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Last summer I had a tennis course in Spain with a Spanish coach named Sergio. One morning, I overheard her talking with a customer in Russian. Then I asked, “Sergio, are you Russian?” “Well,” he said, “I’m a Spanish Spaniard. She explained that her grandmother was one of the 2,895 Spanish orphans who had been deported to the USSR after the Spanish Civil War. My grandfather ended up in Crimea. When Spain went fascist and became Soviet enemy, it kept its origins silent for many years. In 1991, it was time for the collapse of the USSR. One day an elderly man knocked on Grandpa’s door; was his brother from Spain. The brother toured Crimea and asked everyone he met if he knew Spanish. Sergio encouraged his family to start a new life in Spain.
When nations fall, people flee. Recent events in Syria, Venezuela and Afghanistan. Ukraine could be next. In 2020 there was a record 82 million people have fled their homes, or one in 95 people, according to the UN refugee agency. Only a small portion – 250,000 total in 2020 – returns home. Meanwhile, the peaceful death of nations, such as Lebanon, as well as making migrants. Some of these people and their descendants will change the world.
The common denominator of immigrant families is that the first generation has a bad time, works poorly, destroys a new language, is discriminated against and struggles to understand how they got to where they are. Others spend years in their suitcases mentally, waiting for their turn to arrive, until they die outside. But, especially if the family has the same skin color as the common people, subsequent generations tend to be accepted into the host family.
George Robertson, a Bristol-based animal buyer who married a French woman shortly after World War I, was later identified as Emmanuel Macron’s grandfather. Similarly, Grandmother Boris Johnson was French, Donald Trump’s mother was Scottish, when Father of Pope Francis and Grandfather Jair Bolsonaro was from Italy. Often the natives simply remember the vague, sympathetic, and perverse actions of their parents. In these cases, the family changes the identity of the old and foreign country.
But there is another factor: immigrants tend to be more environmentally friendly. In my definition, this means being immersed in three different cultures as well as today and learning a universal language, English. Cosmopolitans love to come higher classes of people. Some are made in a peaceful way: many young people today are becoming people of different nationalities by watching videos in their bedrooms. But often cosmopolitans are the stuff of the collapse of their countries.
My family became international with the migration of almost every generation, sometimes several times. Recently I had dinner in Madrid with some Lebanese and Argentine people. After being raised over 4,000 miles[8,000 km]they immediately recognized each other’s stories. She was raised in a well-educated family and learned a great deal about English at school. When their lands were broken, they wandered before reaching Spain, which is now a safe haven. I doubt he will ever return home – life is better everywhere.
The Argentines I was living with had a young daughter. How much life will they earn in Argentina? Perhaps language and friendship are a tradition Diego Maradona. Everything else will melt away, just as my children will never know South Africa where their grandparents came from.
People in many lands are subject to ridicule. But in the rest of the world, they have great advantages in business and market thinking. The author wrote: “Strong is the dreadful thing G Pascal Zachary. Having come from a different background or perspective, people of all races have the ability to do strange things. Their tolerance is good, because they borrow ideas or do business with people everywhere. Their connections are global. They like to invest in their education because they are carriers. They are not bound by the limits of wherever they may be. They take advantage of opportunities elsewhere. Elon Muskraised in South Africa by a Canadian mother, once said she would come to the US “from any country” because it is a place “where great things can happen”.
Cosmopolitans are fascinated by globalization, with the same ideas and ideas from everywhere. Nativist distrust makes the place fragile. In 1922, when the Turkish army converted the ancient port city of Smyrna into the Turkish city of Izmir, many Greeks and Amenians of the city were burned to death or deported. Among those who fled was 16-year-old Aristotle Onassis, a future cosmopolitan billionaire. Today Hong Kong and perhaps London are eradicating cosmopolitanism. But when this happens, people all over the world just find a place to come. Refugees today may be deported for life, but some of their descendants will reclaim the earth.
Follow Simon on Twitter @KuperSimon and send him an email simon.kuper@ft.com
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