[NEWS] Seven links about politics in Canada and around the world

• The immigration fiasco in Québec shows the tension between different strains of local nationalism. The Conversation reports.
• The Québec labour market, Le Devoir notes, actually bears up well to a comparison with Ontario. Gaps in employment have been closed, and then some.
• Barry Saxifrage at the National Observer notes how, in terms of climate pollution, Alberta and Saskatchewan are heading in the opposite direction from the rest of Canada.
• Many Canadians, displaced by the collapse of the oil economy, have gone south to Texas. Global News reports.
• Will the divisions in the United States only get deeper? How bad will it get? MacLean’s considers.
• The chaos in Iran, and the terrible death toll, deserve to be noted. Is the Islamic Republic nearing, if not its end, some other transition? Open Democracy theorizes.
• Terry Glavin at MacLean’s notes how governments around the world are facing crises of legitimacy, here.

[DM] Some links: immigration, cities, small towns, French Canada, Eurasia, China, Brexit, music

Another links post is up over at Demography Matters!

• Skepticism about immigration in many traditional receiving countries appeared. Frances Woolley at the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative took issue with the argument of Andray Domise after an EKOS poll, that Canadians would not know much about the nature of migration flows. The Conversation observed how the rise of Vox in Spain means that country’s language on immigration is set to change towards greater skepticism. Elsewhere, the SCMP called on South Korea, facing pronounced population aging and workforce shrinkages, to become more open to immigrants and minorities.
• Cities facing challenges were a recurring theme. This Irish Examiner article, part of a series, considers how the Republic of Ireland’s second city of Cork can best break free from the dominance of Dublin to develop its own potential. Also on Ireland, the NYR Daily looked at how Brexit and a hardened border will hit the Northern Ireland city of Derry, with its Catholic majority and its location neighbouring the Republic. CityLab reported on black migration patterns in different American cities, noting gains in the South, is fascinating. As for the threat of Donald Trump to send undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities in the United States has widely noted., at least one observer noted that sending undocumented immigrants to cities where they could connect with fellow diasporids and build secure lives might actually be a good solution.
• Declining rural settlements featured, too. The Guardian reported from the Castilian town of Sayatón, a disappearing town that has become a symbol of depopulating rural Spain. Global News, similarly, noted that the loss by the small Nova Scotia community of Blacks Harbour of its only grocery store presaged perhaps a future of decline. VICE, meanwhile, reported on the very relevant story about how resettled refugees helped revive the Italian town of Sutera, on the island of Sicily. (The Guardian, to its credit, mentioned how immigration played a role in keeping up numbers in Sayatón, though the second generation did not stay.)
• The position of Francophone minorities in Canada, meanwhile, also popped up at me.
• This TVO article about the forces facing the École secondaire Confédération in the southern Ontario city of Welland is a fascinating study of minority dynamics. A brief article touches on efforts in the Franco-Manitoban community of Winnipeg to provide temporary shelter for new Francophone immigrants. CBC reported, meanwhile, that Francophones in New Brunswick continue to face pressure, with their numbers despite overall population growth and with Francophones being much more likely to be bilingual than Anglophones. This last fact is a particularly notable issue inasmuch as New Brunswick’s Francophones constitute the second-largest Francophone community outside of Québec, and have traditionally been more resistant to language shift and assimilation than the more numerous Franco-Ontarians.
• The Eurasia-focused links blog Window on Eurasia pointed to some issues. It considered if the new Russian policy of handing out passports to residents of the Donbas republics is related to a policy of trying to bolster the population of Russia, whether fictively or actually. (I’m skeptical there will be much change, myself: There has already been quite a lot of emigration from the Donbas republics to various destinations, and I suspect that more would see the sort of wholesale migration of entire families, even communities, that would add to Russian numbers but not necessarily alter population pyramids.) Migration within Russia was also touched upon, whether on in an attempt to explain the sharp drop in the ethnic Russian population of Tuva in the 1990s or in the argument of one Muslim community leader in the northern boomtown of Norilsk that a quarter of that city’s population is of Muslim background.
• Eurasian concerns also featured. The Russian Demographics Blog observed, correctly, that one reason why Ukrainians are more prone to emigration to Europe and points beyond than Russians is that Ukraine has long been included, in whole or in part, in various European states. As well, Marginal Revolution linked to a paper that examines the positions of Jews in the economies of eastern Europe as a “rural service minority”, and observed the substantial demographic shifts occurring in Kazakhstan since independence, with Kazakh majorities appearing throughout the country.
• JSTOR Daily considered if, between the drop in fertility that developing China was likely to undergo anyway and the continuing resentments of the Chinese, the one-child policy was worth it. I’m inclined to say no, based not least on the evidence of the rapid fall in East Asian fertility outside of China.
• What will Britons living in the EU-27 do, faced with Brexit? Bloomberg noted the challenge of British immigrant workers in Luxembourg faced with Brexit, as Politico Europe did their counterparts living in Brussels.
• Finally, at the Inter Press Service, A.D. Mackenzie wrote about an interesting exhibit at the Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration in Paris on the contributions made by immigrants to popular music in Britain and France from the 1960s to the 1980s.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Dayton, London, Singapore, Berlin

