The acceleration of events that the world is witnessing in the past and in recent years have had an impact on the present and future of people and the coming generations. The most notable of these is the migration of the Arabs to European countries and other destinations. There are various types of migration and they differ in terms of their purposes or reasons.
Voluntary migration
This type of migration is based on the person’s free will by moving from his original country to another one in Europe, Asia, America, or others. There are various reasons for this migration, some move just because they are looking for a specific lifestyle and have chosen a certain destination to be their future place of residence, others want to improve their finish their studies abroad and find a better job. Many want to improve their scientific and practical level in a foreign country because they believe that they are capable of reaching greater levels thanks to the availability and diversity of opportunities in those countries. This type of migration is often done through travel to finish studies or find job offers abroad. In other cases, marrying a foreigner and moving to Europe is another alternative.
Migration for touristic purposes
It is sometimes or usually a way of discovering the world and visiting new places and new cultures while enjoying shopping and sightseeing. It is also great for self-discovery through meditation and relaxation especially for those who want to spend their holidays on a distant exotic island far from the noise and stress of the city. Others opt for this type of migration for healthcare requirements. And we can not deny that for some people it is some sort of social extravagance.
Refugee migration of all kinds
There are migrations due to internal wars, or political asylum because of the suppression of freedoms, or the expression of divergent opinion. Refugee migration can also be the result of ethnic or sexual affiliations in some cases.
Unjustified or illegal immigration
In most cases, those who choose this type of immigration are the immigrants who live in despair and hopelessness due to all the hardships they go through in their homelands as they lose all hope for a better future. Most of them resort to illegal methods only to get out of their reality and their native country through smuggling trips, which became a well-known phenomenon in recent years.
The segments differ in this type of immigration, so you find the educated ones, but they have huge intellectual deficiencies and serious negativity that prevent them from improving their reality in their country, finding opportunities, and striving for success. Others who turn to this illegal solution have basic education levels and their only purpose is to earn money no matter what it takes and they accept any sort of work even the illegal ones. Some others, unfortunately, are all kinds of delinquents who have chosen this path.
All these circumstances have voluntarily and involuntarily contributed to the creation of a new identity and a new personality that has acquired different forms in defining it and dealing with it individually. That’s because the criteria for shaping this altered personality have become diverse, which has made it a hybrid version of the Arab personality in the West, especially those whose migration has become permanent and have become citizens in foreign countries and have turned into an essential element of the society as diverse cultural minorities.
All this has led to the emergence of two new but different types of Arabs in Western society in which cultures are blended and contribute to their formation. The first type is positively impacted and this enriches the development of his personality and identity, while the second one is negatively affected in his internal and external formation and at various aspects.
Some considered this as a form of modernity, and others claimed that it is a kind of loss of identity and a major personality crisis, so I wanted to share my point of view about this based on my life experience.
The Arabs with balanced identities
These are the people who, despite their long stay in the West, have succeeded in combining their preservation of the foundations of their Arab identity and cultural principles with their full citizenship and integration into the Western society in which they live in a way that reflects their balance without loss or defect in their being and identity. This category of Arabs did not become attracted to anything that could be considered a negative decay in the western world, and instead, it has an active and influential role in its community. The Arabs with balanced identities are also those who have worked on the development of their intellectual and educational tools as well as their social skills to ensure the establishment of a healthy environment in which they can positively and safely grow up.
The Arabs with mistaken identity, the Arabs that are not Arabs
All the civilization, wealth, and rich culture that the Arab identity contains is not enough for the Arabs that are fully impacted by the cultural assimilation of the West. they think that it is not a source of pride or uniqueness. The reason why they chose to indirectly give away their origins, thinking that by doing so they will build a pure Western personality for themselves so they try to adopt another identity. For them faking their behaviors, the way they dress and speak to embrace another identity is a sort of modernity.
Being ignorant or blind to the fact that this complete assimilation will result in an identity crisis, they forgot that they can have a balanced identity, which means being a pure Arab who is wisely inspired by a few Western aspects. In other words, the optimal solution is to confer upon the Arabic identity some western traits that are consistent with the western society without exaggeration or neglect and without imitation and concessions that cause a long-term difficulty in defining the true Arabic traits as a personality with solid foundations and roots.
