2 - Grassroots activism as social remittance: the transnational networking of grassroots migrants' movement in East Asia

Seeing migration as a cultural act, ‘social remittance’ mostly refers to migrants’ cultural activities. What has not been sufficiently explored, however, of the ‘social remittance’ concept is migrants’ agency for acting towards their disadvantage in the dual labour market in labour migration and their empowerment of others to form self-help organisations. This paper argues that grassroots activism of migrant-turned activists is their ‘social remittance’ acquired through their everyday struggle against the socioeconomic insecurity encountered at home and abroad. Applying this concept, this paper raises two straightforward question: how could they acquire this ‘social remittance’ and how would they utilise this ‘social remittance’ to defend their rights? To answer these questions, this paper uses Kabar Bumi and its growth as a case study. This paper investigate how Kabar Bumi was established, expanded and connected with transnational advocacy campaign aimed at improving human rights of women and migrant workers. By interviews and participant observations, this paper examines how migrant workers were motivated, or ‘self-empowered’ in the words of one current migrant activist, to stand up against the built-in exploitation of guest worker system prevailing in East Asia. The paper further investigates how migrant activists utilise their ‘social remittance’ for empowering their fellow migrants and establishing their transnational networking. It argues that their ‘social remittance’ contributes to the improvement of socioeconomic security of prospective, current and returned migrant workers. The link between their ‘social remittance’ and ‘socioeconomic security’ was particularly pronounced during the pandemic when the government’s response was deemed insufficient and ineffective.