Especially, whem taking into the account of a possible change of regime in their new country that coulds result in deportation back to their former country. Is this a common fear?
I was born in Mainland China, and I immigrated to the USA as a child, and I have Derivative US Citizenship.
Now the US's own Autocratization is bringing up a lot of fears.
For one, of couse I could end up in a concentration camp, similar to what happened to Japanese Americans during WW2.
But also, I could lose citizenship due to the current administration's hostility and xenophobia, and end up getting deported.
And I fucking despise the CCP, since they fucking tried to kill me before I was even born (long story short: One Child Policy; I was the second child, they tried to locate my mother when she had the second pregnancy, they didn't find her so here I am). I have talked so much shit about the CCP while in the US, IRL and online, if the CCP has a competent intelligence agency (which they do), then they already know that I'm a dissident and my life would be miserable if I get deported to China.
So there is few possibilities, if I lose citizenship status.
I could end up stateless. Which is terrible.
I could end up in China. Which is absolutely horrifying.
Or I could end up in Guantanamo, or some other country trump has negotiated with to take deportees, which is just... fucking the worse possible timeline.
I mean, just look at recent news. Anyone deemed "pro-hamas" would get deported.
Honestly, these thoughts is why I have never really attended a protest in the US. I know Lemmy would call me a coward, and I probably am a coward. But I just never feel safe anywhere. You know the saying "when in rome, do as roman do". So yea, I just never feel like I'm really I can speak out against the injustice in the US, I know the "First Amendment" and all that, but doesn't mean much when the president actively disrespects the constitution.
I don't even know if shitposting on Lemmy is safe either, but hopefully this is not on the US government's top of the list.
So yea, the autocrats won. They've already made me too scared to dissent (other than online shitposts that will do absolutely nothing).
(I don't meet any eligibility to immigrate to the EU, so not an option either)
I haven't emigrated yet, but every time I leave my country by travelling, I feel terrified that somehow I'm being watched or someone will report on me. So I stay on my best behavior, and not break any religious laws.
Honestly, even if I leave (which I'm planning to) I don't think I can ever feel or be safe. The gulf monarchies have boundless reach, and are practically omnipotent.
Maybe it's just paranoia, maybe they're not keeping a close eye on me. But I'm still afraid of messing up and losing my life.
They could assassinate you on foreign soil, and they have (Khashoggi comes to mind, any others I should be aware of?)
But how common is it unless you're a major regime critic?
Sadly yes.
It's actually worse than assassination for dissidents inside the country, it's flat out public beheading.
Still common. Happened to someone i am vaguely related to, they tweeted to their [less than 10 followers] just criticism of the monarchy, and "disappeared". Nobody ever saw them again. Later i saw a news article, of someone being executed and fitting their exact description. Fuck my life.
All they need is your real name and your comments, and it's over.
Another Arab here! The Saudi wahabi regime is the worst thing to happen to the middle east. Almost all events happening here always ends up going back to western interference, even the rise of ahl saud leading to the creation of Saudi Arabia.
Edit: some added links for anyone willing to take a dive down that rabbit hole
Absolutely. The british and french are absolutely to blame. They destroyed the entire middle east, and made us all suffer for their own convenience. Also, the Sykes-picot agreement.
(now there are four other arabs than me that i know on lemmy :DDD)
People have gotten bored of me in the past for how frequently I bring up Sykes-Picot lol
Everyone says "We get it! It happened! Get over it!" But it's hard to get over it when it's still being felt to this day
The fact that someone else is bringing it up this time makes me feel REAL GOOD
You'd better not be sending me down a labyrinthian rabbit-hole. I'm sure just one article about the Sykes-Picot Agreement can't hurt...
I hate myself for being pedantic, but: You haven't emigrated yet. Immigration is coming, emigration is leaving.
I'm guessing you're from Iran? The only good thing I can really say is that they're as afraid of you as you are of them. But they are fucking terrifying, and as you well know you're right to be careful. I can't believe the stuff we seemingly choose to turn a blind eye to coming from foreign authoritarian regimes on European soil.
TIL, thanks.
Nope, not iranian - i'm from the arabian peninsula, a specific monarchy in particular. I doubt that they're terrified of me lol, this is a losing game, no matter what.
So you've noticed.... The west only cares about anti-fascism and anti-imperialism when it threatens them. But it's completely fine if millions of third worlders have to suffer under both, since cheap oil :(
Ah, well, fuck. Then I don't really have a positive spin on it.
Maybe the US crashing and burning will at least limit US influence on the Arab world, opening at least a slight hope for improvements in the region in the long run. It's a weird world - yesterday it was Europe and the US against the rest, today Europe stands alone and Russia is paralysed in Syria. Maybe tomorrow we'll see genuine alliances between Europe and countries in the Arab world that are not entirely built around exploitation and sucking up to dictators.
Maybe. But I'm not holding my breath.
I'd never hold my breath on this unfortunately. Europe is still not sinless, they have blood on their hands, funding both the sudanese and gazan genocide. And they have yet to pay reparations for the devastating damages of colonialism/imperialism, which has directly caused the death and suffering of millions.
The world is unfair, but no one cares about us.
If we want to talk about why European countries have blood on their hand we could keep going all day.
I'd push back a little against the notion that nobody cares. You don't have many (any?) political allies who are willing to stand up against dictatorships and let go of their cheap oil supplies, but you do have people and organizations who care.
The International Criminal Court did, among other things, issue an arrest warrant on Netanyahu. I think we have managed to establish international law, but not yet international justice. As a result it's easy to give up and consider it all to be false promises and lies, and to a degree that's not entirely wrong. But I nevertheless believe that current-day international law is the greatest achievement we have made since the second world war, and establishing international law is the fundamental first step towards international justice.
I have a lot of friends working for various international organizations, and while it's one hell of an uphill battle, I can assure you that there are people out there working tirelessly to try to make a change. And despite everything, most European countries are still supportive of the ICC and in favour of establishing an international legal order.
If we want to be hopeful about Europe, it has to be judged by it's commitment to that promise, and not by the corrupt, narcissistic, or plain moronic leaders who are way too frequently put in charge.
Thanks. It feels like every interaction with europeans i have about this is "well these countries are necessary for us! They're strategic allies and better than XYZ (usually russia or china)" while ignoring the people who have to suffer the consequences. Out of sight, out of mind...
It's refreshing to hear at least some people care about us.
We have all these ideas about universal human rights, and we are trying to wish them into existence. So we teach them to children as if they are something they should believe already exists, not as it's an ideal we are working towards.
I think the idea is that it will make people more protective of human rights, but the flip side is that people seem very reluctant to see the cracks in the fiction they have been sold. And then when/if they realize the state of the world they often become jaded, acting as if the realization that it's all a fake construct is somehow the greatest insight on earth.
And then, if they're good people, they start working to make the fiction just a little bit more real.