Should highly educated, talented and morally upright individuals emigrate to a different country for any life or stay and suffer persecution in order to form a resistance?

It’s easy to say “oh, they should stay and work to improve their country”. It’s very difficult to actually do that. I’d migrate the hell out of here if things got much worse, and I’d do it without feeling any kind of shame.

There is no uniform answer for all citizens of a country, rather it depends on the individual circumstances. Some people would naturally prefer to stay while others would want to leave. Everyone should decide for themselves and do what they need to do. I don’t think it is fair to pass judgment either way as we are outsiders to the situation. What we should do instead is support people in their decision. That means opening borders. Right now, it sounds like it is pretty damn hard to ‘vote with your feet’ and leave Mexico for the U.S.

What’s happening in Mexico….....why can’t they leave for the U.S. anymore?

My parents were highly intelligent, my father also extremely well educated courtesy of my grandfather (a well educated Gadjo), much more so than your average Romanian Gypsy, him educating my mother (who was a quick study).

Should they have stayed to fight, and most likely, be trod under or even killed like so many of my people? If they had lived until the past couple of years (they both died relatively young) they would, most certainly, be dead now.

Or, should they have established that they wanted their children (turned out to be child… that would be me) to have a chance at a decent life, where I could be educated and possibly make something of myself (ok, I am just a phlebotomist) and gone on to fight for the rights of my people (which I have)? Should they have turned down the efforts of my family and Clan to get these two out of Communist Romania… two out of the entire Clan?

If they had stayed, they would have been able to have me in Romania, most likely by now, however, I would be dead… murdered with the rest of my family. As it stands, for all I know, I might very well be the last member of my family alive unless there are others outside of EU.

Should they have stayed, unlikely to have made one whit of difference, or should they have tried with a chance offered to them?

Have you ever heard of a thing known as “reality”? If not you should check into it – it will answer your question.

It seems like people ought to do the thing that will have the best chance of working under the circumstances they’ve been given.

That is a great question. It goes for neighborhoods too. If yours is falling apart because of an influx of crime do you stay and fight or move out?
I figure if you have the ability to a resist, you fight. If not, you move on.
It is most important to live to fight another day.

Too many variables….

Work where your efforts will produce the greatest good for those who need it most and provide as little of value for the oppressors as possible.

My sense is that more leave than stay and fight. But now that I think about it, I question that. Throughout history, only the most adventuresome people have emigrated. Most others are afraid of a different culture, so they stay.

I’m thinking now of Iran. I know that many Iranians have come to the US. But also many are there, some organized by the women’s movement, who are engaging in resistance privately as well as, on occasion, publicly.

Personally, I think we make most sense in our own contexts. We should stay where we are from and work to better that society, rather than cutting and running. However, if in danger of being killed, then I think it makes sense to run. It is better to be alive to fight from abroad than it is to be dead and a martyr.

I don’t think there’s any should or any rule to this. Each family or individual has to make their decision on their own based on their own individual circumstances. If you are asking about a specific case, then if you provide enough details, I’ll try to offer an opinion. Otherwise, I don’t think there is a rule for this, other than the considerations I raised above.

I think it would matter whether or not you have kids – if I didn’t have kids, I’d be more likely to stay and form a resistance movement.

I am divided (thus I ask). Some of my friends who have kids stay believing we can create a better future and because it’s not gotten to the point where they will publicly murder us (just kill us under interrogation or detain us with no charge using secret acts) but others leave BECAUSE of their kids.

I have met some Iranians too and that has gotten me thinking. They come to my country thinking it is better but decades ago, Iran was a much more progressive Islamic country than ours. When I watched Kite Runner it made me think, would the fate of my country deteriorate as a direct consequence of the best of minorities leaving? Would we be abandoning those who have less means to leave (education, finances, skills to start a new life, ability to speak English, relatives overseas, etc) to form the resistance?

Yesterday I saw a video clip from Al-Jazeera which stated between 2008–2009, three hundred thousand minorities left the country!!! (Out of a 25 million population). I knew many of my friends and relatives have left or simply never returned from studies / employment overseas but to hear it on the new like that made me think about the issue all over again.