• CBC Montreal reports on how, and why, an Anglican church in Montréal will be hosting a circus.
• Ozy reports on how Dayton, Ohio, has managed to thrive in integrating its immigrant populations.
• CityLab notes how the Tate Modern gallery in London won a lawsuit against neighbours who complained gallery-goers could see inside their homes.
• Linda Lim at Bloomberg explains why Singapore is not a useful model for the post-Brexit United Kingdom.
• Amro Ali, writing at Open Democracy, makes a case for the emergence of Berlin as a capital for Arab exiles.

[ISL] Five #PEI links: Pogey Beach, Sea View home, Anne with an E, Neil Harpham, immigration

• CBC’s Q recently interviewed Jeremy Larter about his new film, Pogey Beach.</li.
• The Journal-Pioneer reported on the rescue renovation of an old farm house in the PEI community of Sea View.
• CBC Prince Edward Island notes that the show Anne with an E is hosting auditions for a Mi’kmaq character.
• CBC Prince Edward Island pays tribute to the life of Neil Harpham, a taxi pioneer who recently benefitted from assisted dying.
• CTV’s W5 recently examined the controversies surrounding the controversial PEI immigration program intended to attract investor-immigrants.

[DM] Some news links: fertility, population aging, migration, demography is not destiny, Eurabia

Over the past week, I’ve come across some interesting news reports about different trends in different parts of the world. I have assembled them in a links post at Demography Matters.

• The Independent noted that the length and severity of the Greek economic crisis means that, for many younger Greeks, the chance to have a family the size they wanted–or the chance to have a family at all–is passing. The Korea Herald, meanwhile, noted that the fertility rate in South Korea likely dipped below 1 child per woman, surely a record low for any nation-state (although some Chinese provinces, to be fair, have seen similar dips).
• The South China Morning Post argued that Hong Kong, facing rapid population aging, should try to keep its elderly employed. Similar arguments were made over at Bloomberg with regards to the United States, although the American demographic situation is rather less dramatic than Hong Kong’s.
• Canadian news source Global News noted that, thanks to international migration, the population of the Atlantic Canadian province of Nova Scotia actually experienced net growth. OBC Transeuropa, meanwhile, observed that despite growing emigration from Croatia to richer European Union member-states like Germany and Ireland, labour shortages are drawing substantial numbers of workers not only from the former Yugoslavia but from further afield.
• At Open Democracy, Oliver Haynes speaking about Brexit argued strongly against assuming simple demographic change will lead to shifts of political opinion. People still need to be convinced.
• Open Democracy’s Carmen Aguilera, meanwhile, noted that far-right Spanish political party Vox is now making Eurabian arguments, suggesting that Muslim immigrants are but the vanguard of a broader Muslim invasion.

