The World Economic
Forum was not really on the agenda Sunday
morning
at a workshop on "Defining Citizenship
in an Era of Migration: Where Do We All
Fit In?" But it kept cropping
up in the discussion.
In
opening the session, Lord Puttnam, Chairman of the
UK's National Endowment for Science, Technology and
the Arts, said he wondered whether the proper venue
for such a discussion was not on "the other side
of the barricades" separating the protesters from
the Forum participants.
And
after one participant likened citizenship to "membership in a club," another
rose to protest that Forum participants, sitting
in the luxury of the Waldorf, might never have
to worry about being excluded from a club. "But
there are a billion people," she added, "who
nobody wants in their club, people who can't
elect, can't join, would be blackballed."
Brunson McKinley, Director General of the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), opened the
workshop by explaining some of the reasons why,
he said, citizenship is being redefined:
-
The nation-state is changing;
-
Women are being liberated and gender equality
is gaining ground;
-
The growth of technology, particularly
in communications;
-
The increase in intermarriage, which
leads to increasing numbers of children
being born with
dual citizenship. He asked whether
citizenship is an outdated concept
or whether there
is a reason to hold on to it.
The
120 participants in the workshop wrestled
with that question and four others that were
distributed for the people at each table
to discuss among themselves. The questions:
-
How far can residence in the nation-state
count as the base for citizenship?
-
How do citizenship rights differ from those
of other inhabitants?
-
How to reconcile cultural loyalties with
multiple citizenship?
-
What are the appropriate constraints
on migration after 11 September?
A
majority of the discussion leaders reported
that their
tables found the first question "ridiculous." Question
2 led to discussions of welfare rights
as compared with citizenship
rights. The question
about
loyalties
led to a discussion (one of several) involving
cricket. And several tables reported
they had nothing much to say about
the war on
terrorism.
Lord Puttnam asked whether the UN's Universal
Declaration on Human Rights needed to be revisited.
He also raised
questions
about "linguistic compulsion
in schools" and the role of religion in
secular society. In
concluding remarks, McKinley said he thinks
citizenship is becoming more like club membership
because it is based more on voluntary association,
less dependent on accidents of birth or geography.
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