For many Asian workers, their dream of a new and prosperous life do not lie in the U.S., but instead, in the oil-rich countries of the Middle East, such as the United Arab Emirates. But similar to what many migrant workers to the U.S. eventually learn, the reality is sometimes much different from their idealistic hopes:

When hundreds of workers angered by low salaries and mistreatment rioted Tuesday night at the site of what is to become the world’s tallest skyscraper, not only were they expressing the growing frustration of Asian migrants here, they offered a glimpse of an increasingly organized labor force.

Far from the high-rise towers and luxury hotels emblematic of Dubai, the workers turning this swath of desert into a modern metropolis live in a Dickensian world of cramped labor camps, low pay and increasing desperation . . . . often paying thousands of dollars to unscrupulous recruiters for the chance to work at one of the hundreds of construction sites in the emirates. . . .

Denial of wages is the most common abuse of workers, as contracting companies typically wait to pay their workers until they themselves get paid. In the worst cases, workers have been denied wages for more than 10 months, only to lose the entire salary when the contracting companies go bankrupt, leaving the men destitute and with few options.

Unfortunately this is another example of one of the drawbacks of globalization. Just like in the U.S., a demand for cheap labor leads many desperate workers to take desperate measures in order to make a better life for themselves, only to find exploitation and inhuman working and living conditions in the process.

Whether it’s migrant farm workers in the U.S., garment workers in Guam and Saipan, or Asian construction workers in the UAE, wherever there is capitalism and globalization, there is also sure to be exploitation and misery as well. Thankfully, as the article describes, many of these workers are fighting back and standing up for their rights and their humanity.

The struggle between humanity and capitalism continues to rage . . .

Many cultures around the world display certain elements of ethnocentrism, as their citizens may feel that their ethnic group is superior to other racial, ethnic, or cultural groups. But in South Korea, one of their “adopted” and “homegrown” heroes, Pittsburgh Steelers star wide receiver Hines Ward, is causing Koreans to take a hard, critical look at their ethnocentrism:

even as Koreans watch Ward’s stellar catches and crunching blocks endlessly played out on TV, they’re taking a hard look at their ethnocentric culture. Ward’s racial background is sparking a round of soul-searching about deep prejudices that often subject biracial children to taunts at school, rejection on the job, and poverty.

“It is very difficult in Korean society,” says Yi Kyung Kyun, country director of the Pearl Buck Foundation. “They don’t appreciate alien people. They are prejudiced against mixed-blood children.”

The prejudices show up in every phase of the lives of the 5,000 biracial Koreans from broken homes, most of whom have never known their fathers. . . . Mr. Yeo hopes that Ward – who is receiving rock-star treatment – will help to break down some of the severe prejudices often visible in this heterogeneous society.

I think it’s great that Hines Ward can have this positive effect on Koreans. As our world becomes increasingly multicultural and globalized, Asians (and for that matter, citizens from all countries around the world) really need to become more familiar with and less prejudiced against “outsiders” and others who are different from them. This is especially true in many Asian countries that have a history of hostility and prejudice against such “barbarians.”

This development of greater tolerance towards outsiders can also benefit Asian Americans in two ways. First, since a large (and growing) portion of the Asian American population are multiracial, this greater level of acceptance can help to integrate both groups together as a more cohesive racial group.

Secondly, reducing the level of intolerance against “outsiders” can also help promote a greater sense of pan-Asian identity where Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, etc. can more readily accept and feel solidarity with each other while still appreciating each group’s unique characteristics.

It looks like Hines Ward came to Korea at just the right time. Who knows, he could be the start of something big . . .

It is rather ironic that one of the last remaining capitalist countries is being criticized for abandoning communist principles by its own citizens. That is apparently what’s happening in Viet Nam, where workers are protesting the erosion of worker rights and socialist ideals as the government focuses on joining the globalized capitalist economy:

In Vietnam, workers across the nation are organizing in numbers rarely seen since the communist takeover in 1975. Some 60,000 workers are demanding, among other things, the right to a decent salary, improved working conditions and, most important, to strike and to form their own union. . . .

