Connectivity, mobility and island life : parallel narratives from Malta and Lesvos

Abstract

Modernity is increasingly about movement, with people navigating through different spaces and places throughout their lives and careers. Probably all the more so when we deal with islanders, who combine home and away in strategic ways: for adventure, education, work, career development. Islanders are not insular. This paper offers a contrast between the dominant narratives of mobility and immobility of the 21st century. At one end, there is the ‘kinetic elite’ which includes professionals who commute regularly between countries as part of their work and career development: university academics, corporate managers, software technicians, European Commission staff. Along with these is a select but growing number of HNWIs – high net worth individuals – those who exploit multiple residence and citizenship schemes (and various tax code loopholes) to park themselves, and their assets, temporarily in particular jurisdictions. Often with multiple passports, these persons face sophisticated marketeers and promoters keen to enlist them to their schemes. At the other end are the millions vying for a better life or seeking to escape famine, drought, civil war, and political persecution, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Often with no passports, these face multiple barriers to manage their movements. In between these two solitudes, are the lives and stories of the islanders themselves who may need to reconcile themselves with, but often disregard, these contradictory policies. Islands (and islanders and their governments) face these contradictory pressures and often label and stereotype the subjects of these divergent mobility patterns in dramatically different ways. These labels are often corroborated by equally stereotypical notions of race, ethnicity, and religion. The paper fleshes out these ideas by reflecting largely on three parallel mobility narratives on two Mediterranean islands: Malta and Lesvos (Greece).