When in Rome.....?

[Horus]

I agree, but I suppose they are in the main just a small enclave of people who with few exceptions intend either to return home or move elsewhere at some point, so don't really count as immigrants as very few (if any) would be prepared to give up their passports and become Egyptian full time.

[Horus]

Following up on my last post above, we are starting to get the EU election results comming in and it is obvious that UKIP is hammering the other parties in gaining seats to the EU in Brussels. What is even more surprising, but not unexpected is that some very far right anti immigration parties are being elected in other parts of Europe. France has just elected Marie La Penn's party as the major grouping and she is the daughter of a real nasty piece of work when it comes to Islam in particular, in addition Demark has also returned far right anti immigration candidates and the pattern is continuing.

My worst fears are now being recognised and because of our current rulers ignoring the opinions and concerns of ordinary people regarding immigration and EU open borders policy we are now seeing what could become a dangerous backlash against those groups that make themselves unpopular.

What is even more depressing is that a panel of numpty MP's on a TV programme I am watching just don't seem to get it at all and are continuing to ignore the reasons behind the backlash are down to anything but themselves and their current policies.

[Glyphdoctor]

I'm kinda coming back to Ruby Slippers original thread referencing mass immigration. .
Suppose this was in reverse. Lets use Luxor as an example where there is a "Little Britain." Sure lots of Expats have left now but when Luxor was flying high and in it's glory nobody there was conforming much to the standard ways of living in Egypt. And most Expats were demanding a say in gov't and how things were being run etc.

How do you figure the Egyptians felt about this?

Most of the Expats definitely seem to want to live as they did in Britain (but to a higher standard) and most are not prepared to change for example their mode of dress in order to fit in.......just sitting and wondering ......... thoughts?

You are a highly educated person and acted as a PAID consultant to the government of a foreign country yourself. So you understand what it takes to be taken seriously and be viewed as contributing something valuable in situations like this. Ask yourself, do you think that all these ladies demanding a say and not fitting in are viewed by the people in power whose asses they have their noses permanently stuck up in the same way they imagine themselves to be viewed? Do you think they really have any say at all in how things are being run?

[LovelyLadyLux]

When I was working as a paid consultant I came with/come with the equivalent of 13 letters behind my name, Summa Cum Laud's, experience and proven track record so it is relatively difficult not to take what I say seriously.

And - in every way I'm trying to put this delicately - I'm really white and was in a really black third world. I was there at a time when 'white' was being very much deferred to. I could have been stupid as a stick and I think the ideas I shared would have been taken seriously. It often felt very uncomfortable for me to have this experience of being deferred to. "I" wanted "us" to sit as equals but that didn't always happen. I recognize my own personality is extremely strong and it can be difficult to challenge me when I get on a roll but ........Long story

Anyway - I wasn't really thinking at all about the non-gossiping sisters when I made the post. I was thinking more about all the regular ordinary Egyptian people living in the villages, working their butts off for $1/day, 5,6,7,8,9 of them sharing 1 cup and eating dinner off a cardboard on the ground table and seeing and having to live amongst Expats moving in acting like they own the place and making demands left right and centre.

I'm talking about those Expats who were not making it in their own world but on coming to Egypt suddenly found themselves able to stretch their $$ to a level where they were living very well and hiring Egyptians to do day labour for them. I'm talking about all those Expats whose heads swole up to the almost breaking point with their own perceived importance. Those Expats who started to demand (ahem) Committees. Somehow they had enough sway, pull, whatever to command meetings but I definitely hope (and actually have enough insight to know) they were not taken seriously by the REAL powers that be.

My wonder is how regular, normal, man on the street Egyptians viewed these possibly perceived perks of Expats having a voice though? If I saw my gov't sitting down with this group or that group and not me I'd be extremely irate!

Always going to be difficult when 1 group or another starts to push their own agenda. When we push ours we see it as being our right to do so. When another groups pushes theirs then we get upset but we often don't look at ourselves in reverse.