The great majority of the workers come from impoverished rural areas in search of job opportunities in urban centers. They earn an average wage of about $2 per day — the lowest in Southeast Asia — and can’t pay for basic living needs. Urbanization, globalization and tourism have sent the cost of living skyward. . . .

[Some of their demands:] “Wherever there is exploitation, oppression, people must rise up in mass to take over the ownership, overthrow the capitalist conglomerations, and seize control for the poor people. . . . In case our eight-point demands are not realized, we will select one site to launch our struggle (and) seize the plant, the business of foreign capitalists, similarly to what the Communist Party has done in the past.”

This development only highlights a fundamental fact that many of us have known for years — Viet Nam is not a communist country. Instead, it is a totalitarian country, controlled by a paranoid regime that only uses communist principles as a facade. True communism would involve exactly what the workers are asking for — protection for the poor, workers’ rights, and a social philosophy focused on the well-being of the entire country, rather than just a privileged few.

We’ll have to keep an eye on this situation, but it would be quite a story if the fake communists are shamed into acting like real communists.

In a sign of the increasingly tense and even hostile relationship between the two Asian superpowers, Japan just announced that it will indefinitely cease providing loans to Japan:

Ties between Japan and China have deteriorated sharply in the past year. The two are feuding over maritime gas deposits, interpretations of World War II history and other issues. Japanese aid to China has also come under increasing domestic scrutiny the past few years as Beijing’s economy has boomed while Japan’s had wallowed in a decade-long slowdown. . . .

Much is at stake for both sides. Energy-hungry China wants to expand its own resource base, while trade with its fast-growing neighbor is a key factor in Japan’s own economic revival.

The turmoil continues. This seems to be related to Japan’s recent spate of actions that have antagonized its Asian neighbors and the international community. As such, it again highlights how Japan is apparently acting like a spoiled and overprivileged little brat — always used to getting its way, but once somebody begins to stand up to it, it throws a tantrum.

Memo to Japan: the world is becoming increasing interdependent. Globalization is real. If you don’t keep up with the times, you’re going to be left in the dust.

I’ve written before about Toyota being the first “foreign” automaker to compete in NASCAR, the “all-American” racing series. Despite Toyota and other Asian car companies having several factories in the U.S. that employ tens of thousands of workers, many Americans will forever consider them a foreign (and therefore ‘un-American’) company. Well, a new Christian Science Monitor article argues that the prosperity of Asian factories in the U.S. benefits the auto industry in the long run:

It’s a tale of two industries. One is downsizing its workforce, discounting its prices, and is based in Detroit. The other is building factories, expanding its market share, and calls the South its regional home. But these days, domestic and foreign automakers are two sides of the same US auto industry. . . .

Against that backdrop of cutbacks, the rise of foreign “transplant” factories helps explain a surprising fact: For all the difficult news about plant closings and big quarterly losses, America’s auto industry is retaining jobs better than other traditional industries. Overall employment in domestic manufacturing is down sharply during the past 15 years, yet the automotive sector employs more people than it did in 1990.

In some ways, each Ford pickup that rolls off a Michigan assembly line still represents a bigger boon for the US economy than a made-in-America Toyota. Domestic nameplates tend to contain more US-made parts and more US-based design value. But the larger trend is that such lines are increasingly blurring as all major auto companies go global. Productivity gains, too, have been spurred by the arrival of transplants.

As the article mentions, the “social value” of a Ford, GM, or Chrysler car is perceived to be higher than that for a similar Toyota, Honda, Mazda, or Hyundai that’s also built in the U.S. (we’ll conveniently ignore for now that Chrysler is owned by Daimler-Benz, a German company).

Americans have a right to judge different companies however they want and certainly, to spend their own money however they want. But at the least, Americans should recognize that whenever someone buys a car that has a Toyota, Honda, or other Asian nameplate on it, that it too represents another benefit for the U.S. economy in many ways.

