Arab diaspora refers to the numbers of
Arab immigrants, and their descendants, who voluntarily or as
refugees emigrated from their native countries and now reside in non-Arab nations, primarily in
Latin America and
Europe, as well as
North America, parts of
Asia, the
Caribbean, and
West Africa.
Overview
Large numbers of Arabs migrated to
West Africa, particularly in the
Ivory Coast (home to over 100,000 Lebanese),
Senegal (roughly 30,000 Lebanese),
Sierra Leone (roughly 10,000 Lebanese today; about 30,000 prior to the outbreak of civil war in 1991),
Liberia, and
Nigeria. Since the end of the civil war in 2002,
Lebanese traders have become re-established in Sierra Leone.
Arab traders have long operated in
Southeast Asia, trading in spices, timber and textiles. But an important trading minority in the region that goes largely unrecognised comprises the local descendants of Arabs. Most of the prominent
Indonesians,
Malaysians and
Singaporeans of
Arab descent have their origins in the southern part of the
Arabian Peninsula, especially the coastal
Hadhramaut region of
Yemen and
Oman. They are the
Hadramis. As many as 4 million
Indonesians are of Hadrami descent and today there are almost 10,000 Hadramis in
Singapore.
The
Americas have long been a destination for
Arab migration, with Arabs arriving in some countries at least as early as the nineteenth century, but even as early as 1492 with several Moors among Christopher Columbus' crew . The largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East is in
Brazil, which has over 12 million
Brazilians of
Arab ancestry. Of these 12 million Brazilian Arabs, over 9 million are of
Lebanese ancestry, making Brazil's population of Lebanese three times greater than that of
Lebanon. Most other Brazilians of Arab descent are mainly
Syrian. There are also large
Arab communities in
Mexico (about 400,000 Mexicans of
Lebanese descent),
Argentina,
Chile,
Colombia,
Jamaica,
Dominican Republic,
Haiti,
Trinidad & Tobago,
Ecuador, and
Venezuela.
Palestinians cluster in
Chile and
Central America, particularly
El Salvador and
Honduras (between 150,000 and 200,000). The 500,000 strong Palestinian community in
Chile is the fourth largest in the world after those in Israel, Lebanon and Jordan. Arab Haitians (in which a large number live in the capital) are more often than not, concentrated in financial areas where the majority of them establish businesses. In the
United States there are around 3.5 million people of
Arab ancestry. Most Arabs of the Americas are of either Lebanese, Syrian, or Palestinian ancestry and are mostly
Christian, with sizeable minorities of
Jews and
Muslims, as well..
The Lebanese diaspora, while historically trade-related, has more recently been linked to the
Lebanese Civil War and the
2006 Lebanon War. In October 2006, shortly after the war between
Hezbollah and
Israel had concluded, the
Edinburgh Middle East Report ran an article covering the
brain drain from Lebanon's universities. Increasing numbers of Lebanese students are travelling abroad to further their education in safer environments.
As of June 21, 2007, the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees estimated that over 2.2 million
Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, with up to 100,000
Iraqis fleeing to
Syria and
Jordan each month. As a result of growing international pressure, on June 1, 2007 the Bush administration said it was ready to admit 7,000
Iraqi refugees who had helped the coalition since the invasion. According to
Washington based
Refugees International the U.S. has admitted fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees since the invasion,
Sweden had accepted 18,000 and
Australia had resettled almost 6,000.
In
France, the
Benelux countries,
Spain,
Germany and much of the rest of
Europe, the Arab communities are of
North African origin, particularly
Algeria,
Morocco and
Tunisia, and are mostly
Muslim with a minority of
Jews and
Christians. About 80,000 Iraqis live in
Sweden, forming
the country’s second largest immigrant group. An estimated 1,000,000
Arabs live in the United Kingdom representing 1.7% of the country's population, the vast majority of these originate from the Middle East (250,000
Iraqis live in the UK) and Egypt (some 150,000).
There is also a medium sized Arab community in
Australia (home to roughly 400,000 Arabs, mostly
Lebanese), where Arabic is the fourth most widely spoken second-language. The number of Muslim and Christian Arab Australians are roughly equal with a slight upper hand to Christians. See Australian population: ethnic origins.
Challenges
There are no exact figures of how many Arabs live in diaspora (expatriates). There are many challenges facing Arabs in diaspora, especially in the post 9/11 world:
First: Suspicion of Arabs and Muslims has increased dramatically. Racism towards Arabs has reached new heights.
Second: Another delicate issue for the Diaspora Arabs is the relationship with motherlands and/or fatherlands. These challenges depend on which generation of Arab immigrants we are talking about. Usually, the first generation are caught between a love for the motherland that on one hand increased by leaps and bounds following immigration and fueled mainly by nostalgia and a certain degree of “culture shock,” and resentment stemming from feeling driven out by unfavorable circumstances.
Third: After an initial period of “shock,” the first generation Arab immigrants may start the slow process of acculturation/assimilation.
Notable persons
Prominent members of the Arab diaspora include;
- Alberto Dahik (Lebanese origin), former Vice President of Ecuador
- Julio Hazim (Lebanese origin), Important Dominican Businessman
- Jacobo Majluta (Lebanese origin), former President of Dominican Republic
- Nathalie Handal (Palestinian origin), renowned Haitian born poet, playwright, writer, and literary researcher
- André Apaid (Lebanese origin), high profile Haitian businessman
- Antoine Izméry (Palestinian origin), Former wealthy Haitian businessman and pro-democracy activist
- Ralph Nader (Lebanese origin), 2004 US presidential candidate
- Mário Zagallo (Lebanese origin),Brazilian football coach and former player
- Charles Elachi (Lebanese origin), the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
- Tarak Ben Ammar (Tunisian origin), international movie producer and distributor.
- Carlos Slim Helú (Lebanese origin), Mexican businessman. He was listed as the richest man in the world by Forbes.
- Shakira, (Lebanese origin) Colombian singer and musician.
- RAmez, (Lebanese origin) French rapper
- Khaled (also of Algerian origin) Raï musician now living in France
- Yazid Sabeg (Algerian-born) businessman now living in France
- Migati Amdjat (Jordanian origin), member of the Serbian National Party. The first ever foreign member of Serbian Parliament.
See also
