On being an immigrant
in an immigrant-hostile environment. Or, how do immigrants navigate the current global hostility towards them; a solitary perspective.
Note: This is an email-only letter, because I want to keep this private, and I don’t think I need to elaborate on the reasons. Thank you.
Update: This was opened to everyone on July 7.
Being an immigrant is a unique feeling. Only those who had to move to a different culture in a different language understand that feeling, or to be more accurate, understand the spectrum of feelings that come from that decision and that journey that comes within and on the outside.
And the immigrant culture is different from the expat culture, due to the notions we assign to the two words in our collective discourse. There is a clear difference in our mind, and clearer visual image that comes to mind whenever we say the word “expat” or “immigrant”.
Maybe take a second and examine the connotations that come to your mind when you read these words, and let me know in a comment? what images?
Nothing New Under The State.
I think of what they call “recent” events of immigrants and expats, and even citizens being taken away or arrested (or whatever term you want to use) for the myriad of reasons that are made up or legitimate, and I also think of the fear that emanates from people in the public discourse, and in the private conversations.
It is also essential to recognize that this behavior has not been “foreign” to other administrations, maybe not in the manner or the publicity that is accompanying this current administration, but it is not a completely unique behavior to this administration with its ideology, rather a systemic approach to ‘selective’ or ‘less-selective’ individuals.
I was mentioning to a friend of mine that this approach or this behavior, or this ideology at large, has always been the way the US has interacted wit the world externally, and an essential behavior of its foreign policy, with the only difference that it is being carried out internally. It is only a reflection of a hawkish, opportunistic, and Hegelian manifestation of how “Liberalism” has always looked like to the vast majority of the world; a force of chaos, vengeance, and terrorization.
Another aspect to be mindful to is that this behavior of encroaching on civil liberties has always been the state’s modus operandi whenever it has the opportunity to implement such measures. This is repeated through history since the creation of the “social contract” between the state and the individual. When parts of societies do not defend each other against the ‘all-reaching hand’ of the state, the state reaches deeper and further.
The most recent example is that people didn’t defend other people’s lives being taken away through the state’s brute force, and this prompted the state to flex its muscles even harder and bigger on its own citizens. It’s a logical step, if you follow the logic that the state is “the God” that organizes our relationships among us. If This is the case -and this is the case in most Western societies - then logic dictates that the state will aim to encroach and expand its dominance even further.
“I’m worried about you..”
Is a sentiment that a lot of people shared with me, and I appreciate them for it. But I am not worried. And, this is mainly for three reasons.
The first is that I live with the conviction that nothing will happen to me (or anyone) , that I (or they) wasn’t meant to experience or live.
Say, "Nothing shall happen to us beyond what God has decreed for
us;
He is our Protector—so let believers put their trust in God."
The Quran 9:51
In other ‘secular’ words: “what is meant to be, will be”. And with that comes the comfort of trusting the Divine that in His decree lies the ultimate wisdom that allows for the hardship to bring with it multiplications of eases, if I am open to it.
The second is that my experience in its totality as an immigrant, or an expat, or an “alien” according to the official terminology and documentations (notice how alienating the language used is), has always been hostile in various forms. And this is not because I come from the ethnicity I come from, although this adds to the hostility without a doubt. From the “extra screening”, to “we want to make sure of something”, to “why are you here?”, these are all symptomatic of a history of hostility. Almost all the ‘Western’ countries I visited requested me to give them a departure flight upon my arrival as a condition to accept a temporary visa. It’s not this country or that, it’s a Western sphere-wide racism and hostility disguised as control and security.
Borders are designed to manifest a state’s dominance and hostility over non-citizens and citizens alike. The next time you travel from or to any of the airports, I want you to take notice of how ‘force’ is used as a way of reception from the moment you land in any customs control. The lines, restriction of movement, cameras, officers aggressively ushering you here or there, etc; these are all manifestations of the subjugation and hostility. This is a shared experience of anyone who lands at an airport in the US.
The third is that because I have an extended network of support in various places, my experience of being an immigrant has been an immensely safe one in comparison to my other brothers and sisters who had to cross on inflatable boats, or pay extortive fees, or bribe officials, in order to get to safety, or escape persecution. My reasons to immigrate and be an expat are exclusively individual and based on luxurious motives, in comparison to the absolute vast majority of people who decide (or mainly have no other option but to) to label themselves immigrants, or expats. If this country or the other decides I’m not welcome, I can go back to where I’m from with the safety of knowing that my losses will be minimal in comparison to a lot of other people.
“Family First”, but not any family.
The atrocious policies of separating families is nothing new. We’ve seen it in many forms by many political systems throughout history. The irony lies in a political ideology which heavily focuses on endorsing family relations as part of what is perceived a “theo-political”1 discourse, yet it has no qualms in violating its maxims blatantly when it comes to families from a shade of color it doesn’t like. The eyes don’t bat to children to be left to a severely damaged foster system to take care of unaccompanied children, creating the problem of “dismantling” families because they are not the families they anticipated them to be in their version of history.
As I said, The US is experiencing what it feels like to be at the receiving end of its own political behavior, and it is time that the people from the US - who are not happy about their own situation - borrow from the playbooks and manuals that these societies created to counter the hegemony and try to either live with it, counter it, minimize it, or overthrow it. I used to half-joke to my American friends that they should reach out to their ‘Arab’ friends in case they want anti-despots crash courses, and there’s truth to that. I also recognize people losing their lives and livelihoods is not a joking matter as well.
All options are viable. Good luck to all of us, those suffering from the American government inside the US, and outside it..
That’s it. I’m tired of coming back to this draft.
I’m keeping this letter private, for obvious reasons, and not so obvious ones for now..
How a football club used prints from a museum of a 19th century designer to design its shirt, and how this phenomenon is a product and a driver for hipster football culture.
Spring is here, and it is beautiful to the soul. And the eyes too.
This is definitely for
, the ex-Brooklynite.“What would Jesus do?” can literally be a question these politicians who speak in his name be asked. They all know where Jesus, the refugee, would be in these conversations. It is the failure of the religious institutions to hold its figures to the authority of the teachings, that is a cross-faith problem. Islam and its recent tolerance to dictatorships (manufactured by the west), Judaism and the question of Zionism and genocide, and Christianity with its glaring questions of its weaponization on the hands of the far right.