Hi Sasha
Oddly enough, I am usually on the other side of this argument explaining to
(usually north Americans) that the term 'citizen', as used in Ireland,
excludes non-citizens - one of the most vulnerable and attacked populations
here.
But as I am involved with the 'Citizens Summit' , I feel I have to muster
some a kind of defense for the title. In my own head, I thought it was
good precisely because NO ONE is a citizen in Tunisia - their rights to
political participation are in reality so limited. So that deliberate
irony in the title was there for me. So we are trying to highlight the
rights to citizenship that ALL should have, rather than (inadvertently)
denying the rights of some.
Having said this, it would be good if precisely this substantive point you
raise (the lack of rights of non-citizens) can at least be raised at some
of the sessions at the Summit. And it is not an ideal title.
best
Sean
At 21:22 24/10/2005, Sasha Costanza-Chock wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>I just saw the press release for the 'citizens' summit and feel I have
>to say something.
>
>I have a quite strong objection to the use of the term 'citizen,' both
>in the discourse of 'citizen journalism' and here in what is supposed to
>be a progressive alternative to the meeting of the governments.
>
> From wikipedia: "Citizenship is membership in a political community
>(originally a city but now usually a state), and carries with it rights
>to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen."
>
>By the same token, non-membership in the state carries with it denial of
>rights to political participation; a person lacking such membership is
>not only a non-citizen but may exist in a liminal space of lack of
>rights, from lack of freedom of movement and communication, lack of
>access to health and education, all the way to status as 'illegal,'
>subject to being hunted, detained indefinitely without trial, and
>deportation.
>
>The language of citizenship by definition excludes millions of migrants,
>refugees, peoples displaced by conflicts and by economic globalization,
>and (in the EU for example) a growing number of people born within the
>nation-state but to noncitizen parents.
>
>The objection to the language of citizenship should be all the more
>forceful in the context of WSIS, where like it or not, although not
>present in the official discourse, there has been a significant presence
>of firms selling information technologies designed to increase border
>surveillance and control of migration. If you think this is an
>overreaction I'll be happy to show you my identity card from Geneva,
>where a vendor in the exhibition hall eagerly demonstrated how my
>retinal scan and thumbprint could be embedded in a card with an rfid
>chip and printed out within the space of 3 minutes. He was there to
>pursue contracts with the UNHCR (Commision for Refugees), the
>International Organization for Migration, and a long list of states.
>
>If there was already a conversation about this and a decision for
>concrete reasons to keep the term, then I apologize for writing late. If
>not, I encourage us all to think twice before using the rhetoric of
>citizenship in the future.
>
>peace,
>sasha
>
>
>
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>
>
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___________________________________________________
Seán Ó Siochrú Tel: +353 1 272 0739
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