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to charity.
Ashok sows the seeds for personal and community transformations. Read about individuals and communities’ we think have taken on the transformative spirit of Ashok.
Who we are
Leslie is an economist who challenges economics’ dominance in public life. His work includes social autobiographies, Little Books of the Common Good and other essays. Find out more about Leslie, our illustrator, Jennifer, and how Ashok came to be.
Where to buy
Find out more on how to purchase a copy of the book. All author royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to charity.
Epiphanies
Ashok sows the seeds for personal and community transformations. Read about individuals and communities’ we think have taken on the transformative spirit of Ashok.