> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Migration beyond resentment
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/migration-after-the-crunch/
- Published: 2008-12-09T15:12:21.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:59:49.000Z
- Author: Tom Griffin
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 19:57

The politics of migration represent an acute challenge for a post-credit crunch world in which the assumptions of liberal globalisation are being called into question.

In the UK, [Sunder Katwala](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/ourkingdom-theme/the-return-of-enoch) warns against a return to the right-wing chauvinism of Enoch Powell, a politics that sought to prevent the multi-racial Britain which is today's reality. In contrast, [Paul Kingsnorth](https://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/ourkingdom-theme/paul-kingsnorth-1/2008/11/04/the-ugly-economics-of-immigration) argues that it is the left that has most to gain from challenging a belief in open borders that emphasises labour market flexibility at the expense of working class living standards.

For [Shamser Sinha](https://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/ourkingdom-theme/shamser-sinha/2008/11/10/immigration-and-the-politics-of-resentment), that analysis represents a politics of resentment which ignores the broader reality. When people are faced with poverty, many will seek a better future elsewhere, and wealthy countries already put significant barriers in their way.

Some of those obstacles are exemplified by the experiences of Uzbek migrants in Russia encountered by [Maria Yanovskaya](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/uzbek-migration-low-pay-life-sentence). Despite their often marginal position, such workers provide crucial remittances to their home countries. The loss of their jobs to the credit crunch could pave the way for a social explosion.