Remember that a Japanese car has been the best selling passenger car in the U.S. for the past ten years or so. In other words, Americans can be “patriotic” but also sensible at the same time.

Even though Hong Kong is technically a part of China these days, in many ways, the two lands remain separated from each other. One area in which that is plain to see is in regard to how many movies that are box office hits in Hong Kong are never shown in China:

Supernatural films are a staple genre in the Hong Kong cinedrome. One recent success is The Eye, from Hong Kong-based Applause Pictures. The film – about a cornea-transplant patient and her eerie post-surgery visions – was a smash hit at the Hong Kong box office, and remake rights have been purchased by Hollywood’s Cruise/Wagner Productions.

But don’t search for The Eye at Beijing cineplexes any time soon. Despite decades of economic and social reform, the mainland maintains a cinematic nix-list: nudity, homosexuality, extramarital affairs and supernatural themes all remain verboten.

Why is Beijing so concerned about ghosts and goblins? Politically, secret societies based on arcane beliefs have posed threats to China’s power structure for centuries. Socially, the shift toward a modern culture has motivated Beijing to create a list of “approved” religions and conveniently prohibit all else.

So in this case, China wants to ban anything that even hints at traditional beliefs and instead, wants to promote “modernity” and “progress.” Apparently “modernity” and “progress” include censorship, human rights abuses, prohibiting freedom of expression, no freedom of religion, corruption, and a totalitarian regime firmly opposed to democracy.

Yeah, sounds like real progress to me . . .

In many ways, the legacy of the Viet Nam War still haunts the Vietnamese American community. As a result of their political refugee experiences, many Vietnamese remain strongly anti-communist and as a result, react fiercely at any hint that a fellow Vietnamese may potentially harbor any form of sympathy for communism. An intra-community squabble in St. Paul, MN illustrates this clearly:

Tuan Pham says he has been smeared and his business ruined because of intense feeling in the Vietnamese immigrant community about the country’s flag — and whether he dishonored it. To Tuan Pham, it was a simple act of respect for a visiting dignitary.

But for some of his fellow Vietnamese immigrants, Tuan Pham’s role in briefly lowering the flag of South Vietnam from atop the St. Paul Vietnam Center was a shameful deed. For months, protesters rallied outside his small shop on University Avenue.

Ultimately, Tuan Pham and his wife, Mai Vu, sued more than 50 people for defamation, claiming they tarnished his name, labeled him a communist and ruined his business, which has since closed. The case, going to trial this week in Ramsey County, shows that emotions over a war that ended more than three decades ago still simmer within the city’s Vietnamese community.

Unfortunately, this incident only goes to show that narrow-mindedness and ignorance can originate from many different types of groups. Even though I do not know the exact details of this case, I get the distinct feeling that the Vietnamese who protested against Mr. Pham and caused his business to fail are nothing more than bullies.

Like a classic bully who doesn’t get his way and then takes his frustrations out on other people, the defendants in this lawsuit apparently are still upset about what happened to them in the Viet Nam War and even though it was more than 30 years ago, still cannot deal with their resentment and hostility in a constructive way.

Instead, they constantly look for the slightest little potential provocation and then fly off into an angry rage against a convenient scapegoat, oblivious to the consequences of their actions. Except in this case, Mr. Pham is holding them accountable for their reckless actions, as he absolutely should.

It’s one thing to express our opinions and protest but living in the U.S. should teach anyone that with freedom of expression comes responsibility. If you express yourself irresponsibly, recklessly, and irresponsibly, you should be held accountable. Whether they defendants like it or not, that’s the American way.

For many Korean parents, it’s common to leave their kids at home alone while they’re at work or running errands, etc. But as you can probably imagine, the norms about leaving kids at home here in the U.S. are much different. As the Pacific News Service reports, this cultural disparity has resulted in some serious consequences:

Often many immigrant families cannot afford daycare for their children. They are also especially prone to leaving their children to fend for themselves because they lack the support of grandparents or other relatives nearby who might otherwise help in the care of the children. Cultural attitudes also can influence parents’ decisions. . . .

