Why are white people expats when the rest of us are immigrants? \ Perchè i bianchi non sono definiti " migranti", mentre lo sono gli arabi, i neri, ecc.??
Una bella domanda, si suol dire. Perchè i bianchi non sono definiti " migranti", mentre lo sono gli arabi, i neri, ecc.??
Le parole sono importanti oltre ad essere un arma a doppio taglio . Qui , cosi rispondo in anticipo a chi mi dirà : << strano ma non eri libertario ed anti politicamente scorretto >> ? , che qui non è questione di politicamente o anti politicamente scorretto è questione di buon senso . Perché le parole son un arma usata ad uso e consumo del potere , di chi parla alla pancia ( cioè agli istinti più bassi ) , possono a secondo del loro uso determinare odio amore , o come in questo caso essere discriminatorie
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http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network del 13\3\2015
Surely any person going to work outside their country is an expatriate? But no, the word exclusively applies to white peopleWhy are white people expats when the rest of us are immigrants?
What is an expat? And who is an expat? According to Wikipedia, “an
expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or
permanently residing in a country other than that of the person’s
upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex (‘out of’) and patria
(‘country, fatherland’)”.
Defined that way, you should expect that any person going to work
outside of his or her country for a period of time would be an expat,
regardless of his skin colour or country. But that is not the case in
reality; expat is a term reserved exclusively for western white people
going to work abroad.
Africans are immigrants. Arabs are immigrants. Asians are immigrants.
However, Europeans are expats because they can’t be at the same level
as other ethnicities. They are superior. Immigrants is a term set aside
for ‘inferior races’.
Don’t take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal, the leading financial information magazine in the world, has a blog dedicated to the life of expats and recently they featured a story ‘Who is an expat, anyway?’.
Here are the main conclusions: “Some arrivals are described as expats;
others as immigrants; and some simply as migrants. It depends on social
class, country of origin and economic status. It’s strange to hear some
people in Hong Kong described as expats, but not others. Anyone with
roots in a western country is considered an expat … Filipino domestic
helpers are just guests, even if they’ve been here for decades.
Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese are rarely regarded as expats … It’s a
double standard woven into official policy.”
The reality is the same in Africa
and Europe. Top African professionals going to work in Europe are not
considered expats. They are immigrants. Period. “I work for
multinational organisations both in the private and public sectors. And
being black or coloured doesn’t gain me the term “expat”. I’m a highly
qualified immigrant, as they call me, to be politically correct,” says
an African migrant worker.
Most white people deny that they enjoy the privileges of a racist
system. And why not? But our responsibility is to point out and to deny
them these privileges, directly related to an outdated supremacist
ideology. If you see those “expats” in Africa, call them immigrants like
everyone else. If that hurts their white superiority, they can jump in
the air and stay there. The political deconstruction of this outdated
worldview must continue.
Mawuna Remarque Koutonin is the editor of SiliconAfrica.com, where this blog was first published. Follow @siliconafrica on Twitter.
Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow @GuardianGDP on Twitter.
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