2

There are lots of countries that are going through economic hardship or tyrants are ruling them and this kinds of devastating problems. I have seen lots of people who call themselves leftist while begging for an opportunity to immigrate to rich west countries such as the US, UK or Germany.

I currently think that advocating for the poor and fighting for a better future and more social equality are both extremely hard and valuable, no matter what you call yourself (left, right, socialist, whatever!) but at the same time I find it quite contradictory for someone who calls herself 'leftist' to leave her family and people (who are going through hardship or fighting for their rights) to live a more comfortable life (assuming she will get that!) and simultaneously talking about moral goals such as social justice.

What I just said is my own opinion and don't insist it's correct in all cases (like wars or special cases) and I don't live in a rich country so I know the hardships.

I want to know if this is consistent with their ideas or not.

EDIT: I'm talking about ordinary educated people and experts not imprisoned political activists and other similar complications.

Mahdi Ghajary
  • 121
  • 4
  • 1
    Welcome to Politics Stack Exchange. Your question does unfortunately not really fit the model of this website. We want to explain politics, not discuss them. We generally don't answer questions which ask for our own personal opinions and moral judgments. You might want to ask this question on a more discussion-oriented website. – Philipp Feb 24 '19 at 10:58
  • 1
    There are lots of assumptions in your question: why do you think migrants tend to be on the left side of the political spectrum? There are different forms of migration, from skilled workers looking for economical opportunities to refugees fleeing war or persecution. Apparently you talk about the latter, so I don't see the link between their political views and the fact that they emigrate. – Erwan Feb 24 '19 at 13:59
  • as I mentioned in my question, I'm talking about educated people and middle class who prefer migrating to a more wealthy country. I know there are some inevitable conditions for political activists and similar people which make staying in their country impossible. – Mahdi Ghajary Feb 24 '19 at 15:50
  • Economical migrants often go to a country where they can find a job in order to send money to help their family/relatives in their country of origin. Besides, I still don't fully understand the reasoning: do you mean that somebody who values social justice should stay poor out of solidarity? or is it that somebody should try to live under a political system they agree with? That would be a bit complicated :) – Erwan Feb 24 '19 at 19:29
  • @Erwan I don't say that people should stay poor out of solidarity, but it's clear developing countries need their expert force more than a country like the US. And almost in all cases, an expert in his country of origin is more crucial compared to rich countries where they are just a cog in the machine. Therefore I think anybody who advocates for egalitarianism and equality between people of all countries should abnegate immigration. But if they just care about themselves and having a better economic future then immigration is the way to go. – Mahdi Ghajary Feb 24 '19 at 20:40
  • 1
    @Mahdi oh ok, what you are talking about is the "brain drain". Sorry but it was not very clear in your original question ;) You would probably find this Wikipedia article interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital_flight. – Erwan Feb 24 '19 at 21:12
  • Somewhat related: https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/18871/how-do-politicians-on-the-left-side-of-the-political-spectrum-reconcile-the-need?r=SearchResults – JonathanReez Feb 24 '19 at 21:33
  • @JonathanReez Thank you for your reference but here I'm talking about migration of educated middle class and its consistency with their leftist ideas. I personally find it hypocritical to leave your country of origin and at the same time talk about social equality and fighting for humanity (and all this leftist buzzwords) cause your homeland surely needs you more than developed countries but you are leaving it for a better economic life. – Mahdi Ghajary Feb 25 '19 at 10:27
  • I don't understand why personal politics are being conflated with economic migration in this question. What impact does a software engineer have on civil rights in their country besides their vote? One can move abroad and vote absentee. If the argument is that not working in the home country means not reinvesting at home, a country does not have to be rich to be fair to its people, and in addition if an Iranian software dev (avg dev salary iran - $23.5K) moves to the US (avg $57K) and sends half his salary home for his family there is more money to be reinvested in the community than otherwise – Gramatik Feb 25 '19 at 19:39
  • @Gramatik, I'm not particularly discussing pros and cons of migration of educated class of a developing country. What I'm stressing is the inconsistency between leftist ideas and their migration to developed countries which are usually capitalist. In your software development example, migration sends a disappointment vibe to society AND his migration just makes America's software industry a bit better but he could have made a profound impact in Iran. so overall, he's just widening the gap between America's already powerful software industry with Iran's developing software industry. – Mahdi Ghajary Feb 25 '19 at 22:33
  • @Mahdi your assumptions are not correct: "It has been found that emigration of skilled individuals to the developed world contributes to greater education and innovation in the developing world. Research also suggests that emigration, remittances and return migration can have a positive impact on democratization and the quality political institutions in the country of origin." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital_flight – Erwan Mar 05 '19 at 16:36
  • @Erwan the benefits are reaped if they come back but majority of them clearly wouldn't. and as I said in my previous comment (and the question), I'm stressing the inconsistency between leftist ideas and their migration to developed countries. – Mahdi Ghajary Mar 06 '19 at 11:23
  • @Mahdi apparently some positive effects in education don't depend on migrants coming back. This is a quite complex topic to analyze, I don't think you or I can do this seriously here based on subjective assumptions. – Erwan Mar 06 '19 at 11:57
  • @Erwan I'm not denying positive impacts, overall, it's not useful for your country of origin and clearly that's why we call it "brain drain". – Mahdi Ghajary Mar 06 '19 at 14:56

0 Answers0