Тег: Migration

“Don’t like it—get out!”, “Say thank you that they let you in at all!”, “Be more modest as a guest, otherwise it’s suitcase, station, [country of origin]!”

Have you heard this before? If you have ever moved to another country and had the misfortune of criticizing the local taxes, bureaucracy, or healthcare out loud, you have likely faced a similar storm of indignation in response. Moreover, this is said by local “patriots” and even other immigrants, who apparently suffer from a severe form of Stockholm syndrome.
 
For some reason, in the minds of authoritarian etatists, the state is a kind of sacred deity. A strict but fair father who, out of great mercy, “took in” the poor orphan immigrant. Consequently, the orphan must fall prostrate, kiss the ground, and keep quiet. Only we understand that this is all nonsense that does not fit into common sense.
 
Imagine that you checked into an expensive hotel. You paid for the room a month in advance and left a deposit. You enter, and the faucet is leaking, the Wi-Fi only works on the balcony, and cockroaches are running down the hallway. You go down to the reception to express your dissatisfaction. And suddenly some guy in the lobby screams at you: “How dare you complain?! If you don’t like the hotel, go sleep on a heating pipe! Be grateful that you were even given keys!” Sounds like the rambling of a madman? But it is exactly the same as the phrase “if you don’t like it, leave.”
 
It is also necessary to understand that immigration is by no means “charity.” Modern legal immigration is a harsh, pragmatic, and very expensive procedure. The state is effectively selling you access to “its” infrastructure. And it certainly does not lose a single cent in the process.
 
You pay for this access long before your foot touches the new land. You pay visa fees, document translations, agent services, language tests, and medical examinations. You go through a rigorous administrative filter that checks your health, education, lack of criminal records, and ability to bring in money. The state power of the country lets you in not because it is kind. It is simply because you are a ready-made, trained taxpayer at someone else’s expense with minimal risks for the system.
 
Does this end upon arrival? Not at all. At that moment, an invisible counter starts. Your life in the new country has a specific price—the cost of one hour of life. Calculate your rent, utilities, insurance, groceries, gasoline, taxes, and divide by 30 days, then by 24 hours. You will get the amount you owe this system simply for the right to breathe its air. Even when you sleep or are sick, your counter ticks. You continuously pour money into the local economy as a customer of banks, supermarkets, insurance companies, and landlords, who, by the way, pay exorbitant taxes. Even if you personally do not work “on the books,” these taxes are already included in the price of goods and services.
 
So why on earth should a client, who regularly pays the “subscription fee” (in the form of huge taxes and the cost of living), not have the right to say that the service is, to put it mildly, mediocre? State lovers adore the proverb “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Only the horse was never a gift; it was bought at a double rate. And we have every right to be outraged if the horse is defective.
 
Citizenship, by the way, also changes nothing fundamentally. A passport is not the end of the game or an indulgence from levies, but simply “premium access” within the framework of the same contract. Once the counter is started, no one will ever turn it off.
 
Therefore, to the words of a defender of the stationary bandit saying “pack your bags,” you can boldly ask—are you saying this to the investors who invested their capital, their brains, and their time in this country? People have every right to demand quality service, be outraged by high taxes, and criticize unfair laws. In any language and in any part of the globe, regardless of their origin and the color of their passport!

Voluntarist, Bitarch

How to safely cross the border for a person with “incorrect” views from the state’s point of view

The crossing of a state’s border with a repressive regime is not just about buying tickets and collecting the necessary things for life in a suitcase. For those who might have once spoken out against its policies, retained unfavorable materials, or, even more so, engaged in active opposition activities directed at a stationary gangster – it’s primarily a conversation about digital footprints. Phones, laptops, flash drives – all of this is a source of risk. Therefore, we should consider a number of practical recommendations that will help reduce vulnerability and maintain safety for ourselves and others.

The main rule is not to take anything superfluous across the border. Especially if there are data on devices related to any activism or criticism of authorities. Ideally – don’t take your primary phone and storage media with you where this information was stored. Even “remote” files can often be recovered, especially with the resources available to the FSB (or intelligence agencies of other countries). In serious risks, it is better to pre-transfer data to a protected cloud storage, and format and discard/sell the devices where they were stored. This is particularly important for people who were in an area of heightened attention or engaged in serious activism.

Before traveling, you should seriously prepare. Collect important contacts, documents, photos, backup password copies, crypto wallet files, and other critical data. Pack them into an encrypted archive (e.g., using 7-Zip) or create a file container (e.g., via VeraCrypt) for further upload to the cloud. Use a long and unique password that, at the same time, should differ from your cloud password by at least several characters. It is critically important to come up with a good association for this password so you don’t forget it even in a stressful situation.

