On November 3 the Berliner Gazette‘s Friendly Fire conference asks: Who Claims Global Citizenship? Two prolific speakers will discuss this question: the journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, whose book "The Cosmopolites" has triggered a debate about the commodification of citizenship, and the media art pioneer Ingo Günther, whose project "Refugee Republic" envisions a global network of refugee shelters. The highlight of day two of the three-day conference, this public talk will reflect on global citizenship from the points of view of both the super-rich and the underprivileged. Here, Ingo Günther reflects on the notion of against the backdrop of his longterm hands on engagement with the subject.
World citizenship is not gained by applying for a world passport, despite the availability of several schemes issuing documents that draw their purported legitimacy from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. World citizenship entails an effort, it is work, it is an emotional and intellectual task. And it is a duty and an acceptance of responsibility, even if that is not always done consciously or voluntarily.
Historians, philosophers and anthropologists have long declared that humans have the capacity to be aware that we all share the same planet. They confronted us with the attendant responsibility, as well as seduced us with exotic “a man of the world” romanticisms. An understanding of our interdependency has led to the development of the building blocks of superregional and global institutions, however slow to act or clearly inefficient these may be. A sense of global citizenship is part of this, at least as a secondary identity.
