on immigration

I would like to see a connected world.

Today, we legalize xenophobia through citizenship and immigration policy. People should be able to travel freely around the world. What I propose is a type of super visa. This global citizenship visa could be given to individuals by the UN, then countries that opt in would treat those as if they were citizens. This type of global citizenship could make it much easier for individuals move and act freely in the world. The key to making a system like this work is making sure that about as many people from one’s own country are visiting or living in abroad as there are people who are coming into or living the country who come from elsewhere. In this way the visa would function like an exchange program of sorts.

In today’s world we should be sharing technology, jobs, currency, information, food, and as much as possible. If we want to have peace in the world, we have to be able and willing to travel around the world and we have to be willing to let the world in. Countries that insist on calling those who come from over seas “outsiders” will be left behind. We may be different, but we should entitle others to the same treatment and fairness that we would expect for ourselves.

If there is to be a prerequisite for global citizenship, I think that it should be that global citizenship must become primary to or the replacement to a person’s former citizenship.

I’m tired domestically and globally of institutions that care about the rich but not about the poor, or care about the healthy but not the sick. Instead of hoarding/consuming resources, we should be developing/sharing resources. We don’t need to structure global travel and freedom around a person’s usefulness or wealth. If people can travel freely, those who seek new opportunities will come and those who would like to mobilize people abroad will go. The only way that stability and prosperity will spread around the world is if the barriers are removed.

The world is already connected, but only in a colonial sense. Instead of spreading internet infrastructure with Ghana so that the people who live there will be on equal footing with us, we dump our electronic waste there. We in richer countries are rich because we exploit those in poorer countries, not because we have earned more or deserve more than others. Then we say, sorry, there is no room for you here, go develop your own country, this one is ours. We are like children fighting over the best parts of the playground. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to live in a world that is prone to the politics of Children of Men. There is room in this world for everyone to get by. If not, then let’s make room. Let’s come together to solve our energy problems, to create affordable housing, to meet all of the millennium goals. It doesn’t do to make excuses then treat non-citizens like second class humans.

We are all equal, regardless of nationality. That is what I want my global citizenship to represent.

One of the reasons why some taliban groups hate us in the US so much is because they perceive us all as exorbitantly rich. We may not all be millionaires as some people abroad like to think, but most of us are far from starving. The reason why the taliban has legitimacy is because the taliban has a place and people in which other people from other places are not welcome. If we want to ensure that terrorism comes to an end we must stop acting as if we are better than other people in the world. When the rest of the world can travel freely and peacefully as if everyone is family, who will support the taliban or similar institutions. Who will say, become a citizen of the world? I’d rather remain isolated, afraid and hateful of anyone else. When people can travel across boarders freely, security will spread effortlessly. It is shutting out people who do not mean any harm that puts us at risk. How can we gain ground in Afghanistan if we don’t really trust or like the Afghan people? How can we say, “Let us into your country and into your homes.” if we do not invite them into our country and into our homes?

Anyway, please comment. I’d like to hear support and criticism. I’d also like to hear about anything related to solving world problems and creating global equality, etc.

Complicated Dreams

It is funny how emotions and situations that are so complex and so intense can be so perfectly captured in a dream.

I am a male. I feel more comfortable around women than men. I am more attracted to women than men. I identify more closely with my female friends than I do with my male friends, even though I enjoy a good cyber battle now and again with guys.

Nudity. Sexuality. This is the area where things get tricky. In the dream I am in a corporate shower in a woman’s body with an intimate friend of mine and fellow female feminists. There is sexual tension between many people but also a sense of trust and camaraderie. I am enjoying myself and I feel comfortable and excited and something else bordering fear and arousal. In my heart I believe that I am a fraud. I don’t belong. If I am discovered for what I really am I will be despised, hated, loathed, humiliated. I am at once included in the ultimate feminist club as I have always wanted and at the same time distanced from it as always due to what at times like these can only be considered male handicap.

My friend does a very good job of including me. My awkwardness is taken as shyness at being new. Nobody suspects that it is the fear of a combatant being discovered in an enemy camp. What sort of punishment might await me if I am found out I can’t help but wonder.

Eventually the time comes. All is bound to be discovered. My friend and I are alone in the shower. She is sharing a plan with me of how things might work out. She is showing me a bizarre contraption which would allow me to remain in the shower but separate from everyone else. Separate but equal I suppose in retrospect. I see the word masturbation next to the picture of the fence like contraption. The thought of masturbating in a little box while the women shower fills me with depression. I feel rejection for the idea because it grinds against my sense of feminism and social comfort, but I also sense that such an experience could in fact be arousing. Masturbating in a room full of attractive feminists might be nice if it didn’t seem so wrong and so strange.

As I am trapped in my sad and sorry sensations the other women arrive. I am exposed and I have a penis once again. Things often make sense emotionally in dreams without having to make logical sense. The dream ends at around this time. These last few moments blend together scorched into my heart. The women both ignore me and see me. Perhaps they feel pity and disgust for me. I am not really sure. In any case, I no longer belong. I am no longer one of them. I’m not sure whether my friend decides to comfort me or leave me to join the others. I fade away.