Hae Sun Shin, a counselor with the Korean Youth Cultural Center, says there are many detrimental emotional side effects for small children left alone. “Latchkey kids often suffer from emotional distress and other negative side effects,” she says in the Korea Daily. Latchkey kids, she says, often suffer from high levels of separation anxiety.

It’s a pretty sad situation for everyone in these types of situations. Thankfully, social service agencies are apparently becoming more sensitive to these types of situations and how they are often merely the result of cultural misunderstandings rather than overt neglect or abuse. On the flip side, as Korean immigrants become more acculturated into American norms, they will hopefully realize that this practice can have serious negative consequences and should be avoided.

Hopefully as both sides become more aware of each other and educated about the specifics involved, this issue will become one less problem that Koreans (and all immigrants) will have to worry about.

Back in 2004, in the process of delivering a $10 Chinese takeout order, an 18 year old Chinese American deliveryman was lured into an apartment and then repeatedly beaten and stabbed to death by three young men. These three men were subsequently found guilty of murder and two of them were recently sentenced to more than 50 years in prison:

Prosecutors claimed the killing was a robbery and initiation into a branch of the notorious Bloods gang. Another one of the teens, Charles Bryant, 18, was already sentenced last May, to 52 years to life in prison. The third member of the group, Nayquan Miller, 18, agreed to a plea deal. He later testified against Capehart and is expected to be sentenced next month. . . .

Community leaders hailed the stiff prison term. “This is the kind of sentencing that will ensure criminals will face the full force of our justice system, especially if they think food delivery workers are easy prey,” said New York City Council Member John Liu.

Normally I consider myself liberal in terms of crime and criminal justice, and that young and first-time criminals should normally be given a chance to atone for their crime and become rehabilitated into productive citizens. However, there are certain crimes that defy understanding and as a result, defy my usual sympathy for the accused. This is one of those crimes.

In this case, justice was (somewhat surprisingly) served for the entire Asian American community, American society in general, and of course, for the Chen family who lost their son in such a violent and devastating way.

At the same time, I can’t help but fear that this entire episode is not likely to do wonders for Asian-Black relations. Although there are plenty of Blacks who probably feel that the murderers got what they deserve, there are also likely to be many who feel that the guilty men were sentenced too harshly and coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, were not given an opportunity to redeem themselves.

Ultimately, I hope that many Americans of all different races and backgrounds can agree on is that the vast majority of minorities who are poor and disadvantaged do not gang up on and murder innocent Chinese takeout deliverymen. Being victims of racism does not make it ok to perpetrate such an evil act — one that hurts all Americans, whatever their skin color.

Congratulations to Japan for beating Cuba and winning the inaugural World Baseball Classic championship. This was a tournament that included many of the best all-star players from around the world, with the U.S. fielding its own team of superstars (who ultimately and embarrassingly lost in the quarterfinals):

Despite having only two major leaguers, Japan won the tournament. Despite having no major leaguers, Cuba finished second. The United States feels it has the best players in the world. In this tournament, that was untrue. Japan, as the flying flags showed, was the class of this classic.

Personally, I probably rooted for the U.S. the most. Nonetheless, this outcome of Japan winning the championship is very rewarding nonetheless because it goes a long way in demonstrating that although baseball is an American invention and that American players are the most well-known and well-paid, that does not automatically mean that American baseball players are always superior to non-American players.

In other words, players from Japan, Cuba, and many other countries are just as good — if not even better — than many U.S. players. It was this kind of arrogant, jingoistic, and racist attitude that kept Black players out of the major leagues for so long. I would also argue that it is this same kind of attitude that leads many Americans into believing that Japanese baseball is inferior to American baseball.

Thankfully, not all Americans feel that way. One example comes from Jim Rome, the nationally-popular and celebrated talk radio sports commentator who said the following about Ichiro Suzuki, perhaps Team Japan’s best known player:

Ichiro Suzuki, as he usually is, was the man for Japan. He hit .364 (low for him), had a jack, stole four bases, and drove in 5 runs. He had 2 knocks last night and scored 3 times in the championship game. This guy is just a phenomenal player. Too bad that he plays on such a non-descript, go nowhere major league team.

