Open%20borders%20The%20case%20against%20immigration%20controls%20-%20Teresa%20Hayter

172 Open Borders
situation should, in fact, be reversed. It is quite possible, and right, to oppose
free trade and uncontrolled movements of capital, and the domination of the
World Trade Organisation by the interests of big capital, and yet to be in
favour of the free movement of people. In an ideal world investment would
be planned and democratically controlled so that its benefits were widely
spread, to reduce inequality, share necessary jobs and improve working
conditions and social conditions worldwide, and to protect the environment
and other essential interests which are now threatened by profit-seeking
private capital. Within Britain some argue that workers who have been made
redundant in the North of the country, rather than being forced to migrate
south where there are jobs but no housing, should have access to jobs in the
North. But people should have the right, internationally as they do within
Britain and the EU, to chose freely either to stay where they are or to migrate.
Free movement of people will enable workers and the mass of people to share
ideas and organise internationally. It too will require international
agreement, so that some governments do not maintain restrictions while
others abolish them. To deny people the right to migrate is harsh and
oppressive, and is leading to unbearable extremes of cruelty.
Cultural diversity exists within nations. In the world as a whole it has
existed for thousands of years. It is to be celebrated. It has the potential to
enhance human progress. The opening of borders could make the world a
more harmonious and peaceful and less racist place, and make possible
cooperation and democracy and greater mutual understanding worldwide.
Immigration controls should be consigned to the dustbin of history,
recognised for what they are: a cruel but relatively short-lived twentiethcentury
aberration.