The marriage of music and activism
Migration Music Festival in Taipei features a diverse program based on a multicultural blending of music that occur naturally through the migration and interaction of ethnic groups. The program includes mu
sic, film screenings, workshops and seminars whose foundation is to encourage respect and tolerance among all peoples. The international festival showcases folk and traditional music from diverse cultures where migration and exposure to cultural arts has fostered a rich offspring of honoring both diversity and commonalities.
“Festivals can be used for people to celebrate different ethnic identities in the world and they can also address the mistreatment of minorities in society,” said Jihong – the festival founder. “There are so many different cultures in the world and this is a good way to engage people from various backgrounds.”
“It is this kind of attitude that prompts people to get involved and volunteer in grassroots activities,” she said. And it is the same attitude that prompted Jihong to launch the first Migration Music Festival in 2001.
“Our aim is not just a party with music but to involve people to encourage more educational activities.”
The 2011 Migration Music Festival (MMF) organized lectures, concerts, documentary films, workshops, travelers’ tales and installation art shows at the Taipei Zhongshan Hall, Taipei Artist Village, and Chiayi Performing Arts Center.
Hopefully this year, in autumn, we will repeat the experience of migration music in Taiwan!
http://www.treesmusic.com/festival/2011mmf/index.htm
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“Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future”
Ian Goldin, Geoffrey Cameron & Meera Balarajan
Winner of the 2011 PROSE Award, Sociology & Social Work, Association of American Publishers
Featured as a “Page-turner” and one of the Best Books of 2011 in Politics and Current Affairs, The Economist
Few things will affect our future more than migration. A new book provides one of the best analyses of its costs and benefits.
Throughout history, migrants have fueled the engine of human progress. Their movement has sparked innovation, spread ideas, relieved poverty, and laid the foundations for a global economy. In a world more interconnected than ever before, the number of people with the means and motivation to migrate will only increase. Exceptional People looks at the profound advantages that such dynamics will have for countries and migrants the world over. Challenging the received wisdom that a dramatic growth in migration is undesirable, the book proposes new approaches for governance that will embrace this international mobility.
The authors’ recommendations for the future are the book’s most important contribution to the field of migration studies. Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan put forward a convincing case for the long-term advantages of migration, and argue that governments should do more to reap the benefits of such shifts rather than seeking only to control their borders. Migration should not be seen as a problem, they contend, but rather an inherent characteristic of globalisation. In future, they propose, states and international organisations should extend transnational rights, encourage migrants’ social and economic progression, promote and extend the legal migration framework, fight xenophobia, discrimination and abuse, and enhance the process of data collection.
Their calls for open borders, the freer movement of people and the creation of a global institution to manage migration are not without controversy. But in a work that is an essential read for anyone with an interest in the subject, their arguments are buttressed by a deep understanding of the past, a comprehensive engagement with the present and a clear vision of the future.
More info:
http://www.economist.com/node/18741382
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=416862§ioncode=26
