Finals

Lesson 3 – Global Citizenship Part 1

We live in a globalized world that gets smaller and flat because people, places, and economies
are increasingly interconnected and interdependent. Mas ‘lumiliit’ ang mundo natin because of –
migration, technologies, and innovations.

However, our world also faces different challenges and threats such as:
Economic Instability (pagguho ng ekonomiya)
Social Inequality (hindi pagkakapantay-pantay)
Conflict (digmaan, hindi pagkakasunduan ng mga bansa)
Clean Water
Hunger
Poverty
Pollution
Human Rights Violation
Energy Security (supply ng kuryente, gasolina, langis, etc.)

With above problems, we need a GLOBAL SOLUTION

The first solution is EDUCATION -Through education, we may help jumpstart the process of
our global community.

“Education gives us profound understanding that we are tied together as citizens of the global
community, and that our challenges are interconnected.”

This kind of education is NOT just learning how to read and write or how to count numbers.
This kind of education must be relevant to people’s “worlds” and their aspirations.
This kind of education must be transformative.
This kind of education must orient us the impact of globalization in every aspect of human
relations.
This kind of education must reframe our mindsets regarding encouraging us to care for our world
and for those whom we share it.

Global Citizenship Education will help us learn to:

 Live in peace,
 Protect our environment,
 Protect our human rights, and
 Nurture respect for cultural diversity

Global Citizenship education seeks to hone your critical thinking skills needed to find solutions
to the interconnected challenges of the 21st Century to answer the BIG and IMPORTANT
questions of today and the days to come.

“Education must b not only a transmission of culture but also a provider of alternative views of
the world and a strengthener of skills to explore them.”

I. What is Global Citizenship?

Because the world is now integrated by globalization, we must observe ETHICAL
OBLIGATIONS across the world.

Due to the rise of different global issues and potential solutions, it is necessary to take engaging
steps in identifying yourself not just a national citizen but also as a “global citizen”.
If national citizenship embraces the equality among its nation-state members, global
citizenship is seemingly grounded in the principle of equality of all people regardless of their
national citizenship, birthplace, race, gender, upbringing, circumstances, and experience.
Global Citizenship is also related to COSMOPOLITANISM.
Cosmopolitanism is seen as an ideology or world view in which the world is inhabited by
individuals with the fundamentally equal rights and obligations towards each other.

Global citizenship is seen as a conception that should not be viewed as separate or synonymous
with the cosmopolitan moral orientation, but as a primary component of it.

Global citizenship and cosmopolitanism are interdependent. To be a cosmopolitan, one must

recognize his or her global citizenship.

It is also important that global citizenship does not indicate a legal status since there is no
formal authority regulating it. (Global citizenship po ay isang concept lamang, hindi ito
proseso na kapag may I.D. ka ay registered global citizen ka na.)

The Global Citizen Status as an “associative status that is different from national citizenship.
Global citizenship is a mindset that gives individuals a way to live, work, and play within
transnational norms and status that defy national boundaries and sovereignty.

Global Citizenship has no specific definition. It varies on which PERSPECTIVE you are coming
from.
Global Citizenship is:
 An integral part of comprehensive conception of cosmopolitan right (Cabrera, 2008)
 Multi-faceted: taking care of each other, sharing with each other, and being mindful of
the natural world (Hanson, 2016)
 A way of living that recognizes our world in an increasingly complex web of connections
and interdependencies in which our choices and actions may have repercussions for
people and communities locally, nationally, or internationally (Ideas-forum.org)
 The ability to see oneself and the world as one, the ability to make comparisons and
contrasts, the ability to “see plurally”, the ability to understand that both ‘reality” and
language come in multiple versions, the ability to see power relations and understand
them systematically, and the ability to balance awareness of one’s own realities with the
realities of entities outside the perceived self (McIntosh, 2005).
 The demonstration of concern for the rights and welfare of others (Landson-Billings,
2005)

II. Perspectives
There are also various perspectives on international politics and their implications for global
citizenship.

A. REALIST PERSPECTIVES
The traditional realist perspective on international politics highlights the major role of nation
states, which necessarily pursue their own interests, and the inevitable conflicts that ensue. Since
this model stresses national sovereignty there might be a minimal role of global citizenship
especially if it is seen as an approach which centers on a superpower promoting the idea of
global citizenship using a realpolitik (a system of politics or principles based on practical rather
than moral or ideological considerations.) logic (Stormquist, 2009).

Ex:
“I am a Filipino citizen and a global citizen but needs to secure first the interest of our nation-
state than others.:

“If another country disrupts the way my country is being controlled, there is a possibility to be
in a state of anarchy.”

