Why are white people Expats when the rest of us are Immigrants or Migrants?

[Clutch]

Why are white people expats when the rest of us are immigrants?


This article is more than 8 years oldMawuna Remarque Koutonin
Surely any person going to work outside their country is an expatriate? But no, the word exclusively applies to white people

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Fri 13 Mar 2015 10.52 GMT
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In the lexicon of human migration there are still hierarchical words, created with the purpose of putting white people above everyone else. One of those remnants is the word “expat”.

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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.”

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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.

 

[-=virus=-]

Don't know what the correct definition is and I can only speak for India, but 'expats' are generally foreign workers here on longish term assignments, could be either diplomat mission/embassy folk, or increasingly, for corporate jobs/work. Could be Nigerian or Swede.. here long term but temp. overall.

Immigrants are those who move full time, boria/bistar in tow.

Same with desis/Indians.. move there for good = immigrant, temp work = expat.

this is the general etymological gist, or at least what I understand of it.

cheap slave labour to the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain ko pta ni kya kehte hain... maybe @jamahir knows.

 

[Englishman]

It's because they call the shots.

Work on yourselves so that one day, you too can call the shots and define who you are to the world rather than the world telling you what you are.

That's all there is to it.

 

[Mugen]

It's because they call the shots.

Work on yourselves so that one day, you too can call the shots and define who you are to the world rather than the world telling you what you are.

That's all there is to it.

Thank you! White people have earned the privilege to dictate because they worked hard and acquired power. Our people are too busy being victims.

 

[undercover JIX]

bcoz gora ruled all other countries, they are just moving back to their old land.

some others ruled 3 continents but ab bhikari hai.

 

[Clutch]

It's because they call the shots.

Work on yourselves so that one day, you too can call the shots and define who you are to the world rather than the world telling you what you are.

That's all there is to it.

I'm starting to call the shots now.

 

[Genghis khan1]

Don't know what the correct definition is and I can only speak for India, but 'expats' are generally foreign workers here on longish term assignments, could be either diplomat mission/embassy folk, or increasingly, for corporate jobs/work. Could be Nigerian or Swede.. here long term but temp. overall.

Immigrants are those who move full time, boria/bistar in tow.

Same with desis/Indians.. move there for good = immigrant, temp work = expat.

this is the general etymological gist, or at least what I understand of it.

cheap slave labour to the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain ko pta ni kya kehte hain... maybe @jamahir knows.

Agree, Gora don’t stay or raise family after job contract is over. Atleast in the mid--East.

 

[iamnobody]

Not saying that all white expats are good. But they are well behaved and well mannered than North Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants. They don't form their ghettos and try to take over the host country by demographic invasion.

 

[Mugen]

Not saying that all white expats are good. But they are well behaved and well mannered than North Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants. They don't form their ghettos and try to take over the host country by demographic invasion.

I believe education plays a big part in this.

 

[iamnobody]

I believe education plays a big part in this.

It's more than that.

I have seen rich and educated North Indians throwing garbage on the street.

Goa was a lovely place until the early to mid-1990s. Many wealthy British and Scandinavian tourists used to visit it.

But when Bollywood started promoting the place, it was flooded with North Indian and Gujarati tourists and immigrants. Now it is totally ruined.

 

[Mugen]

It's more than that.

I have seen rich and educated North Indians throwing garbage on the street.

Goa was a lovely place until the early to mid-1990s. Many wealthy British and Scandinavian tourists used to visit it.

But when Bollywood started promoting the place, it was flooded with North Indian and Gujarati tourists and immigrants. Now it is totally ruined.

What do you think is different between the North Indians, and South which results in this?

 

[iamnobody]

What do you think is different between the North Indians, and South which results in this?

IQ difference.

Why East Asians immigrants are preferred over South Asian and Arab immigrants

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

There's a guy from France who is living across the street and I'm not calling him an "expat"..so I'm not sure what the purpose of the article is with the supposed expected terminology for bucketing white people.

The people likely using "expats" are the actual "expats" and not the people in the country where they are living.

I'm assuming everybody is an immigrant until they specifically say otherwise.

 

[zectech]

I'm starting to call the shots now.

This was me, about 4 years ago...

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"Here is how the West views the movement of Muslim expats in the world... [Trump wants to ban Muslim entry into the USA]

the West feels they can go to any country and be migrants there. Syrian expats in Europe deserve to stay in Europe and can decide to go back to Syria once the civil war is over. Western unwanted European migrants should return to their place of origin. They bring intolerance where they go."

For those that want the definition of NATO criminals, look at the posts with union jack or red, white and blue. They don't want Muslims to get "uppity", rivaling Anglo-American "dominance".

 

[ProudThamizhan]

expats = those immigrants from Gujarath, UP etc that have stopped spitting everywhere