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- The BBC takes a look at Pontic Greek, a Greek dialect that survives precariously in exile from its homeland in Anatolia.
- Klaus Meyer writes at The Conversation about how Hitler, in his rise to power, became a German citizen.
- Low-income families in the Toronto area face serious challenges in getting affordable Internet access. CBC reports.
- Jeremy Keefe at Global News takes a look at Steve Skafte, an explorer of abandoned roads in Nova Scotia.
- In some communities in British Columbia, middle-class people have joined criminal gangs for social reasons. CBC reports.
- Tory Senator Lynn Beyak's latest ignorant statements about First Nations have to disqualify her from public office. Global News reports.
- Is the rebirth of Congo's palm oil exports sign of a return to normality? Can it occur? Will it last? Bloomberg examines.
- Oli Mould is critical of the idea promoting the arts and public culture will do much for poorer urbanites, over at Open Democracy.
- Tom Rowley profiles a book, drawn from a VKontakte group, examining the experiences of the former USSR in the 1990s, also at Open Democracy.
- This VICE discussion about what "queer" means is fascinating.
[LINK] "Farewell to Florida"
Jan. 23rd, 2015 04:57 pmAt Open Democracy, Mikhail Kaluzhsky argues that the popularity of Richard Florida and his "creative class" thesis in Russia actually wasn't supported by the facts on the ground.
As little as 18 months ago, one could still count hundreds of people in the Moscow metro who were prepared to demonstrate their involvement in political protest. No one wears the famous white ribbons anymore. The imitation of political activity on social networks has triumphed over real political activity, once and for all. Russians still turn out to defend their economic rights, but no one protests against the illegitimacy of parliament. Does anyone actually still remember that the Russian Duma is illegitimate? The war in Ukraine and the economic crisis, it seems, have completely eclipsed the political protest we saw in 2011-2012.
So, who are those people who took to the streets, and have now just as unexpectedly disappeared?
Apparently, the former protesters aren’t sure themselves. The social composition of the failed 'snow revolution' has been variously described, but the terminological confusion that this created only goes to demonstrate the acute identity crisis of the protesters. Identification and self-identification were focused around two seemingly interchangeable terms: 'middle class' and 'creative class'. Members of the opposition themselves declared that the 2011-2012 protests were a movement of the creative class. Those who did not support the white ribbon wearers still talk of the opposition-minded in derogatory terms (kreakly – creatives) in the pro-Putin media and social networks.
Just like the 19th century Russian intelligentsia’s love for Marxism, in the 2000s, Russians became obsessed with the theory of the creative class.
The Russian translation of Richard Florida's 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class. And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure and Everyday Life appeared in 2005. This concept soon became a source of inspiration for people who believed Russia possessed 'a capacity for innovation' and 'a knowledge-based economy', as well as those who believed that progress would be possible without actually changing the political system. The phrase itself quickly became fashionable: ‘creative class’ became part of everyone’s vocabulary (whether you believed in it or not). Yet discussions on topics such as 'Is there a creative class in Russia?' demonstrated first and foremost that the participants had not read Florida.
There was, of course, no creative class in Russia, or certainly not the phenomenon that Florida was writing about. For Florida, a creative class could only emerge if certain conditions – the ‘Three T’s’ – were met: talent (a talented, well-educated, and qualified population), technology (technological infrastructure is essential for the support of business), and tolerance (a diverse community guided by the principle of 'live and let live').
Here's a few links to demographics-related news stories I thought readers might be interested in.
Eurasianet, via Inter Press Service, features an article describing how many children in Kyrgyzstan have been left effective orphans by the migration of their parents, for work purposes, to Russia and Kazakhstan. I've read of similar phenomena elsewhere in the world, for instance in other post-Soviet republics like Armenia and Moldova.
The Guardian carried the news that Polish, on account of the past decade of immigration, is the second most common language by number of speakers in England, with the half-million Polish ranking just behind Welsh-speakers in total numbers.
On a related note, The Telegraph reports that not only have 3.6 million Britons emigrated in the decade 2001-2011, just under two million were people in the 25-44 age group, i.e. not retirees looking for the good life in France or Spain.
The Washington Post takes note of the fact that in Ireland, the ongoing post-boom recession is made relatively tolerable only by the resumption of large-scale emigration.
A recent OECD report points out that the German labour market hasn't been taking up large numbers of immigrant recently, tracing the problems to a regulatory system that's seen more as administering a ban on migrant workers with exceptions than one that enables migration, particularly for non-highly skilled workers, as well as the relatively small number of potential migrants fluent in Germany.
The Vancouver Observer notes that while Iran has a substantial population of talented computer engineers and software designers, by and large they can only exercise their talents outside of their country.
The South China Morning Post's Tom Holland writes, from a Hong Kong perspective, about how Singapore's total population and GDP may have surpassed Hong Kong's thanks to the former's liberal immigration policies, but notes that Hong Kong still has an advantage in GDP per capita. A Straits Times article, meanwhile, notes that the Singaporean government hopes to boost TFRs up to the 1.4-1.5 child per woman level, by a quarter.
The Hankoryeh notes that fertility in South Korea has risen somewhat in recent years, the TFR rising from an all-tie low of 1.08 in 2005 to 1.3 last year.
The Global Post has a photo essay depicting Chinese workers making their annual migration back to their home communities for the Lunar New Year festival.