Superpowers: “Wee are here as your friends and allies…together, we will build a better
tomorrow.”
B. LIBERAL PERSPECTIVES
This perspective puts the moral necessity of international law. Liberal perspective is grounded on
ideas of pacifism, human rights, and limited national sovereignty. It manifests a considerable
scope for cooperation, a recognition of most important common interests, a growing body of
international law, and acceptance guided universal moral principles that should influence states
(Carter, 2001). Liberal beliefs and practices that spread within and across borders may enhance
clearly the scope of global citizenship.

Ex:
“I am a global citizen and because of this, I do not support countries with nuclear projects for it
may endanger the life of people.”

“I have excessive faith and support for cooperation between states, international law, and
international organizations.”

“To realize global citizenship, liberal beliefs and practices must not be confined within national
borders but even transnational borders.”

C. COSMOPOLITANISM
It presents a political theory that posits people as citizens of the world rather than of a particular
nation-state. Though liberal in style and not conservative in multiculturalism, this conception
may offer an alternative approach to difference. This “difference” is viewed as normal and/or an
opportunity rather than a problem that needs to be solved. This perhaps led to the creation of
cosmopolitan democracy where democracy (participation of people) across national borders is
needed for international border.

Ex:
“We are all global citizens regardless of where we’re born.”

“Being different is normal, come on let’s talk.”

“Our backyard is the whole world, not just within, but the whole.”

III. The Global Citizen

A global citizen is someone who self-indentifies not as a member of a state or a nation, but as a
member of human race and someone who is prepared to act on that belief, and to tackle our
world’s largest greatest challenges.

Someone who is committed to social justice, multi-cultural awareness or diversity, sustainable

economic development and environmental protection and peaceful world.

Global civil societies like International Non-government Organizations - Amnesty International,

Human Rights Watch, and Greenpeace International are acting as global citizens. As a member
of global society, one serves as a volunteer, an activist, and a supporter of transnational
campaigns who usually spends a good deal of time in political lobbying, protests, or fund-raising
activities.

Writing letters, sending delegations, and mobilizing public opinion are essential points of global
civil society. A member can be of help also by means of funding. However, huge amount of
people still donot partake to such participation. It is not that the people don’t want to act, it’s
often that they don’t know how to take action, or that they believe that their actions will have no
effect. Therefore, a global civil society also mobilizes people to be organized and motivated to
initiate activism. There many be different types of global citizens that exist but a common thread
to their emergence is their base in grassroots activism (Lagos, 2002).

Five Categories of Global Citizens (Falk, 1994):

 Global Reformers
  Elite Global Business People
 Global Environmental Managers
 Politically Conscious Regionalists (free trade areas, customs unions, common markets,
economic unions)
 Transnational Activities

The categories above except for Elite Global Business People have grassroots activism at their
base. All the rights that stemmed from global citizens did not come from regulating or political
bodies but from the citizen themselves.

There is, however, another way to support campaigns that involve a less active effort yet may
play a significant gamechanger. These are consumers who may practice economic boycotting or
corporations or companies who are not concerned to environment preservation and employs
social injustices. Consumers nowadays also are increasingly aware in deciding what to purchase
in accordance with a set of related principles to make them less guilty of not doing something for
the world we live in.

From buying more of organic foods than those considered ‘junks’ due to chemicals thickly
sprayed on them to a responsible and ethical investing scheme to support companies beneficial to
the community and discourages companies that are not. Not all consumers, however, are global
citizens just like tourists or travelers are all global citizens.

 Elite Global Business People

IV. Global Citizen as an International Organization

GLOBAL CITIZEN as international organization is about citizens taking actions whose works
are focused on finding, supporting, and activating global citizens. The organization believes that
the world’s future depends on global citizens; convinced that if there would be more global
citizens active in our world, then every single one of the major challenges we face – poverty,
climate change, human rights, gender inequality, - these issues become solvable.

These are ultimately global issues and they can only be solved by global citizens demanding
global solutions from their leaders. Confronting these challenges require a global scale
engagement and in a systematic way. By mobilizing a large group of citizens back home to insist
that leaders engage in systematic change. By rallying citizens together, to persuade government,
to do the unthinkable and act to fix problem miles outside of borders.

Global citizens are for a sustainable movement, not susceptible to the fluctuating moods of a
politician or the hint of an economic downturn.

Global citizens need the short-term excitement if people involved with a particular event
campaign to turn into long-term passion. It had to be part of their identity. Activism is their
currency.

Quiz:
1. As a student, how can you contribute to accelerate in a large-scale positive change around the
world?
2. You are a Filipino, but are you a global citizen? Why/Why not?
3. Are the Filipinos ready for global citizenship? Why/Why not?