How long these borders could distance ‘other people’?

Planet earth is a mere drop in a cosmic ocean, in this immense universe all we got to explore in our short lifespan is a confined spheroid just 13,000 km across. Unfortunately, tighten borders make our movements laborious and difficult. Once migration is successful, problems would not end there, uncomfortable questions need to be faced which leads to an identity crisis. We often forget the fact that we all come from the same home in Africa, where we evolved as modern homo sapiens.?

Studies based on archaeological and anthropological evidence show that we as human beings – modern homo sapiens – evolved around 300,000 years ago in Africa. The latest finding on mitochondrial DNA, which stores genetic information that is passed from mother to child, suggests that we all came from the same homeland in southern Africa. All these conclusions lead to the fact that shifts in climate urged the ancient population to spread from the wetland to newly formed zones of green. Thousands of years later, a small population of these wanderers’ kin eventually left Africa and inhabited every corner of the world.

[Photo Credit: National Geographic]

Instincts to migrate are inherent in our genes, no matter how strong one tries to stop the flow of this influx, we always find a way to reach better places, as our African grandparents did in their early days. When human ancestors started to migrate from African savannahs into Asia and Europe between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago challenges of adverse weather need to be faced.

Ruling elites and closed borders

Let us skip straight away to the modern era, where people are entangled with the political elite’s dictum to be constrained by the dividing marks of borders. Until then humanity was free from restraints; which was the reason for mobility and the filling up of the planet earth by humans.

If we look at the current scenario, as an evolved entity we have changed drastically all of our long-earned learnings. Now it is common to see Mexican abused in the USA as illegal parasites and Africans scolded in European land as looters. These incidents we know as they get viral on social media, there will be hundreds of happenings all around the world. The fact is that nobody wants to welcome other people to the native land, where they have been dwelling for years. We often hesitate to remind ourselves that we all are migrated beings.

This is nobody’s land and everybody’s land. As a social animal, migration is one of our basic instinct. Ruling elites politicising the issues of migrations. Often migraters become scapegoats for the political game of rulers. Instead of introspecting the economic policy and institutional misgovernance, politicians tend to blame immigrants.?[Phot Credit: Arab News]

Supranationalism and Multiculturalism

The significance of borders is in fact not to stop the influx of people. Borders help states to realise effective governance, by claiming jurisdiction in territory.

multiculturism delegitimises the nation-state’s borders by weakening the collective identity of the people, once again undermining the very idea of territorial jurisdiction.

The idea of exclusive territorial jurisdiction would be undermined by the concepts of supranationalism and multiculturalism in this global village era. State’s territorial arrangements are overruled by supranationalism as it grants institutions power to break through national borders and it becomes increasingly porous. Meanwhile, multiculturism delegitimises the nation-state’s borders by weakening the collective identity of the people, once again undermining the very idea of territorial jurisdiction.?

Migrants and GDP

Development economist Michael Clemens believes that opening the world’s borders could double global GDP as it changes a workers’ location to a higher value economy and increases their economic productivity. Migrant workers send money back to their country of origin and can have a positive impact on developing countries’ economies too. At the same time, the immigrant household comes up with more taxes than they take home.?

When the argument on right to move is debated, the economic value of a human being or GDP should not be the sole basis of all discussion. At least we can assure that the world’s economy would not collapse under the idea of open or at least loosen borders.

[Photo Credit: Bloomberg.com]

Open borders only for Riches?

History shows that Europeans already exercise the right of free movement. Thousands migrated to America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Citizens of rich countries still continue to exercise the same freedom today. As a British passport holder, one can visit 180+ countries without even a visa or visa on arrival. If one is from Afghanistan, that number is limited to 27. Just see how ridiculous that mere accident of birth determines to what extent one can exercise the freedom of movement.

[Photo Credit: European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)]

The free movement already exists for the rich, now it’s time to extend it to everyone. If we consider capital and multinational companies, there are barely existing borders, and they could easily extract resources and labour.

Opening borders is not a mere utopian dream or happening overnight. We should learn from our ancestors, who started leaving African savannahs to explore the world. Yes, we all come from the same home, later we were divided into different races and cultures. Exposure to different climatic conditions resulted in different skill colours, but still, our lineage is the same.

A drop in cosmic ocean and idiocy of closed borders

The observable universe is 93 billion years in diameter and its inconceivable vastness will be incomprehensive to the mind. Beyond the observable universe, the whole picture might very well be 250 times larger or at least 7 trillion light-years in diameter. In this immense cosmic ocean, a very small drop is believed to be the only place where living organisms developed.

[Photo Credit: NASA-WMAP]

The planet earth, a confined spheroid just 13,000 km across, is all we got to explore in our short lifespan. We live here only for a few decades. Living in one place might feel comfortable and stable, but it can also get stale. Visiting new places reinforces our sense of discovery of the unknown which makes us alive all along as living beings. Unfortunately, we restrain ourselves from exploring this beautiful planet by our own rule at a time we consider we are the only intelligent living being found all across the universe.

A world without borders is not something that will happen overnight. But at the same time, we do not have to accept the inevitability of mass surveillance and huge expense in the name of sovereign territory.

A world without borders is not something that will happen overnight. But at the same time, we do not have to accept the inevitability of mass surveillance and huge expense in the name of sovereign territory. Political, economical and social elements need to be considered in the discussion of opening or loosening borders. However, from history we can learn that migration has helped fuel the economies of many nations; as a workforce, immigrants increase production and raise the Gross Domestic Product as well.?