Outsourcing the Unwanted

This post was inspired by mayor Bloomberg’s decision to pay one-way ticket to all homeless family who are willing to leave NYC for good. In attempt to illustrate this post with some visuals (painting, photo, caricature, etc.)

I searched Google with the key-word “one-way ticket” and I found interesting pictures, which reminded me about similar treatment from the past. 


The first example is the American Colonization Society (ACS), which after establishing Liberia in 1821 had given one-way tickets to all African American willing to leave the USA.

The two most recent programs one can refer to, are from West Germany in early 80s and Sarkozy initiative in France from 2007. These programs target people, who are not willing to assimilate into the host culture i.e. people from Muslim countries. Here are two caricatures from my search, one of them is slightly edited for clarity.

The similarity between all the programs mentioned above is that they failed to produce the desired effect.


Like a contrast one can point to the exodus of Muslim from Bulgaria during the last Zhivkov’s regime in mid 80s. By witness accounts close to half million left for good, virtually all of the not assimilable. Needless to say that no money were offered to the fleeting families and that plenty of Gypsies left.


The bottom line is that immigration is a tricky business and there is always the need for culture warriors. One can only hope for the best.