Dr Shamsul Alam, an associate professor at Southern Oregon University, delivered a series of lectures on “Sociology of Globalisation/migration” at the University of Malta last October, as part of the Fulbright Senior Specialist programme.

The Fulbright Senior Specialist programme was designed to provide short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) for US faculty and professionals. It was sponsored by the US government and administered by the US Embassy and University of Malta.

Dr Alam, who was born in Bangladesh, lives in the United States.

What does social globalisation in terms of migration entail in your opinion?

I believe that social globalisation encompasses each and every level, be it an economic, political or cultural level. The idea of a nation State is becoming obsolete as the concept of the border is eroding and the whole world is becoming one single entity.

The idea of global citizenship is becoming increasingly wide and we are already witnessing the obsoleteness of the passport and the visa.

I believe that economic, political, and cultural problems could be resolved on a global scale.

In America, there are around 12 million illegal immigrants, and there still seems to be no such thing as an unemployed illegal immigrant. The truth is that without them the world’s economy will collapse.

Las Vegas is full of Latin maids who are mostly illegal immigrants.

I do believe that illegal immigrants should be punished as they did break the law but it is a fact, which needs to be acknowledged, that kicking them out of the country is simply not a fruitful economic solution as there is a demand for these people.

There is a shared belief that mobilisation occurs only in relation to poverty in Third World countries as people leave countries at war and in conflicts to seek greener pastures in other countries. What do you think?

On my flight from Bangladesh via Dubai to Malta, I noticed that most of the passengers were Bangladeshis migrating to Dubai for work. There are a lot of Bangladeshis working in the Middle East. As far as work is concerned, people will move. There are hundreds of thousands working in the Gulf. I also know that a lot of Bangladeshis are moving to Spain.

There is also a common mistaken belief that all migrants are poor when some are just succumbing to an innate human desire to move to another country.

Nothing can block people from mobility. A lot of Bangladeshis from the medical sector are also moving to Australia, as there is a shortage of nurses and doctors.

I believe that the whole idea of Sociology of Globalisation is to complicate the idea of home. Nationalism is an outdated sentiment and hybridisation should be better accepted.

There is a lot of tension in Malta due to illegal immigration. How should the Maltese tackle this issue positively?

My wife met a Maltese-Australian migrant the other day and I learnt that a lot of Maltese moved to Canada and Australia in the post second world war years to find jobs. The way the Maltese were treated in Australia is similar to the way the illegal immigrants are treated here.

These immigrants are here illegally and they did break the law. At the same time, the Maltese should realise that these different people can only continue to enrich Maltese history.

After all, Malta’s history was shaped by the foreign rulers who governed the island starting from the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians to the British.

I believe that most Maltese have not yet exploited the positive outcomes global migration brings with it.

Someone like me, a Bangladeshi living in the United States, can create connections across both countries and even help generate reciprocal relations.

I can take ideas I come across in the US to Bangladesh and vice-versa. For me globalisation is a dual carriageway and it is necessary that access to globalisation is guaranteed.

Africa is one country that continues to suffer and fall behind the more globalisation develops and progresses. How should this issue be dealt with?

It is true that the fruits of globalisation are not evenly distributed and it is my belief that multinational corporations need to be more responsible when dealing wealth to Third World countries.

However, multinational corporations tend to agree or support authoritarian regimes and this is where globalisation doesn’t work in such places like Africa.

Globalisation needs to leave Africa alone, yet no country can stand on its own.

I believe that tyrants like Charles Taylor, who was a brutal dictator in Liberia, more than justifies him being prosecuted in The Hague, in the UN war crime tribunal. He was prosecuted in a global arena and this is a good sign.

An international court should have tried even Saddam Hussein so that his misdeeds would be exposed on an international scale, rather than just prosecuted by the Iraqis. Saddam Hussein’s crimes were not just against Iraqis but also against humanity in general.

I also believe that those multinational corporations who have supported authoritarian regimes ought to be tried and prosecuted internationally.

Globalisation has taken on a new definition and a new meaning since the advent of the Internet. Do you think it has hit the world’s view of globalisation positively or has it marred this opinion thanks to certain exposure from sites such as YouTube’?

I feel that technology has acquired its own identity even though humans created it. Thus, technology has become uncontrollable and has created unintentional mischief.

In my opinion the Internet is in itself a sort of ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, where one aspect of the Internet exposes the global issue of child pornography, yet there still are blogs and chartrooms which bring these paedophiles together.

Even the recent teenage crime in Finland was posted on Youtube and this can only have a bad, negative influence.

Even browsing the net has become difficult as one cannot avoid junk and pornography pop up sites.

It has brought about positive outcomes such as the example of Ethiopian and Costa Rican farmers who go on the Internet to find the most convenient places where to sell their crops.

In May I was in China and when I tried to use certain search engines, nothing come up. It is obvious that Western technology is helping the Chinese government to monitor actions of the democratic government.

In this case one cannot use Internet selectively.

Which other negative aspects of globalisation do you consider?

One negative aspect of globalisation that concerns me very much is when this is transformed into Westernisation or Americanisation. This can occur when most Third World countries neglect their culture and country traditions to adopt American traditions, losing their particular cultural traditions in the process.

What possible solutions would you offer a country like Malta in terms of racial integration and racial acceptability?

I am quite optimistic about Maltese relations with immigrants. The Maltese will have to adapt to having migrants in their country. It is understandable that certain Maltese would be suspicious of something unknown, as invasion has somehow always been part of their history.

I admit that I would like to see a policy where Africans would be integrated in the mainstream. I am against segregation of any kind, whether intentional or unintentional.

Interracial relationships in multi-ethnic societies are bound to come about no matter how much people dislike them.

I believe that immigration can only enrich and broaden the horizons of that particular country.

It is important that African immigrants do all sorts of work here, as their work is still mostly limited to construction.