The pride and peril of National Citizenship
Citizenship is part of our identities, every single person on Earth has one, so redefining our perception of citizenship means redefining the world. The most common form of citizenship that we are most familiar with in this day and age is national citizenship. National citizenship is essentially when you identify as part of a certain country. In contrast, global citizenship is when you identify as part of the entire world, rather than a single country. While some might argue that a national citizenship would result in prosperity by preserving culture and targeting local issues, I would argue that global citizenship, in opposition to national citizenship, would result in true prosperity because it will allow us to move past the problems of nationalism in nations and result in greater collaboration.
National citizenship is a longstanding practice in society where groups of people share a similar entity. The current political state of America is an example of ethnonationalism spawned by nationalism resulting in issues such as police brutality and Asian hate crimes. President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again”. This slogan directed American citizens to build walls and alienated racial groups in the name of patriotism. When the president, a person who represents the whole country, states that in order to preserve national identity other groups of people must be targeted and kept out of the country, xenophobia is encouraged among its citizens: The message implies that we need to restore the past state of America. A result of this, we often see confederate flags being flown at Trump rallies. Although some degree of nationalism isn’t a bad thing, support for one’s national identity can become a slippery slope that results in ethnonationalism and racism. In other words, ideas of nationalism taken to an extreme result can be dangerous to society. Another example of this is how Nazism, gained popularity in the name of the restoration of Germany’s power, were able to gain support
It’s because of national citizenship that people are yelling at others to get out of the country and it’s because of ethnonationalism that people say that this pandemic is because of a “ Chinese Virus” or the “ Kung Flu”. Due to ethnoationalsim, people are resorting to hateful language, such as calling the Covid 19 pandemic the “Chinese virus” or “Kung Flu”. National identity has not resolved local issues, in fact, the root cause of them.
Global citizenship is the true key to resolving said problems. If we all identified as global citizens, ethnonationalism and the ideas of racial superiority that are connected to it, would be less prevalent if present at all. People would see themselves as part of the world, and not a specific country. If that was the case then countries wouldn’t be seen as belonging to a single group, which stops people from feeling like foreigners are invading their home or doing something wrong by being in the same country. A global pandemic would be treated as such, rather than blaming one country that doesn’t even have the greatest number of covid cases. As a result, we would see a decline in anti-asian hate crimes. In addition schools can shift from Eurocentric and biased history, and focus on more accurate global history. This would effectively help prevent future generations from viewing one race as superior or as saviors of another. If that were to occur then, racial and ethnic biases could be avoided.
Global citizenship doesn’t just prevent racism and hate crimes from occurring either. It promotes progress, collaboration and interconnectivity between different countries. There isn’t nationalism dictating what content you can consume or what you can believe, so situations with extreme censorship like in North Korea wouldn’t happen. Even on a smaller scale, we would be free to think more freely because, media wouldn’t be catered to a single group in order to fit their beliefs. We would have less biased news sources, with a wider range of information. This would make the world less divisive. It would also allow for greater exposure to the beliefs and cultural practices of the world. As a result, we could see greater adoption of said beliefs and they would be allowed to then exchange and improve upon different policies or practices, resulting in a more equitable society.
You might say that global citizenship actually makes society homogenous and less equitable, due to a loss of individual cultures. The statement that global citizenship hinders us more than it helps us, is a baseless claim. I don’t believe that there would be a loss in cultural diversity. Look at how the American North and South have different cultures, or how in Quebec they speak French and have their own culture. Being a global citizen doesn’t mean that you’re not part of any other group; people have multiple identities. All of us in college identify as both students and teens or young adults. We have multiple identities that exist simultaneously without any issues. The goal of global citizenship is to accomplish the same thing on a larger scale. The world is an entity made up of the identities of everyone on Earth.
In total, a shift towards global citizenship would create a more equitable society by changing perspectives and altering future generations’ views on the world, so that we can avoid the thoughts of racial superiority and biases that are prevalent today due to national citizenship. We would see a steep decline in the nationalism that has divided the world and created hatred between people of different nationalities, as well as biases and other issues that have stemmed from the root cause. Additionally, global citizenship promotes free thought and greater collaboration between nations by removing biases and creating greater exposure for the different cultures and practices in the world, without any real consequences. This would allow us to move forward as a society and have a brighter future with the possibility of frequent collaboration and innovation, leading the world towards a more positive future where history will be made.
