Mobilizing migrants, making citizens: migrant domestic workers as political agents

Abstract

It is now more important than ever to consider migrant mobilizations and how political communities are constructed. This paper describes how Waling Waling, a migrant domestic workers’ organization, and their support group, Kalayaan, forged citizenship ‘from below’ and waged a successful campaign to change the immigration status of domestic workers in part through turning constraints into opportunities. It also discusses how the logic of state sovereignty can recapture radical undertakings, and the opportunities and challenges that are faced in the new political climate of migrants as victims of trafficking.

Keywords:

• Migration
• domestic workers
• citizenship
• trafficking
• illegality
• trades unions