Communities Without Borders: Diasporas and home country influence
By Laurel Carlton
A ‘community’ can be created by any collective identity – based on shared experiences, values, beliefs, interests, resources, needs. While shared location or geographic proximity may be one of these factors, modern technology and global migration have fostered distinct forms of transnational communities, as in the case of ‘diasporas’.
The term ‘diaspora’ was traditionally used to describe groups of people who were involuntarily displaced from their homelands – like the Jewish diaspora that was forced from Europe, or the African diaspora driven by the transatlantic slave trade. The term is now used more widely to refer to any group of people who:
1) share a nationality or ethnicity from their country of origin,
2) live in a new host country, and 3) maintain some kind of cultural separateness from that new country.
Significantly, this last point distinguishes disaporas from other immigrant groups: although they may assimilate with their new countries in some ways, diaspora groups work to maintain the distinct cultural identities associated with their countries of origin. The ‘Chinatowns,’ ‘Little Havanas,’ ‘Koreatowns,’ ‘Little Italies,’ ‘Little Manilas’ and ‘Los Barrios’ of North America and Europe reflect this phenomenon.
In his book Global Diasporas (2008), Robin Cohen identifies other elements that typically characterize diaspora communities, including “a strong ethnic group consciousness sustained over a long time and based on a sense of distinctiveness, a common history, the transmission of a common cultural and religious heritage and the belief in a common fate.” Further, diaspora members often demonstrate an “idealization of the real or imagined ancestral home and a collective commitment to its maintenance, restoration, safety and prosperity, even to its creation.” Finally, diasporas create transnational communities: feelings of “empathy and co-responsibility” often exist between members of the same ethnicity or nationality living in different host countries.
The strong and idealized identities that diasporas attach to their homelands often translates into long-term commitments to home country issues. Indeed, many diasporas continue to play important roles in the economies and political environments of their countries of origin.
Some, like the Guatemalan and Mexican diasporas, make important contributions to home country finances through remittances – money sent home to family members – which provides an important support for those families as well as for the broader national economy. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, Guatemala is the second largest recipient of remittances in the Americas, receiving an estimated $4.8 billion in 2012, which represents over 10% of the Guatemalan gross domestic product.
Diasporas also maintain economic ties with their countries of origin through voluntary donations to charitable cause, like the Guatemalans living in the United States who support development projects in Guatemala. This ‘diaspora philanthropy’ can be particularly important during times of natural disaster, as seen by the Filipino diaspora’s fundraising efforts in response to Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Phillipines in November, 2013. Beyond financial support, diasporas have also played fundamental roles in shaping home country politics. As explained in a working paper for the University of Oxford by Steven Vertovec (2005), “different diaspora-based associations may lobby host countries (to shape policies in favour of a homeland or to challenge a homeland government), influence homelands (through their support or opposition of governments), give financial and other support to political parties, social movements and civil society organizations, or sponsor terrorism or the perpetuation of violent conflict in the homeland.”
For example, diasporas have greatly influenced violent conflicts in their countries of origin, providing militaries with financial support, weapons, or recruits. The Tamil diaspora provided financial and organizational support for the Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War between 1983 and 2009, and the Eritrean and Ethiopian diasporas funded both sides of the 1998-2000 Eritrean- Ethiopian War. In The Ghosts of Medak Pocket, Carol Off explores the role that the Croatian diaspora played in supporting the 1990 election of nationalist president Franjo Tudjman as well as its strategy during the Croatian War of Independence. Off describes how Croats in Canada were “obsessed with events in their newly independent country,” and fundraised, along with members of the Croatian diaspora in other countries, an estimated $15 million to $50 million for the war. Some returned to fight, while others lobbied from abroad, influencing Europe and North America’s decisions to recognize Croatia as an independent state. Members of the Croat diaspora subsequently held twelve of the 120 parliamentary seats in the newly independent country.
Diasporas can also play key roles roles in shaping their new country’s policies towards their countries of origin. For example, according to a “Foreign Policy” Magazine article by Reza Marashi, Director of Research at the National Iranian American Council, Iraqi-American dissidents and exiles actively lobbied the United States government for aggressive actions against Saddam Hussein’s regime, culminating in the Iraq War in 2003. Alternatively, Marashi suggests that Iranian- Americans have played an important role in promoting the more passive, non-military approach to US-Iranian relations.
Global diaspora networks sometimes organize mass demonstrations to raise awareness and affect policy decisions regarding home country issues. For example, following the Turkish security forces’ capture and imprisonment of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, the Kurdish diaspora organized mass protests calling for his release in seventeen countries. Further, 2008 and 2009 saw the Tamil diaspora hold demonstrations in countries as varied as Australia, the United States, Germany, Canada, India, Denmark, the Netherlands and Malaysia, to protest civilian casualties in the Sri Lankan Civil War and to call on world leaders to coordinate a ceasefire. More recently, in February 2014, the Venezuelan diaspora held demonstrations in many Canada, the United States, Spain, France, and the Vatican City, in support of the protests in Venezuela over high levels of criminal violence, inflation, and the scarcity of basic goods.
Diapora communities will continue to play an important role in shaping contemporary conflicts. For example, during the four months of demonstrations in Ukraine that led to the toppling of President Viktor Yanukovych at the end of February 2014, the Ukrainian diaspora provided direct support for the protest movement by raising money and lobbying governments in their new countries. The sheer size of the Ukranian diaspora suggests that it will continue to influence developments in Ukraine: according to the Toronto-based Ukrainian World Congress, an estimated 20 million Ukrainians live outside the country, compared to 46 million that live in Ukraine.
Many countries have established policies to engage with their diasporas, given these communities’ potential for economic and political influence. Several studies have shown that diasporas with dual citizenship engage more with their countries of origin; Serbia, Israel, Argentina, Bangladesh, and Brazil are among those states that allow dual citizenship. Other countries engage their diasporas directly, through specific government offices that manage diaspora relations, like the Somali Department of Diaspora Affairs, Ireland’s Emigrant Support Program, and the Commonwealth of Dominica’s Ministry of Employment, Trade, Industry and Diaspora Affairs.
Ultimately, diasporas’ commitments to home country concerns, profoundly affect contemporary international relations. Their long-term socio-cultural, economic, and political impacts are yet to be seen, but it is clear that although each diaspora has roots in their respective nationality or ethnicity, they truly are transnational communities without borders.
A former Xela resident, Laurel Carlton lives in Ottawa, Canada, and works as a researcher in the non-profit sector.
