Impressions Of An Ex-pat
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Perspectives
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IMPRESSIONS OF AN EX-PAT
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Words by Leah DolanArtwork by Ellie Stanton
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The weekend-long parties in feverishly guarded fetish clubs make up a big part of Berlin’s reputation as a mecca for inclusivity and progression. But behind the sexual liberation, ‘Multikulti’ Berlin still has a lot to answer for.
The surge of far-right populism, made evident after this year’s European election, cannot come as a shock for people of colour, especially migrant workers, living in Europe. Racism is discrimination plus power, and despite being heralded as a multicultural oasis, racism in Berlin is systemic. The spring I spent in the city opened my eyes to how pronounced racial prejudice can be, and how deep these discriminations run. My experience of Berlin was distorted by my white privilege; I was forgiven for my British monolingualism and I was always referred to as an ‘expat’ - my first real encounter with the term.The Oxford Dictionary defines an expatriate as simply ‘a person who lives outside their native country’, similarly, an immigrant is defined as ‘a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country’. I quickly learnt that these phrases apply conditionally, and the condition is usually race.Originating from the Latin expatria, translating to ‘out of native country’, expats were initially born out of exile. But following onto the colonial era, the term ‘expats’ began to refer to clusters of Europeans settling in new colonies. Those that travelled during this time belonged to the upper echelons of society; diplomats, aristocrats and businessmen. Today, ‘expat’ is still habitually applied to privileged white westerners while people of colour, especially those from non-European countries, are considered to be immigrants.And language is powerful. By associating expatriates with the idea of the ‘native’ and immigrants with the ‘foreign’, a hierarchy of insider versus outsider is immediately enforced onto two identical identities. The definition of immigrant focuses on the ‘foreign’ discomfort instead of the ‘native’ skillset. It emphasises the preexisting identity that comes with being a native, the sense of belonging and the powerful idea of home; all the while denying this to an immigrant. Immigrants are perpetually foreign: constantly intruding, encroaching, disturbing. For an expat, relocation is an active choice; for an immigrant, the act of moving abroad is still considered to be coerced – fleeing out of desperation. In reality, both expatriates and immigrants migrate to improve their quality of life, in whatever form that may take.‘There are districts in Berlin that are labelled “The Arabs” and “The Turks”’ Amr Abdelwahab tells me. Amr is an Egyptian software engineer, currently living in Berlin. ‘And you would even find a lot of real estate agents telling you openly, “don’t apply to this district because you won’t get accepted. Go and live in Neukolln instead”’
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"BUT WHILE WHITE SUPREMACY DEMANDS MORE OF PEOPLE OF COLOUR, IT STILL ANTICIPATES LESS. "
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Finding an apartment in Berlin means entering a fierce competition that requires strength, patience, a salary three times more than the asked rent (or good payslip doctoring skills) and white skin. I was offered the first apartment I visited, whereas many people of colour with white partners admit to avoiding viewings with potential landlords for fear of rejection.
The result is an enforced congregation of black and brown people into ‘acceptable’ districts like Kreuzberg and Neukolln. ‘Come check the cleaning protocol of “white” and “non-white” districts,’ says Amr, who remembers staying with friends in Mitte after hurricane-force winds ripped through the city in 2017. ‘In a few hours, the streets [of Mitte] were cleaned. I moved to Neukolln a month later, and there were still trees on the ground. Then you hear the comments about Arabs destroying the districts and making it unclean. Is it our responsibility to pick up fallen trees?’There is a clear disparity between what is expected of a white ‘expat’ and a brown ‘immigrant’. I remember my best friend’s Syrian housemate. He became a C2 level in German after only two years, while I bounced from Späti to Döner Haüs during my first month, only able to cobble together ‘Sprechen Sie Englisch?’
Bilingualism is optional for an ‘expat’. One particular evening at a bar, after a few bathroom rehearsals, I managed to order my drink in German. Whatever small sense of accomplishment I felt was quickly cut short by the American to my right who, despite living in Berlin for over six months, ordered in English. He’d never learnt a word of German because why should he? ‘Everybody speaks English.’But while white supremacy demands more of people of colour, it still anticipates less. ‘Class and race are inextricably linked,’ says my friend, artist and fellow adoptive Berliner Anietie. A native Londoner speaking both French and Italian fluently, Anietie has had a different experience with cultural identity and race. The side eyes and the surprise glances when his tongue tumbles gracefully through those romance languages sting, as strangers find him uncharacteristically eloquent for a black man.
Berlin’s loud and vibrant history makes it an iconic site of defiance. With an entire identity rooted in liberation and acceptance, to acknowledge the structural racism rife in Berlin is to mar its reputation as a misfit utopia - something many refuse to do. ‘Berliners, specifically well-educated ones, suffer massively from denial,’ Amr tells me. ‘When I tell a Berliner I lived in Budapest, their immediate response is that Budapest is so racist. My experience in Berlin has been far worse.’Violent xenophobic attacks have seen a drastic increase in Germany, and Berlin is no exception. Earlier this year, three Syrian girls were attacked on the street in Neukolln. The attacker attempted to rip off their headscarves and stab one victim, aged 12, with a syringe full of blood. ‘In the job centers in Berlin, there is a clear segregation in terms of ‘immigrants’ and ‘expats’’ Amr concludes. More than just a linguistic discrepancy, the difference between expatriates and immigrants is a toxic reminder of colonial power structures. It fuelled Nigel Farage’s anti-EU campaign in 2016 and it continues to fuel frenzied attacks like these.
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CONTEMPORARY CONVERSATIONS
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