The guy is collecting 250 hits a season, and no one seems to care. Granted, he isn’t all pumped up on moo juice, beef roids, and clomid, (allegedly), but there aren’t too many guys that are more entertaining to watch play ball. Ichiro runs like a deer, uses a bat like a magic wand and plays right field as well as anyone, but nobody cares because he is on the Mariners, and they have lost 93 and 99 games the last 2 seasons.

I know it is asking a lot to actually sit through a Mariners game, but do yourself a favor and watch this guy play. There’s nothing else in baseball like the guy. As agonizing as it would be to sit through an entire Mariners game, what this guy brings to the field makes it worth it.

Congratulations again to Ichiro and the entire Team Japan and let’s hope the U.S. has a better answer next year.

Divorced British Asians, much like their Asian American counterparts, are frequently caught between two worlds — their traditional Asian culture and contemporary British culture on the other. When British Asian marriages end in divorce, the divorcees frequently encounter a social stigma and ostracism from their Asian communities. That’s where technology and the Internet come in to help:

“The Asian success story is based on family, and marriage is the ultimate success story,” he told Reuters. “Family is the backbone. Its disintegration is a very serious threat to the Asian community.” For Hindu, Sikh and Muslim divorcees, marrying again can be a tough proposition. Asian families, Samra argued, can struggle to come terms with divorce. . . .

Samra’s site [AsianDivorcee.com] has provoked condemnation from some quarters. Samra conceded that the site may even increase the divorce rate among British Asians because it showed those trapped in unhappy marriages that there was a way out.

But he has won some support back in India. The Times of India, commenting on the site, concluded: “No one is sure if one Web site can change a whole community frozen in the aspic of the cultural mores of yesterday’s South Asia. But it may be worth a try.”

I found this article to be an interesting illustration of the the kinds of issues and pressures that Asians around the world frequently have to deal with as they continue to integrate into their adoptive societies while still holding on to different parts of their traditional ethnic culture. As sociologists describe, as the size of the U.S.-born Asian American population continues to grow, so too will the complexities associated with balancing two cultures.

Ultimately, the choice does not have to be limited to one culture or the other. Instead, many Asian Americans are creating their own unique culture that combines elements of both cultures into a new creation that is unique and personal. This may be the new form of the “melting pot” that can include intermarriage but also emerging forms of personal identity.

After all, America is the land of creativity and innovation . . .

I’ve written before (see here and here, for example) that in many strange ways, Japan seems set on politically and culturally isolating itself from its Asian neighbors and in fact, on antagonizing them at almost every opportunity. Thankfully, a new proposed comprehensive law prohibiting discrimination against ethnic minorities in Japan seeks to point Japan in the opposite direction:

Japan’s constitution already prohibits racial discrimination, but activists told reporters in Tokyo that a more comprehensive law is needed to protect human rights and punish offenders. . . . A U.N. mission on racism in Japan concluded in a report in January that minorities — including ethnic Koreans and Chinese, the Ainu indigenous group, and the so-called “untouchable” underclass — suffer discrimination in education, housing, health care and employment. . . .

Still, the activists said the bedrock xenophobia of Japanese society was getting worse, fueled in part by fear of foreign terrorists, the growing conservatism of the government and worries about foreigner-linked crime. “The Japanese government is getting more and more racist and more and more anti-foreign, but there is a realization that Japan cannot remain closed to foreigners,” said Mushakoji.

Proposing a law is one thing — getting it passed and enacted is another. We’ll have to wait and see if Japanese lawmakers are serious about joining the rest of us in the 21st century and institutionalizing anti-discrimination practices into their society. At the least, it’s an encouraging sign that some Japanese recognize that there is a problem, that the problem is getting worse, and that something needs to be done about it, sooner rather than later.