had to gently break it to my mom that her friends who are already planning on moving to Italy may not in fact be escaping fascism to the extent they think they are
ive thought about this some and decided its totally rational to prefer living as an ex-pat under an oppressive government you disagree with than have to live under it in your home country.
My first Canadian federal election was a loss for the Liberals in what should have been the safest of seats so I’m getting it from both ends up here lol
Escapism works. I say that as a long term experienced expat, but not completely sure its the morally best choice. And that also assumes there is somewhere to run. Also not sure at this point.
Also people with enough money to escape hatch to France/Italy are going to be fine there under right wing governments. They have money and they're not "the bad kind" of immigrant.
Yeah, I should emphasize that in this specific instance we are talking about affluent white folks whose only reason for believing that Trump will target them is their brave posts about politics. The people who are actually at risk are more likely fleeing their state rn than the entire country.
Agree. The groups most at risk under Trump won't be significantly better off in Europe, or can't immigrate:
immigrants to US (stuck here), Muslims (same/more risk), less-educated/less-skilled (stuck here), most trans people (poverty, also lots of EU countries suck), disabled (will be rejected)
Nope, fled one state to another state and it wasn't any better. So then I fled the country with my queer and trans family. Not affluent. Disabled and unemployed and living in Portugal for over a year now.
LGBTQ+ folk / religious minorities are not going to be safe even if they are white and/or have $$. Not to mention every woman of childbearing age who might want to actually control her reproductive choices.
Probably most EU countries are going to be better for LGB folks (minus Hungary, not sure what's up with Poland). Muslims, eh, it will depend on how bad it gets, it's not good there. I don't know the situation there wrt Jewish folks. Trans people, it really depends. In any case it's really hard to do
Hi, just want to try to nip this narrative in the bud because as one of many immigrants from the U.S. living in Portugal, many of us are not even remotely "rich" and I'm tired of hearing this assumption repeated. Signed, a nonworking disabled person with a disabled partner on a tight budget.
Also, even though I say a "tight budget," we live comfortably on a small income (my partner's VA pension) and we have superior (and free or largely free) healthcare, excellent public transport, etc. Life is so much better. Zero regrets.
The killer for the US is the threat to democracy itself.
Populations can make bad decisions, and then change their minds. Happens all the time. A Trump term 2 occurring *after* he attempted a coup and holding immense newly minted executive power has no analog in modern Europe.
Not the entire continent, no. We are still a very Leftist population overall in Portugal, especially by U.S. standards. Left/Right do not mean the same thing in Europe. Democrats would be considered right-wing here.
Don't write France off, the far right got 34% of the vote & the 2 left parties got more than 50%. If the French vote smart in the 2nd round the left will win. The far right in the Netherlands had to make deals with the left to form gov't. The need support from the left to pass anythng.
Not with the left, with several mildly to strongly right parties. They are explictly celebrating it as the first Dutch government without compromises to the left or centre.
The NSC is vastly different than the 2 far right parties, socially conservative but liberal in monetary aspects. The BBB is centre right with some leftist beliefs. It is not a cohesive group.
Aren't they about to make immigrants pledge allegiance to Israel? A country currently being run by a fascist and that is committing a genocide. So very left wing.
I know folks who moved to Europe, citing "the political situation" in the US among their reasons. But then the country they went to is Denmark, which has had a hell of a ride with extremists recently, too.
I had to explain to my dad that he can't just move elsewhere because other countries also don't have open borders and aren't necessarily looking to let in a bunch of new refugees from America.
I would counter that by suggesting Paraguay and Uraguay, just to name a couple of countries that are pretty easy to get into and have a growing American immigrant population.
