challenges of citizenship increased
It is common to read that our citizens are no longer interested in politics. Least one vote and no one would read more. The French would be less mobilized by the commonwealth, barely able to ephemeral compassionate impulses.
Yet, far from nostalgic discourse of cynicism and postmodern movements are at work. Citizenship - the ability to take part in the life of the city - do not falter. These are the forms of the city evolving under the impact of globalization and of metropolitan growth. Citizenship adapts to new networks, territories, times, mobility and lifestyles.
We must pay attention to these new forms of mobilization that are not fixed in the proximity and urgency. The Republic may evolve without denying oneself, taking into account the complexity of behaviors and belonging. We're still far away. In France, the republican elites protest when the students are demonstrating against pension reform that does not concern them for fifty years. In Germany, the media were surprised that among the crowd of demonstrators opposed to the underground station in Stuttgart, there are elderly that "will never see the end of work" . The same would we talk about prospective and sustainable development. Elsewhere, clear to Tibet, China and Tunisia to thousands of kilometers of the territories concerned. Everywhere, new joints established between the Internet mobilizations and protests in public space, between the virtual and the real cons which dictatorships are hitting now, between Facebook and Tahrir Square.
We live with 7 billion neighbors and contemporaries with whom we must now society. These citizens they really mingle with what does not concern them? Are they not rather, with good spatial and temporal scales, the vanguard of a new citizenship? The battalions that manifest are not composed of professionals protected from challenge and nimby (1). It is not a mode of citizen distrust. We saw that people were not far from utopian realities. Stéphane Hessel players are not just nostalgic for the war boom, but a tank already outraged actors mobilized.
We are witnessing the emergence of new mobilizations beyond our people, our administrative areas of governance and our selfish interests. Why would they not stand the thought of a 'citizenship plus ", that is to say, plural, and multiscalar presential? The Republic must take into account these new forms of citizenship appropriate to our living areas spread and fragmented.
In a society of flux and mobility, it seems illusory to try to match the urbs and civitas in yet another attempt to define the "relevant territory" and its institutional mechanic. We must consider the instability of our environments, changing the perspective to think of new citizenship figures increased, mobile and ephemeral scales of life of users and temporary inhabitants of our territories.
Should we continue to vote where you sleep, not where you live? Exploring the idea of a rather presential citizenship for those who spend most of their time awake for miles from their place of residence and have no ability to affect their daily environment. Imagine real neighborhood mayors elected by universal suffrage and therefore naturally the colors of the French variety. Give special status to tourists, visitors, demanding also become our best ambassadors and our worst critics and contribute to the definition of metropoles more accessible and hospitable. At its inception, the Republic was able to deserving citizens foreigners. Seventy million annual visitors and potential prescribers deserve a minimum of respect and care. Millions foreign workers more. Our nation and each of its territories can grow by experimenting the idea of a new citizenship resonates with the pulse of the city and the world, urbi et orbi.
Oppose contempt those who know how to overcome selfishness, borders and urgency of everyday life through mobilizations plural, would be a mistake. Do not invest these new forms of citizenship would be a mistake. Far from nostalgic speeches and temptations of withdrawal, open yards and a Republic of France who speak again increased in Europe and the world.
The shrinking of distances and references can and must be accompanied by a broadening of citizenship. Let the resistance to the offensive.
GILLES RABIN Economist (magazine Urbanism) LUC Gwiazdzinski Geographer (CNRS)
(1) Not In My Back Yard (in English, not in my backyard). Means a position that is not to tolerate nuisance in its immediate environment.
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