She finds the whole idea absurd. To Prof Marci Shore, the notion that the Guardian, or anyone else, should want to interview her about the future of the US is ridiculous. She’s an academic specialising in the history and culture of eastern Europe and describes herself as a “Slavicist”, yet here she is, suddenly besieged by international journalists keen to ask about the country in which she insists she has no expertise: her own. “It’s kind of baffling,” she says.
In fact, the explanation is simple enough. Last month, Shore, together with her husband and fellow scholar of European history, Timothy Snyder, and the academic Jason Stanley, made news around the world when they announced that they were moving from Yale University in the US to the University of Toronto in Canada. It was not the move itself so much as their motive that garnered attention. As the headline of a short video op-ed the trio made for the New York Times put it, “We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the US”.
Starkly, Shore invoked the ultimate warning from history. “The lesson of 1933 is: you get out sooner rather than later.” She seemed to be saying that what had happened then, in Germany, could happen now, in Donald Trump’s America – and that anyone tempted to accuse her of hyperbole or alarmism was making a mistake. “My colleagues and friends, they were walking around and saying, ‘We have checks and balances. So let’s inhale, checks and balances, exhale, checks and balances.’ I thought, my God, we’re like people on the Titanic saying, ‘Our ship can’t sink. We’ve got the best ship. We’ve got the strongest ship. We’ve got the biggest ship.’ And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”
I have been telling people… Run. Now. If you can’t, make sure you are set up to run at a moment’s notice. Money, passport , whatever is needed
IN WW22 Germany the only ones who survived… Got out at the beginning
How does one flee the country when you live paycheck to paycheck and provide no skills that could be useful to a country’s economy? I’m decent with computers but that’s about it.
What country would even take me without me having to lower my already low standard of living? At the very minimum, I need a house with a yard + garage (I’m tired of condo/apartment living) and affordable gigabit internet. No legal weed is a deal breaker as well. Can’t eat or sleep without it.
Your “low” standard of living is not low at all for most countries. So, yes, lowering that standard is necessary if you want to leave.
By “low” I mean that I don’t get any sort of government assistance, not even healthcare. I consider that a rather low standard of living.
Everyone has skills that can benefit a country, you just haven’t found yours yet I guess.
While it’s lovely to personally believe what you do, that isn’t the way those in charge of immigration tend to see it. Most countries prioritize immigrants with specific skillsets, while those not listed often have to figure out some other avenue to entry.
For example, here’s a list of Canada’s preferences - Federal Skilled Worker Program Eligible Occupations.
That is for immigration, not for asylum.