My cousins in our home country have it easy compared to our parents gen. Cars, smartphones, supermarkets, no time for family, no time for hobbies, no hope of buying a home , lifetimes worth of deb…hmmmm wait a minute.
in the 60's and 70's my parents generation traveled to the u.s. or work and school. Some already had degrees or training and just came for work. Their quality of life went up being in the U.S. and back home because of remittances until the feds started cracking down on Black immigrants (legal or otherwise) in the 1980's onward.On my dad's side everyone but him got deported or didn't get their visas renewed despite all of them being gainfully employed and staying out of trouble
A Around that time their home country got hit by violence from cartels AND economic sanctions from the u.s. even tho the cartels were backed by u.s. and western funders lmao. But at least all the skilled and educated workers coming back home helped the economy modernize fairly quick. By the time I was born in the '90s cars, supermarkets and cellphones were increasingly common back home but because they were the first generation not working as subsistence farmers or in the cane fields no one had a savings so modern life (even stuff u need to get a nice job) meant taking on TONS of personal debt.
By the time I visited in the 2010's I was surprised how similar it felt to being in the U.S.. w/ cars everywhere and supermarkets basically identical etc. But the most shocking and depressing thing was how cousins my age were stressed about all the same things. My oldest cousin there has a bachelors and is in school for an MBA. She's been a manager manager at a U.S. based telecom company but hasn't had a raise in 8 years. Neither her nor I can afford to buy a home, or a car, or even a new phone and she can't even afford to move out of my aunt's house.
My younger cousin's who haven't been smacked down by life yet are really curious about life in American but my aunt's, uncles, and older cousins already feel sorry for me half the time because they know it's basically the same but more shops you can't afford, cheaper used cars, and crappier weather and less of the food they like. I shouldn't be surprised that the same corporations which make life hell for Americas highly skilled and educated work force are doing it there too but it still gets to me b/c I'd hoped to escape the U.S. for so long dreaming ab having less consumer goods but more connection and sunny days. Now I know that's barely the case just trading some benefits for others kind of a pick your poison situation.
Anyway that's my reasons for international solidarity with workers all over. Even when it feels like it's not connected the corporations and ruling class are always connected and they share all their dirty tricks and play people off of each other. Also fuck sanctions specifically. They only hurt regular people and the rich folks or corrupt politicians almost always go unscathed. I hope more Americans start being critical of sanctions (particularly sanctions on third world countries) and how they aren't effective and aren't a humane alternative to violence.
p.s. Ion wanna say the country b/c some of my family is on reddit and already recognized my old act which I promptly deleted cause fuuuuuuck that lmao