Facing Your Responsibilites.
I am Ethiopian. Saying that feels so natural, yet considering my upbringing, I almost feel as though it shouldn’t. Using the logic of critics who deem national identity a mere “birth accident”, I should be lost. I have been to over 20 countries, lived my entire life in a multicultural hub like Dubai, UAE, and was born in Arizona, USA. Through all of this, the pride in my cultural Ethiopian identity, which I grew up immersed in due to my parents’ background, has remained constant.
Yet this same upbringing is what has allowed me to observe inequality, disease, effects of climate change, etc and has pushed me to often ponder how we can effectively push for global change. Many argue that the first step of this is claiming global citizenship as this means that one believes their identity ‘transcends borders’ and accepting this responsibility to all citizens of the world is what allows for impactful change. Yet, ironically, I argue the opposite. That the single most reason as to why local citizenship is both necessary and more effective for action is because it insights a feeling of attachment and responsibility.
Specifically, I am yet to understand when nationalism began to correlate with selfishness because my identifying with my national identity does not mean I care any less about global issues. In fact, I feel as though many claim their global citizenship as a feel-good statement but, in actuality, will continue to prioritize a certain familiar group. As Eric Liu put it in his article Why there is no such thing as Global Citizenship, “Nations matter for a deeper reason too. They give form to the human need both to belong and to exclude.” At face value, some may rush to attack this statement because it holds a truth they have not yet accepted. I, in no way, think nationalism should have space for feelings of superiority or acts of racism, however, I think it would be naive to continue to disregard the human innate need to belong and claim only global citizenship. I understand that I still feel strongly for global and ethiopian issues because my upbringing has also led me to be empathetic, however, I am aware that nationalism can and has often led to unideal extreme outcomes in the past. I can see the dangers in the extreme type of nationalism that often leads to xenophobia, racism, and more. However, working on education and other viable solutions on these groups of people and encouraging the maintenance of a national identity while still being empathetic towards others is the best way to address global issues today. This is because accepting your national identity, whatever that may be, is key to sparking the sense of responsibility that is necessary to drive any real change in this world.
I feel validated to argue this because I have seen it with myself. Ethiopia has faced many adversities this year including the ongoing issues with malnutrition, outbreak of disease and most notably political corruption. A few months ago, when over 600 civilians died in a single-day Massacre over political unrest, while the Western media was preoccupied with all the ✨happenings✨ in the United States of America, I often found myself switching to sources where I could read more about what was going on in Ethiopia. Seeing my social media flood with advocacy for everything else going on in the world, I, along with my fellow Ethiopians, began to use our voices to raise awareness for our own issues. On top of this, I found us building an even stronger bond, signing our own petitions, working with our parents to collect money and more. Why? Because Ethiopia was home, because being Ethiopian is a huge part of my identity, and with that, comes responsibility.
Therefore, despite the prospect of 7 billion ‘global citizens’ living in harmony sounding ideal, my yearn for global change does not start with identifying as one. I often find that more privileged nations in the West advocate for global citizenship the most. But when I see the unfortunate burning of the Notre Dame Church in Paris in 2019 receive more global attention, condolences, and prayers than the atrocities I remember happening at the same time in Ethiopia with political protests, I find it hard to give up any sort of allegiance to my people and claim that I am a ‘global citizen.’ Frankly, examples like this one show that “global citizenship” is often just a mask while a lot of these nations continue to prioritize their own issues. But as is true in my case and with all those who take pride in their national identity, focusing on your local affairs and being an active citizen is far from harmful in bringing about change.
Admittedly, many try to argue for global citizenship by arguing that the array of international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations are the most crucial factor in solving our humanitarian crises. It is undeniable that these organizations, and more, have done tremendous amounts of work for all kinds of issues. They have continued to encourage cooperation and peace between their members which has allowed for positive change.
However, without undermining all their work, many developing nations including Ethiopia continue to be harmed in the long-term by foreign aid. In many nations in Africa, aid from entities like the UN has made them dependent and debt-laden which has actually made them poorer as nations. The Wall Street Journal reports that “Over the past 60 years at least $1 trillion of development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Yet real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s.” These nations have to focus on increasing their own productivity to bring about real change. Additionally, hierarchy is apparent even within the UN, as some nations have more power than others, whether that be economic power, vetoing power, and more. While these organizations enable a platform for all these nations to come together and discuss solutions that can be beneficial to all member states, I believe that true change and understanding comes from allowing everyone to maintain their own pride and work with that rather than forcing them to give it up and trying to morph everyone’s mindset into solely that of global citizenship. I believe this idea of cooperation in the age of globalization is inevitable, but does not require the abandonment of a national identity. So to those that argue that the concepts of national identity and these traits of “togetherness” with other nations are mutually exclusive. I disagree.
Growing up in Dubai, I have seen the beauty of a melting pot of people, each sure and proud of their identity, understanding and empathizing with each other. Ideally, the world can be an enlarged Dubai, but with nation-states instead of individuals empathizing and working with one another, while maintaining their pride and identity. The real solution is not to disregard the human innate need to belong to a group, but rather use this attachment to a geographical location or a social/cultural group to spark motivation and responsibility to those you identify with.
