Not long ago, in 1999, I lived and worked for a few years in the United States with a temporary work permit, under NAFTA. My daughter was in a primary school and, as every year, I went with joy at her Christmas concert. I was really shocked. The whole concert started and continued for one hour or so with songs like “America is importing people / People just like you and just like me“…

I was watching my daughter and I was saying thanks God she’s only 9 and does not really understand what she is forced to sing. I was watching around: some other “imports” like myself were either confused or already accustomed with this sign of “appreciation” from the host country. The few Americans - including a friend of ours - were rather very proud of their “hospitality”. And the teacher, an old lady with very little knowledge of what other countries exist in the world beside US, Canada, Mexico, France and Mogadishu (I’m not kidding) was probably thinking those imports should feel very proud for the attention. Continue reading »