We explain what exile is, the types that exist and their various causes. Also, political exile and exile in the Bible.
What is exile?
Exile, exile or expatriation is the separation, voluntary or forced, of a person of the land to which it belongs, generally produced for political, economic or survival reasons. One can speak of exile as a place (“those who live in exile”) or even as the community of the exiles of a nation. It is also common to use the term exile as synonymous refugee.
Exile has a long tradition in the history. In the antiquity, for example, the worst punishments for citizens Greeks consisted of execution or exile. In fact, tradition has it that the Athenian philosopher Socrates (470-399 BC) was forced to choose between both options and that, faced with the pain of exile, he preferred the death ingesting poison.
Very often the exiles were disgraced princes and leaders, as is related to the Greek king of Thebes, Oedipus; or of prince Rama in the Ramayana of the third century BC. C. in the Hindu tradition; or of the Roman military and political hero Scipio the African (236-183 BC), who, accused of treason and embezzlement, opted for voluntary exile.
Much later in history, Napoleon Bonaparte himself, after being overthrown from his post as emperor, was sentenced to exile on the island of Santa Marta.
As will have been seen, in many of these cases the exile is due to changes in the political power structure that cause the expulsion or execution of the representatives of the previous regime. This is especially common in cases where dictatorships or repressive regimes.
This is precisely what happened at the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), when thousands of Spaniards persecuted by the Franco regime emigrated to different countries of America Y Europe. It also occurred in Cuba after the implementation of the communism, especially during the so-called "special period" in the 1990s, in which many Cubans jumped into the sea on rafts in the hope of going into exile in the United States.
Types of exile
Exile can occur in different ways, for different reasons and under different conditions, so that we can distinguish the following categories:
- External exile. It refers to the forms of deportation or expulsion of citizens from their own country, generally due to political reasons, since said expulsion falls on the government shift.
- Internal exile. It refers to exile in which one does not change the country, but rather the locality within the country itself, for reasons of forced resettlement, for example. It also applies to cases of artistic silencing, political annulment or total censorship that are applied to individuals opposed to the prevailing political regime.
- Voluntary exile. It is a self-imposed exile, in which the individual chooses to leave their homeland for different reasons, knowing that they will not be able to return.
- Diaspora. This term is used to refer to the exile of large masses of people, whether voluntary (such as economic migrants) or forced (such as political displaced persons).
Political exile
Exile for political reasons is perhaps the most frequent in history, and occurs in those cases in which there is a radical or violent change in the can, the system of government or its ideology, especially when this leads to undemocratic regimes.
However, the issue of political exile often implies the existence of two points of view, since many exiles are requested in their respective homelands under criminal charges.
Thus, it is possible for an exile to be a politically persecuted person, a person who is being unjustly accused in his country by his opponents in the exercise of power; Or it may be, as is the case with many former dictators, who have committed unforgivable crimes in their country and then take refuge in another, in an attempt to escape the Justice.
The task of distinguishing one case from another (and therefore granting or not the right of asylum) always corresponds to the host country and depends to a great extent on the agreements signed with the exile's homeland.
Exile in the Bible
In the case of biblical accounts, the forced departure of the Hebrew people from Jerusalem around 586 BC is called exile. C., since the city was conquered by the Babylonian king Nebucodonosor II.
The Babylonians massively expelled the Jews from their lands, which in the Bible is interpreted as a just divine punishment for the Jewish people who had indulged in idolatry and sin. Later, when the Persians had conquered Babylon (537 BC), King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, ending the exile.
This was not, however, the only or the first time that Jews suffered forced emigration. Later, the Romans also subjected them to the diaspora, that is, to forced resettlement in the furthest reaches of the Empire, as punishment for having rebelled during the so-called Judeo-Roman war. This second exile is known as the Edom exile.
The exiles of the Jewish people are counted in four, reunited under the name of the diaspora.