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<iil01@aber.ac.uk> If I may... Can I suggest some caution in the categorisation of white and "native" Africans. Things aren't that clear. In the Pan Aficanist movement, the PAC, there was a tendency to accept "whites" as native, but not indigenous, we, in the Black Consciousness Movement had a black political identity which included those among us who were classified "coloured", Malay, Asian and African. As diverse the "categories" were, so too are the reasons for people leaving the country; the worst, clearly, are those that take valuable skills away...and then spread horror stories and lies about the country. Many whites left the country for crypto-racist, or overtly racist reasons. Some "liberal" whites started leaving in the mid-eighties and continue to do so for economic/security/professional. Many black people (those we did not classify as white) are also leaving for several reasons; some economic, some personal and professional and some, like myself, stayed in the country throughout the struggle years and worked as journalists/teachers/professionals and then decided, after we got rid of that iniquitous system, that there was an entire world beyond the one we fought for (to the point of exhaustion until our late 30s and are now travelling and working around the world). In my case, i married a foreigner and invited her to stay in South Africa for several years, then she asked me to move to the USA to be closer to her family for a few years . In fact, the former Editor of the Mail and Guardian, Phillip van Niekerk, is in a similar situation; he left South Africa a few months ago and is continuing his progressive efforts in Washington DC. Having lived in the USA for about three years, I now find myself in the UK finishing a PhD and I may well end up at an academic institution back home, elsewhere in Africa, or back in the USA - who knows. While I realise and support the idea those of us who have the skills should stay and rebuild the country, some of us spent our lives fighting apartheid in various ways - I was a journalist at home for almost 15 years (throughout the difficult 1980s) before spending a couple of years in the Mandela government - and are now simply enjoying the opportunity to travel and live abroad. What we ought, perhaps do, is look at the World Trade Organisation's efforts to export skiled professionals (nurses and doctors) to Europe, to care for the aging populations in the North - this is a fact. I know, for instance, that the World Bank's Trade Group is working on how to get more professionals from the developing world, to the North. Some of its economists are spending a lot of time and money on research papers that claim a brain drain is good for a country on the grounds that it encourages a lot of people to go into education, or the professions. The hypothesis is that not all of them would be absorbed into the brain drain and that those who stayed behind would make a valuable contribution to the country. Let's just be cautious about generalising. Yes, there are many white expats who have joined far-right movements (like the one in London that is preparing to "take back the country for the white race") or that are racist, living in Canada, the USA, Australia etc and continue to bad-mouth the country... But there are others - black and white - who are out of the country for other reasons; key among these is that we fought the struggle and won it - now we're just enjoying being free citizens of the world. :-)
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