After creating the archive, upload it to several independent cloud storage services. When doing this, use accounts that are not linked to your activism or your real identity. Also, be sure to download and verify that the archive opens, as you certainly don’t want to lose everything due to some unforeseen technical error. Make sure you accurately remember the passwords for the container and the clouds. Some people also prefer to use paid and more private services, such as Proton (of course, with a new account created specifically for this purpose). At the same time, it is safe to upload your data only to cloud storage in hostile jurisdictions for your government authorities. For citizens of Russia this is almost all of Europe and America, you can use Google Drive, although we recommend paid protected services like Proton Drive, Filen, Sync, MEGA, Internxt, NordLocker. Pay exclusively with cryptocurrency, preferably Monero (XMR) or Bitcoin via a mixer.

The ideal strategy is to cross the border with a “clean” device, on which there are no unnecessary apps installed, no sensitive correspondence, and accounts of social networks you want to hide have never been logged into. The device should also never have had SIM cards inserted that were used in undesirable activities (the security services can easily detect this simply by knowing the IMEI of the device, which will shine together with all the phone numbers used on it in operator databases). Of course, it is desirable to have some old activity on the device so that excessive cleanliness does not also arouse suspicion. However, even with such, you can say that the old device was simply stolen, lost or broken, and therefore had to be replaced.

Intelligence agencies have the resources to carefully analyze your devices and media, so digital hygiene is simply a necessity for survival. Preparatory work before crossing the border gives you control over the situation and peace of mind, which means a lower risk of suspicion from security forces. And this, of course, will ensure the safety of you and those with whom you have business dealings.

Voluntarist, Bitarch

Time to get out?

Lately, the question of “Time to get out” has been discussed in Vzglyad. First, there was a little article about the results of the latest Levada Center poll on this topic. Then there was an article continuing the theme: who should get out, where to go, and who gains what from it. How does Ancap-chan view this issue? Does she feel drawn to be closer to other chans?

Dad

Am I drawn specifically to Japan, oto-san? Not particularly: I don’t know the language, the customs are strange, and foreigners are not well-liked. It’s a magnificent country to visit and marvel at, precisely because of its exoticism, but I have absolutely no desire to stay there for long. Although, of course, I associate my desired future even less with North Korea or Haiti…

I read the suggested links and was quite surprised that even in a fairly loyalist publication like Vzglyad, mass emigration and significant emigrant sentiments in the country are being discussed not only at the level of “a foreign agent was paid for another lie,” but also more or less thoughtfully.

To be honest, I don’t understand at all how, in the 21st century, one can seriously talk about the desirability of a permanent residency in any particular territory. Mobility has become one of humanity’s most important achievements during the scientific and technical revolution. People are gaining the ability to move further, more often, and more cheaply, and any retreat from this trend is perceived as stagnation or even degradation.

Until the 20th century, the vast majority lived and worked within a single village. In the 20th century, people became accustomed to pendulum migration: to the factory in the morning, back to the residential district in the evening. In the 21st century, it is gradually becoming the norm to live where it is comfortable, inexpensive, and not yet boring, to work remotely where the pay is higher, and meanwhile travel occasionally to where it is more interesting. Well, if there is enough money to always travel where it is more interesting, then one doesn’t even have to worry about finding a place to live cheaply for most of the year. States, with their ridiculous bureaucratic rituals performed when crossing borders, are perceived as a nuisance whose disappearance a person would not regret in the slightest, since besides the issue of obtaining a visa, a person practically communicates with the state about nothing else. At least, that is how the world looks through the eyes of those who feel in tune with the new trends.

As the share of such nomads in the global economy continues to grow, more and more services, which are currently traditionally more concerned with the opinions of residents, will reorient themselves to satisfy their specific needs. That is why scare stories like “what if someone buys a road and forbids crossing it?” look quite ridiculous. He will lose clients, that’s what. Land and infrastructure objects on it are bought to maximize profit, and in the new realities, this means that any visitor should easily navigate local rules; otherwise, they will simply go where they aren’t bothered by such greedy people.

As for permanent residents, who feel no urge to change places, in the coming reality they will find themselves in the role of service personnel who ensure the operation of local infrastructure and create local color. If they create it well, there will be a flow of clients. If poorly, the surrounding area will turn into a sparsely populated hinterland. There will be some kind of life in the hinterland too. Look, someone even lives in the Amazon jungle, and it’s fine.

A normal working day