17 Jan 2012
The Immigration Question
It feels that in the past year the question that bothered Belarusians the most was “Is this the time for me to pack and leave?” We have just put behind the year 2011. But that year, being one of the most difficult the current generation can remember, raised a lot of questions to people of different walks of life.
The political and economic turmoil of 2011 made many people think that it is time to leave their naive ideals behind and move on (or away). Those commonly known as “silent majority” stumbled face to face with economic hardship and considered going somewhere with a less volatile exchange rate. This urge to leave cannot surprise anyone, it has its rational reason behind it. What I find more interesting is the fact that the thought of migrating became real to a lot of people who have always been politically and socially active, and insisted that leaving the country is somehow irresponsible and selfish, people who believed that as long as you don’t betray your ideals and values and work for the change of the authoritarian status quo there is no reason to leave. In a way, this type of thinking can be condensed to: Why should I leave when I know that I can make a change here and be happy in Belarus?
