Leaving the motherland- II

In second round of presidency of Khatami, the hopes flourished in the first round vanished and were substituted by rage, frustration and despair. The reasons for these feelings should be discussed some other time, but whatever they were, his many of promises never were fulfilled. So, the third wave began to rise when frustration filled the hearts and the minds of the people.

Like the second group, this group also consisted of the best and sharpest graduates of the universities. This time, beside Europe, it was the States and Canada which many sought to take refuge in. Trying to have a better expertise, Canada invited emigrants from all over the world and Iranians were those who ok'ed it hurriedly. The process is time consuming usually. The applicants apply for emigration filling out some forms and depositing certain amounts of money somewhere. Then, they are invited to have an interview in Canadian embassy in Damascus and after some time, they can leave. Of those who emigrate to Canada, some end in the States. I don't know about the details, but the 'land of the free' is a golden destination for thousands. The figures disclosed by government about brain drain are awful. They reveal that almost no one of the graduates of good universities live on here. They all leave and never get back.

Emigrants usually never get back to the country. Being so far geographically, they even rarely get back to the country to visit family and friends; it needs money and time to do that. For this reason, it's now families who travel to their new homes of children to visit them.

Well, this was a simplified background of what happening here. Among all my classmates I hardly can find any who hasn't emigrated yet or at least hasn't applied for emigration. We have an annual ceremony of meeting classmates every year. The group of friends is shrinking time by time I meet them. I think, after a while it would be just me left here who doesn't dream about leaving. It's really sad. Here, we benefit a free system of education from kindergarten to getting every kind of degree one demands. Just imagine this: we educate by the money of this very people and when we learn the necessary expertise, then we forget them and grant it to the westerners who have done nothing gaining it. The students begin thinking about leaving even before graduation. In computer sites of universities, you can see many searching the websites of western universities, filling out the forms, doing the necessary documentation, discussing about the details of procedures of applying, etc. This is the real picture of life among our best children; leaving and forgetting.

Who should be blamed for this? The people? The regime? Of course the regime. The main responsibility is on the shoulders of this unfair system which puts pressures on intellectuals and ordinary people opposing the 'must's and the 'should's. But is it just that? It's just regime's responsiblity?
I am not speaking about those who can not get back to the country. Still, there is a big group of people who would be arrested right after the arrival. What I am speaking about is those who would have no trouble if they decide to go back.

Meeting my friends in Europe a couple of years back, I felt unpleasant seeing them moaning and missing Iran. Well, they miss Iran, but they are not willing to leave the easy life in the West and get into trouble of tough life in their homeland.

To be continued……