Many of our societies, today, seem to want to affirm their sovereignty and national identity more forcefully. On the other hand, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, at a time when the Catalan independence push has deeply divided Spain, remarked lately: “Nationalisms are a poison that prevent Europe from working together.”
So, are the concepts of sovereignty, national identity and universal belonging compatible? Does one necessarily exclude the other?
We are aware that today’s societies, including ours, are pluralistic and multicultural. Globalisation and immigration have hastened the pace of transcultural concepts.
It seems, though, that like natural calamities that occur suddenly and unexpectedly, most societies are not ready for such sudden changes.
The loud cry by pro-Brexiteers of “Give us back our sovereignty” and the slogan of Donald Trump “America first” still ring in our ears. And what about our famous dictum, “Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox” (Malta, first and foremost)? How do such proclamations fit in the universal community? Are we for a more unified, inclusive society or are we still harping on exclusivity and self-centredness?
Pope Francis, in his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, speaks about our common home and reiterates that “we need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family”. He insists that “we must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world”.
Liav Orgad, in his essay, ‘Us and Them. Can we define national identity?’ contends that “the question of immigration, together with globalisation processes and the rise of minority rights and multiculturalism, have led to a new reality, where it becomes more difficult to know what it means to have a national identity, how legitimate it is to act upon such identities or impose them on newcomers”.
Orgad quotes George Owell, who states that “it is only when you meet someone of a different culture from yourself that you begin to realise what your own beliefs are”.
Though we have our own traditions and culture, when mingling with other cultures, we are bound to influence and be influenced. Culture is not something static. Today’s national identities have to be less rigid and more inclusive.
We need to go beyond national boundaries and restricted identities and focus more on our common characteristics
Once our societies are open and pluralistic we have to allow people of different cultures to be themselves and make it easy for them to integrate with the rest of society. This should be done in a sustainable way and without allowing any infringement of local laws and regulations.
Once more, Orgad asserts that “though States can control the flow of people, they can hardly control the flow of cultures”.
Being sovereign does not mean trampling on people whose culture differs from ours. Catholic social teaching states that integration in no way means “relativising or destroying the different and distinctive characteristics of each people, but encourage their expression”. The Church teaches that “valuing these different identities helps to overcome various forms of division that tend to separate peoples, and fill them with a self-centredness that has destabilising effects”.
The sudden influx of foreigners and immigrants on our island has, no doubt, affected the whole make-up of our society. Each individual or community brings with it its own customs, habits and beliefs. As a democratic society we should be tolerant, allow migrants to mingle and together discuss how our cosmopolitan society should evolve and move forward. This does not mean, though, that we should abandon our much treasured principles and values on which our society is built.
Multiculturalism fails when people of different cultures are not encouraged or given the opportunity to integrate with the rest of society. Creating ghettos for immigrants to live as separate entities does not help. In fact, it has been reported (November 30) that during a discussion on ghettoisation of migrants, held recently during a joint session of the Social Affairs and Family Affairs parliamentary committees, a Gambian migrant from Spark 15 remarked that migrants gathered in ghettos and gangs because they felt excluded from the Maltese population.
We need to go beyond national boundaries and restricted identities and focus more on our common characteristics. The one common denominator is that we are all human beings – yes of different colour, race and creed – but all dignified people, created in the image and likeness of God. This is the reason why Catholic social thought emphasises that “the common good of a nation cannot be separated from the good of the entire human family”.
For sovereignty and national identity to be compatible with universal belonging, we need to be educated in the value of the common good. Unless we are able to move away from our small, selfish world and view the earth as ‘Our Common Home’ as Pope Francis calls it, we shall never be able to reconcile sovereignty with universality. We need to reinvigorate this universal vision and not allow individual, selfish, fake nationalism to distract us from working towards a more sublime, pluralistic society.