[ISL] Three #PEI links: Tryon, immigration, real estate, cats, Province House

• Peter Rukavina shares some photos and a sketch from the Tryon River Bridge on the Island.
• CBC Prince Edward Island notes that immigration retention rates on PEI, while low, are rising, perhaps showing the formation of durable immigrant communities.
• The Guardian of Charlottetown shares the story of a tenant facing eviction after he complained to his landlord about an illegally large rent increase.
• An elderly man on the Island has been reunited with his cats after his senior’s housing unit forbade him from taking his pets with him, CBC PEI reports.
• CBC Prince Edward Island reports on the state of the extensive renovations of Province House, with new materials being sourced and secrets discovered.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• The Broadside Blog’s Caitlin Kelly raves about The Alienist. I certainly did like the Caleb Carr original novel, myself.
• Crooked Timber asks whether immigration laws should be respected, if they are the sorts of laws that should be respected.
• D-Brief takes a look at the rain Cassini detected falling from the rings of Saturn onto the planet they orbit.
• Drew Ex Machina’s Andrew LePage takes a look at the Juno V and the birth of the Saturn rocket family.
• At A Fistful of Euros, Alex Harrowell notes how the Greens in Germany seem to be benefiting from the problems of the CSU.
• Marginal Revolution notes how the retaliatory tariffs of China are targeting the economies of Trump-supporting regions of the United States.
• Drew Rowsome reports on Mar, a gay erotic horror film from Portugal.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel explains why information loss from black holes is a problem.
• Window on Eurasia notes the trade of illegal loggers in Russia with Chinese buyers.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Québec City, Asmara, São Paulo, Krakow

• This Ryan Diduck article at CultMTL taking a look at the MUTEK electronic music festival and Never Apart, evoking what I suppose might be called midtown Montréal, is wonderfully evocative.
• The mayor of Québec City wants to increase immigration to his metropolis, the better to deal with labour shortages. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities takes a look at the famously Italianate 1930s capital of Eritrea, Asmara. What future does it face as the country opens up?
• Guardian Cities reports on how lethal being a graffiti artist can be in São Paulo.
• This Dara Bramson article at Protocols sharing a first-hand perspective on the revival of Jewish life in Krakow is beautiful.

[NEWS] Five politics links: Canada, Maxine Bernier, Golden Dawn

• National Observer argued, before Bernier broke, that his stances on immigration and multiculturalism bode ill for Canada, here.
• If a Canada that needs immigration to sustain its workforce turns against immigration, that would be the real crisis. Global News reports.
• The Golden Dawn movement of Greece, this essay argues, set precedents for alt-right movements across the developed world with its engagement with locals. The Conversation has it.
• Canada, despite everything, is still one of the most socially mobile countries in the world. MacLean’s reports.
• Andrew Coyne wonders why Maxime Bernier chose to break from the Conservatives now, over at the National Post.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Centauri Dreams considers the concept of “arrival”, drawn from Naipaul, in connection with interstellar flight.
• The Crux takes a look at the investigation and treatment of the tumour-causing virus besetting Tasmanian devils, and its implications for us.
• D-Brief notes the strangeness of the supermassive black hole at the heart of ultra-compact dwarf galaxy Fornax UCD3, and notes a newly-theorized way that stellar-mass black holes can gain more mass, through the intake of gas while orbiting a supermassive black hole.
• JSTOR Daily looks at the concept of trial by combat, and the many crimes that this judicial concept enabled.
• Geoffrey Pullum at Lingua Franca looks at the obscure English grammar questions that are so prominent in English language learning in Japan.
• The LRB Blog notes the disappearance of apolitical Uighur academic Rahile Dawut from her home in Xinjiang, and what her disappearance signals.
• The NYR Daily considers the concept of deradicalization in connection with white people, with white nationalists inspired towards racial violence.
• Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy does not find originalist grounds on which to criticize the creation of a US Space Force.
• Window on Eurasia notes a tension in Russia between official government support for immigration, particularly from elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, and local resistance.
• Arnold Zwicky meditates on rainbows and sharks and gay dolphins.