Teach GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP 2: What will you remember from the decade that expires December 31, 2019?

Personally, and collectively, much happens over the course of a decade.

Personal histories center on individuals, their loved ones, and those they know. Collective histories meanwhile include events and references throughout our world, now several billion individuals. Many of us have come to share our personal and collective histories through various media, travels and exchanges.

ERASMUS exchange students in Copenhagen March 2013

- now part of 33 years of educational exchanges in Europe with over 9 million participants

While personal and collective histories influence each other, neither can be summarized succinctly - without extreme editing. Meanwhile, photos of events from around the world can readily trigger memories by time, place, and or emotion.

"The Atlantic" (magazine) has selected 55 photos from those taken over the last 10 years. You may view this collection, titled “Photos of the Decade: 2010–19”, at: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/12/photos-decade-2010-2019/603817/

Each photo is captioned, and each photo will remind many of us of a major issue that we're already immersed in - or may become immersed in within the coming decade. Teachers may want to consider one or more of these photos as starters for engaging students with a global citizenship perspective.

Sources of deepening

If you want to read a deeper analysis of developments so far in the 21st century, then "The Coming Anarchy" by Robert D. Kaplan is highly recommended. It focuses on how we can understand change in a world where "states", "borders", "armies", "nations" and "civilians" are no longer what they have been. Consequently, conflicts and wars can no longer be understood solely by the terms we now use to systematize our world and to understand what is going on. Robert Kaplan predicts that the 21st century will be increasingly chaotic, characterized by unregulated pollution, ethno religious tensions, dysfunctional administrations, unemployment and a lack of law and order. Here is a link to the article:

Robert D. Kaplan (1994):

“The Coming Anarchy: How scarcity, crime, overpopulation, tribalism, and disease are rapidly destroying the social fabric of our planet ”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/02/the-coming-anarchy/304670/

After reading this article you may think of Leonard Cohen (the Canadian song writer-singer) and his final studio album (released just days before his death in 2016) entitled "You Want it Darker". Cohen sings …

"You want it darker

We kill the flame"

Twenty-two year before Cohen's death, Kaplan described a future so bleak that one can rightly ask if we can expect any positive trends in the world today.

But there are. Yes we can! The World Bank reports that extreme poverty has fallen from 18.2% of the world's 7 billion plus humans in 2008 to just 8.6% in 2018. That's progress! And last year it was estimated that half of the world's population is nowconsidered middle class. (Source)

The state of democracy worldwide meanwhile is in critical condition in many places (See https://www.idea.int/our-work/what-we-do/global-state-democracy ) However, reasons for optimism on this front may be found in the most unexpected places. People from countryside’s are migrating to cities all over the world. In many developing countries these cities are often mega-cities with large slums with very poor living conditions. It seems that over half of all Africans will have chosen to live in cities by 2040, and similar developments are a global trend.

In the newly published article (below), the authors argue that, historically, we have often seen new urban populations being able to organize themselves to a higher degree and demand change. And that may lead to more democracy:

Amaku Anka & Tochi Eni-Kalu (2019): "Africa's Slums Aren't Harbingers of Anarchy — They're Engines of Democracy"

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/africa/2019-12-16/africas-slums-arent-harbingers-anarchy-theyre-engines-democracy

Happy New Year!