Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Monday, April 29th, 2024

Migration is Civilization

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Migration is Civilization

Human is a social animal who called to be supreme creature among the living and non living things for the reason that we are bestowed with the blessings of eyes to see, tongue to speak and the most important factor of our distinguishing feature with other creature is the blessing of mind to think. The supreme creature of Allah, the magnificent, has discovered and has converted the nature for their advantages and benefits because everything, which is created that, is for us. It is our nature and our desire to climb the peak of success. Human beings are known to be a social animal. They are parted in different part of the universe in different continents. Every stratum of people living in every community, living society and community has different social, political, cultural and ethical believes and desires around the globe. If we wonder and think about the planet where we living in we will realize that people are divided into many sects, ethics and races some are black some are white some are brown and so on. People in the quest of better life standards and for more convenient life has left their homelands for the sake of a better and brighter tomorrow. They have migrated to other places.

Migration is the movement of people from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up permanent or semi permanent residence, usually across a political boundary. An example of "semi permanent residence" would be the seasonal movements of migrant farm laborers. People can either choose to move "voluntary migration" or be forced to move "involuntary migration". Migrations have occurred throughout human history, beginning with the movements of the first human groups from their origins in East Africa to their current location in the world. Migration occurs at a variety of scales: intercontinental or outside continents. One of the most significant migration patterns has been rural to urban migration the movement of people from the countryside to cities in search of opportunities. The desirability of a place based on its social, economic, or environmental situation, often used to compare the value of living in different locations. An individual’s idea of place utility may or may not reflect the actual conditions of that location. Opportunities nearby are usually considered more attractive than equal or slightly better opportunities farther away, so migrants tend to settle in a location closer to their point of origin if other factors are equal. Human migration affects population patterns and characteristics, social and cultural patterns and processes, economies, and physical environments. As people move, their cultural traits and ideas diffuse along with them, creating and modifying cultural landscapes. The impacts of migration have been categorized such as diffusion, relocation diffusion, expansion diffusion and cultural markers.

Diffusion is the process through which certain characteristics (e.g., cultural traits, ideas, disease) spread over space and through time. Relocation Diffusion: Ideas, cultural traits, etc. that move with people from one place to another and do not remain in the point of origin. Expansion Diffusion: Ideas, cultural traits, etc., that move with people from one place to another but are not lost at the point of origin, such as language. Cultural markers: Structures or artifacts (e.g., buildings, spiritual places, architectural styles, signs, etc.) that reflect the cultures and histories of those who constructed or occupy them.

Afghans have risked their worthy life for adopting far better life styles away from hatred, prejudice, war and conflicts they abandoned their inheritance their fathers and mothers just for the sake of a different and better life for themselves and for the forth coming generation. Let’s take it as a positive trend that our people are immigrating to different places. Some people think it is a clumsy and unfair trend but I think it is a good move for civilization and for modernization. Migration has been happening, in varying forms, for millennia but it still elicits fear and mistrust, and not just on the part of the “receiving” society. Communities from where people migrate often disapprove of the migrants’ decision and consider it treacherous. To what degree are foreigners culturally different? There are many questions, which are yet with no response but from an optimistic perspective it is believed that migration causes difference in tour life. There might be rich cultures and civilizations around the globe which has a perfect living standard, for instance if put a glimpse over the past and present of Afghanistan we will definitely find that many of our social and culture traditions are totally expired and is considered rotten and awful traditions. Why still in such a modern era and civilized century in some urban parts our country girls are not permitted to education? Why still in some part of this country still people have sectors and races discriminations? There are many whys which require a response but unfortunately the best possible responses for these whys is silence. Let’s break our silence and louder our actions we always see people commenting on different crises and we have never seen anybody acting upon their quotes. Action speaks louder than words.

Civilization is modernization for which it is believed that adopting different cultures but the best ones are vital for a modern society. We still live in a quite a ferocious and bracing era there is a dire need of mind change in our thoughts. In fourteenth century when American continent  was discovered it was a very far and urban piece of dry land surrounded by large islands but with the passage of time when English people migrated there and in the late eighteenth century from the Dark Continent the Africans became dropouts and headed toward America their lives were changed quite mesmerizingly.  Migration can occur as result of push and pull factors. Push factors are those which force a person to move. This can include drought, famine, and lack of jobs, over population and civil war and Pull factors are those which encourage a person to move. These include a chance of a better job, better education, and a better standard of living.

Zainab Ahmadi is a permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. She can be reached at zainab_ktz09@yahoo.com

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