Let’s look at the dictionary definitions of the two.
Ex-pat is a person who lives outside their native country.
Immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
As you can see there is no difference because you are both. All the Brits who live in Spain are immigrants to Spain and ex-pats from Britain.
Any Indian who moves to Britain is an immigrant to Britain but an ex-pat from India.
We are all the same in our journeys across the world. The main difference is that we in Britain continue to moan about the immigrants here not integrating enough and yet if you visit Spain you will find complete villages that have only British people there.
There was a programme on television a couple of years ago, where they went to one of these villages, where there were British pubs, British restaurants and British shops. The only Spanish person there was the local doctor and, of course, he spoke fluent English. He was deeply concerned about Brexit because at that time he could continue with their health care as they were part of Europe. Once we have left the EU, there will be no attachment to health care in Spain.
They would all have to take out expensive health insurance and as the doctor explained, they are mostly retired people anyway. They will be needing proper health care as they get older and also could their pensions support the extra expense of health insurance when all this time their health care has been free.
At the moment we are living in a very divisive and racist world. A prime example of this is the Sainsbury advert celebrating Christmas with a black family. Sainsbury is only representing the diversity of our culture which we should celebrate. Instead the ignorant racists have been tweeting disgraceful comments about Sainsbury, not including white people. It doesn’t matter that there are adverts with white people all the time on the television.
White people have this terrible greed to be the most important ones and to be offensive if they do not agree with anyone on race. Most of the trolls on the internet are white. I am mixed race, Asian and British but at the moment I feel ashamed of my white side because this country has become more and more intolerant. I am very proud of Sainsbury as it has not given in to racist behaviour.
I remember a time just after the war when B&Bs used to advertise – no Blacks, no dogs , no Irish. After all that became illegal, and rightly so, many years later, we started to move into an era of tolerance. In fact we were world famous for that. People respected this country and I was immensely proud of it.
I am no longer proud to be British and it makes me very sad.
One of the things that particularly disgusts me is the Last Night of the Proms where they still sing Rule Britannia, particularly the line where we sing that Britons never never shall be slaves. Can nobody see the irony that we were at the forefront of the slave trade?
We have the effrontery to continue singing this song from the awful British Empire. There was so much trolling to the BBC around this subject that the BBC became afraid and kept the song. I am very saddened that the BBC was not strong like Sainsbury.
I therefore wrote to the BBC asking them to make a stand and remove the song from the Last Night.
I thought it would be interesting for you to read this letter and to listen to a different viewpoint.
Dear Sir,
Re: The Last Night of the Proms
The 11th September 1999 was the last time I watched the Last Night of the Proms. I was so horrified to see a black opera singer, Sir Willard White, being forced to sing Rule Britannia. As I watched, I walked up and down the living room, shouting at the TV. Did not the so-called intelligent people at the BBC see the incongruity of a black man singing about Britons not being slaves. I was absolutely disgusted. I had had enough of putting up with this British Empire ridiculous patriotism and nationalism.
I am sick of the BBC insulting black people of the former colonies and the people of colour in this country. The problem is that this music is copied by shows all over the country during the same period of time. The BBC has to set an example.
It is useless if you show wonderful programmes about Black Lives Matter which I have watched with great pleasure and then continue with the old racist ways. The hypocrisy is sickening.
You must do something about this and make sure that the Last Night of the Proms can become an evening of joy for all people.
Even if I were not of mixed heritage, which I am proud to be, I would still have considerable distaste for the BBC’s attitude.
As you can see, I was very very angry. We should stop people from seeing immigrants just as black people so that we can continue being racist. If we attack immigrants we are also attacking the Brits who live abroad, of which there are thousands.
We should be proud of our diversity and proud of the tolerance that we used to have. So many of the immigrants who have come to this country have made a massive difference in helping this country grow. So many people of colour keep the NHS going. Without them, the NHS would have collapsed years ago.
I am going to give you just a few names of Black Britons who have made such a huge contribution to our country. I cannot name them all , of course, and I will not tell you what they have done. It is for you to find out
Mary Seacole, Baroness Valerie Amos, Professor Hakim Adi
Sir David Ajjaye, Amma Assante, Winifred Atwell
Dame Jocelyn Barrow, Dame Floella Benjamin, John Blanke
Dawn Butler, Diane Abbot, Professor Gus John
Baroness Lawrence, Andrea Levy, Sir Steve Mcqueen
David Olusoga, Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, Gary Younge
I cannot name them all but their contribution to this country has been extraordinary. Let us be proud of them.
Don’t forget, LOOK THEM UP AND FIND OUT THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS!