On the subject of islands, growing migration from New Zealand (mainly to Australia, Bermuda (to the United States and Australia) and Puerto Rico (to the United States, increasingly to Florida) has been note in the press.
Al Monitor and Reuters both note the pronatalism of Erdogan in Turkey, who is trying to prevent Turkey's fertility rate from falling below the replacement level through a combination of financial incentives and public lectures.
(Crossposted at Demography Matters here.)
Eurasianet, via Inter Press Service, features an article describing how many children in Kyrgyzstan have been left effective orphans by the migration of their parents, for work purposes, to Russia and Kazakhstan. I've read of similar phenomena elsewhere in the world, for instance in other post-Soviet republics like Armenia and Moldova.
The Guardian carried the news that Polish, on account of the past decade of immigration, is the second most common language by number of speakers in England, with the half-million Polish ranking just behind Welsh-speakers in total numbers.
On a related note, The Telegraph reports that not only have 3.6 million Britons emigrated in the decade 2001-2011, just under two million were people in the 25-44 age group, i.e. not retirees looking for the good life in France or Spain.
The Washington Post takes note of the fact that in Ireland, the ongoing post-boom recession is made relatively tolerable only by the resumption of large-scale emigration.
A recent OECD report points out that the German labour market hasn't been taking up large numbers of immigrant recently, tracing the problems to a regulatory system that's seen more as administering a ban on migrant workers with exceptions than one that enables migration, particularly for non-highly skilled workers, as well as the relatively small number of potential migrants fluent in Germany.
The Vancouver Observer notes that while Iran has a substantial population of talented computer engineers and software designers, by and large they can only exercise their talents outside of their country.
The South China Morning Post's Tom Holland writes, from a Hong Kong perspective, about how Singapore's total population and GDP may have surpassed Hong Kong's thanks to the former's liberal immigration policies, but notes that Hong Kong still has an advantage in GDP per capita. A Straits Times article, meanwhile, notes that the Singaporean government hopes to boost TFRs up to the 1.4-1.5 child per woman level, by a quarter.
The Hankoryeh notes that fertility in South Korea has risen somewhat in recent years, the TFR rising from an all-tie low of 1.08 in 2005 to 1.3 last year.
The Global Post has a photo essay depicting Chinese workers making their annual migration back to their home communities for the Lunar New Year festival.
On the subject of islands, growing migration from New Zealand (mainly to Australia, Bermuda (to the United States and Australia) and Puerto Rico (to the United States, increasingly to Florida) has been note in the press.
Al Monitor and Reuters both note the pronatalism of Erdogan in Turkey, who is trying to prevent Turkey's fertility rate from falling below the replacement level through a combination of financial incentives and public lectures.
(Crossposted at Demography Matters here.)
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I've a post up at Demography Matters taking a brief look at the phenomenon of the international student, with special focus on Canada as a destination. Seeking educational opportunities not available in their homelands, welcomed by countries looking for extra income, international students are frequently desirable migrants.
[BLOG] Some Friday links
Apr. 15th, 2011 03:34 pm- 80 Beats observes that scientists found proof that weather affects continental plates. This discovery has implications for the geologies of other planets.
- Andrew Barton at Acts of Minor Treason is displeased with Ontario's left-wing New Democratic Party for its opportunistic misunderstanding of radiation levels in its opposition to nuclear power.
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bitterlawngnome has photos of yesterday's controlled burn in Toronto's High Park. Aiming to simulate the natural wildfires of the ecology, it creates some unearthly beauty.- blogTO has more on the controlled burn.
- The Burgh Diaspora's Jim Russell notes that the cohorts of young people in both San Francisco and Portland (Oregon) is either static or shrinking.
- demographer links to a map showing the dates the countries of the world adopted their national anthems. The United Kingdom, Argentina, and Peru seem to have some of the oldest.
- Eastern Approaches blogs about the weakness of social capital--and, by extension, civil society--in Georgia.
- Matt Warren at The Long Game acquits George Lucas of misogyny in the Star Wars movies since he can't write realistic characters as a rule.
- At NewAPPS, Caterina Dutilh Novaes writes about how, in the wake of the mass shooting at a Rio de Janeiro school, efforts to reduce the availability of firearms in Brazil are continuing (and may already have reduced the homicide rate substantially).
- pollotenchegg has a Ukrainian-language post here (translated into English here taking a look at different demographic trends in Poland. The division between pre-1939 Poland and the territories annexed in 1945 is notable.
- Quiet Babylon's Tim Maly notes that virtual reality failed as a project, that augmented reality has taken its place instead.
- Slap Upside the Head observes that today is the Day of Silence, a day aiming to publicize and combat the existence of homophobic bullying.
- Window on Eurasia's Paul Goble notes that the recent visit of Abkhazia's president Sergey Bagapsh to Turkey indicates Turkey's desire to establish closer relations with the various parties in the South Caucasus without risking diplomatic issues with the West over recognition or with other diasporas over other territories.
In a new post over at Demography Matters, I speculate that the recent surge of Polish emigrants to points in western Europe has been precipitated perhaps as much by the discontent of Poland's young generation with the populist conservatism of the Kaczynski government as by the gap between Polish and western Europe living standards. If your country (or region, or city) is competing for valuable workers, it's a very good idea indeed not to scare them away.
