Active Citizenship

Citizenship can be distilled into two main components: the rights and the responsibilities that it entails. I had often thought of citizenship only in terms of the rights that a legal status confers upon individuals. However, far beyond that, citizenship is also about abiding by the common rules, developing a sense of duty to the community and actively contributing to its betterment – which is what active citizenship is about. There are many levels of active citizenship: personal, community, national (which are clearly outlined by Andrew below) and global. In my opinion, one can only be an active citizen if he or she is willing and able to do so. Hence, strengthening citizenship at any level would involve instilling in the people a desire to contribute to their community, as well as implementing the necessary political and economic framework to help them.  

Let’s first talk about sense of duty and willingness to contribute to a community. People are more inclined to contribute when they feel like they truly belong. I’ve realized that largely – but not completely – homogenous nation-states like Morocco face a dilemma regarding the treatment of minority groups: an emphasis on the identity elements of the majority group would strengthen the sense of commonness among them; however, that would mean minority groups are completely marginalized in the process. Many Moroccans we have talked to see the Arab-Islam heritage as an integral part of the Moroccan identity, but the minority Berber or Jewish populations would most likely not. I agree with Steven that more inclusiveness is better. We should note however that inclusiveness does not mean complete disregard of the majority group, or any group at that. There is a fine line to tread: the Arab-Muslim identity can be a powerful motivating force for active citizenship when it is used for the right community, but not when it is imposed upon other ethnic and religious groups as an umbrella identity for the entire nation.

Jewish community in Fes
(Caption by Steven) The Arabic literally reads: “The Israeli cemetery in the city of Fes”- note that they have used the term “Israeli” interchangeably with “Jewish”, even though most of the people buried here were almost certainly born, raised and lived all their lives in Morocco.

Mustafa, our Berber tour guide in Sahara

External influences further complicate the issue of identity.  In this age of globalization when everything is in flux, when cultural boundaries are rapidly blurring, international travel more and more common and religious allegiance no longer as rigid in many parts of the world, personal identities are dynamic. Our identities can be continuously shifting, rejecting and amalgamating elements from different sources. Some youths we have met identify more with the American way of life, music and popular culture than the Moroccan one (talk about globalization). We ourselves have civic interests in issues that go beyond national levels, or are specific to a different geographical location altogether, because we identify more with the issue: bride burning in rural South Asia, the ivory trade in Africa, and so on. I think with this trend, global citizenship will play a more and more prominent role in future.

Willingness to contribute has to first start from awareness, which in turn comes from education. I believe that everyone should be made aware of the ways they can contribute to the community through subjects taught in school and popular culture as well. In addition, willingness only comes when the people believe that they have the ability to bring about changes.

This brings me to my next point, which is empowerment:  implementing the necessary political and support framework to help promote active citizenship. In many countries I have been to, people openly express distrust in the government and lament about the rampant corruption. Political involvement seems meaningless as they do not believe an average citizen has the ability to change the calcified system. Hence a key requirement for political participation is that the political system, democratic or not, has to be accountable, open and responsive to feedback. Furthermore, active citizenship initiatives can potentially be much more impactful if there are places that they can come to for financial, legal and consulting assistance, which those in positions of power can provide.