I got a bit lost but given the Grauniad idiotically put the word 'white' into this, blame rests elsewhere for it being bandied about on this occasion. I think I basically agree with you. A person's skin colour, language, beliefs, diet, what colour socks he/she wears and all the rest of it mean that each individual is different to the other but actually we are one single species on a planet sharing it with other species (who we are successfully eradicating steadily) and therefore what is difference all about? I think we could as easily turn turkey on ants or giraffes because they are not like us.
'Oh look, that zebra over there has stripes in the opposite direction to me, perhaps he comes from another part of the savannah'.....
I for one am sick and tired of this bull$#!^. To the original blogger and the Guardian and anyone else who wishes to pick a fight and pit races and ethnicities against each other, you can all go to hell. My question in return is who is calling who racists? And why is it the white against others? I am "peach" not white and I take offense to you lumping me in with any number of other individuals from a multitude of countries, I have nothing in common with 95% of population on this planet that "look" like me.
This is just starting a path of justification that white people are "bad" "racist" or any other number of wrong doings and is just a start of trying to punish and vilify. So if you want to start a race war that it is on you instigators.
Before you apologize to these individual racists for calling ALL white people racists think about what is being said and question what is being said. I see very polite well meaning "white" individuals who keep apologizing for being "white" or for the other bad "white people" because they continue hearing that "white" people are bad, but you aren’t apologizing for someone s else’s actions you are apologizing because someone else accused a white person of doing something that may not even have happened ! It’s maddening!!! Stop apologizing for being white or those who are being accused of wrong doing without any proof. Just because some "white" people in the past had wrong doings doesn’t mean we’re all evil. All races and religions do evil things, it’s the human condition known as greed and fear, I hope one day can be overcome!
What would a white person be considered in one of these foreign countries an “expat” an “immigrant” or a “criminal”? I for one believe that as an African, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, Asian, or if you want to drag religion into this too Hindi, Buddhist, Muslim insert religion [here], has a lot easier time integrating or even just surviving in any western culture country more than any "White" person would survive or be allowed to live in these countries. Like some parts of Africa where you might be killed walking around a mall, or kidnapped for ransom in South Asia, or some parts of South American. Or Saudi where you might be lifetime imprisoned or beheaded for religion. Try to demand a school in Saudi serve pork on the lunch menu as your religion requires your child eat pork Ha ha ha yeah sure.
and I'm in a right state, but is it the right State for me...?!
Don't mind me, I'm feeling temporarily stateless ;-)
That makes me both in a strange state and mindless :-D
Both, Donna, it's both a temporay state and a state of mind ;-)
Aha, so expat can apply to the Irish too. Hmmm. Well, if you are expatricks then I must be an exchristopher!
Thanks Carol, I do understand that. I think what I was trying to ask, but wasn't very clear, and this is a question for anyone, is whether people call themselves ex-pats even when they are permanent residents in a new country and alone in a room full of immigrants from a variety of countries (like in this discussion group, for example), or whether they only use the word among their own nationality? And if they are 'permanent' residents, how long do they remain expats? Is it a temporary state, or rather a state of mind? Food for thought.
AGREED, Andrew. I feel like that too. The word "expat" sopmehow evokes a person who looks back to the UK with nostalgia. Can an expat be someone from any country, or is it specifically a British thing?
And as for the Geordies ?
Only kind of, because I was based in an English university for many years. However, one day I should sit down and calculate exactly how many years I have lived where.
Linguistically it is almost uniquely English, that is one of its bigger problems. Most other languages suffice with one word or phrase.
Donna, an expat can be from anywhere. Expat is short for expatriate. It is not an exclusively English term. ie. expat Americans have the right to vote and vote for specific respresentation, as do the French. Immigrant (noun) means entering a different country to live. Emigrant (also noun) means choosing to live in a country other than the one you were born in.
Céad míle fáilte latha fheill Pàdraig
Sorry, don't know enough Irish Gaelic!
Thinking about it, when we had our gites and lived in a quite tight knit farming community I felt like a neighbour because we were both from farming backgrounds and were happy to muck in and help (though I suspect the neighbours thought us 'gentils - et anglais/irlandais). Perhaps Its now I'm casting about for jobs that I sometimes feel the immigrant chip on the shoulder...
Having been an expat in Africa and the Middle East my own interpretation of the difference is that expat is transitory and immigrant is permanent (or as permanent as anything is in this life). I was an expat in France in the early eighties but now I’m an immigrant here.
When we first lived here in 1981 my wife and I had to get a Carte de Sejour each. I think the EEC rules were you had the right to work in another EEC country (mobility of labour?) but not necessarily the right to reside. In other words, if you hadn’t a job you could be sent home. When we first arrived we weren’t married yet so we were deemed to be living in a vie concubinage! Very French we thought.
I've been referred to as many different nationalities since I lived in France, but the one that always makes me smile is "l'étrangère". It's got a nice ring to it, makes me feel like I'm living in a spy novel.