Our ninth prompt comes from Prof. Mwalimu. He asks:
Why do we need borders in todays society? Arent we all the same people after all?
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Prof. Mwalimu,
I remember the last time I had a discussion about this topic. It was in 2014, and it did not end well. I was called unpatriotic, and told that in the past, I would have found myself in jail because of my views. Well, lucky me, I’m still walking around Nairobi a free woman.
I can see how people become patriotic. Patriotism has been defined as the love for, or devotion to, one’s homeland (country) or ancestry. A patriot is a person who would sacrifice their own interests for the interests and well-being of their country. You were born there, and you decide to commit yourself to the wellbeing of your country and the people there. You may even die for the cause. You are happy whenever your country wins at a sporting event, or when one of your countrymen invents something new and gets feted for it. This is good patriotism.
However, there’s also nationalism, or what I like to call bad patriotism. Nationalism is the belief that your country is better than all others simply because you were born in it. It puts the nation above the people, and has been at the heart of some of the worst atrocities humankind has committed. The Third Reich was nationalist. Colonialism was borne of nationalism. Nationalism caused the first and second world wars. It also caused the election of Donald Trump, and Brexit. It is a powerful, irrational sentiment.
Both nationalism and patriotism confound me, because they limit one’s concern and action to certain imaginary lines. Think about it – when you look at all the images of the earth captured from space, do you see national boundaries? No. You just see land masses and water masses. People sat down and drew these lines based on selfish interests (Africa was famously divided at the Berlin Conference of 1884 – 1885 by people who knew little about us and how we organized before that). Yet, years later, we let these boundaries limit us unthinkingly.
We use borders to justify sending asylum seekers back to the life threatening situations they just escaped. We use boundaries to deny people free movement. We defend the theft of resources from other peoples with these imaginary lines. Heck, we kill because of them. We forget our humanity. We forget that systems we create should serve us, not take away our dignity and cause us suffering.
If I had it my way Prof. Mwalimu, we would live in a boundary-less world in which people could move freely as they wish. In which people could go where they felt safe and welcome; where what they offer would be appreciated. I believe this would be a happier world than the one we have now. Yet it is difficult to imagine because of how entrenched the current dispensation is. Because of how we view “others” with suspicion, and think they are out to harm us.
A boundary-less world would need us to be actively involved in creating a good society. To treat others as we would like to be treated. To put human beings and their dignity at the centre, and all else at the periphery. To end systems that enslave us, and create others that truly work for us. Are we ready for that? Your guess is as good as mine.
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This post is part of a daily writing experiment that I’m running for a year. I’d love it if you took part! ?