“I don’t have a village. I am a floating person”
I simply adore this line.
I went to listen to a talk by Lord Meghnad Desai last night at the Ismaili Centre about diasporas and migration.
Having been a “foreigner” for most of my life, I have a strong interest in phenomena that turn people into strangers.
Lord Desai was talking about migration being at the core of human history. “We all came from East Africa. We all descend from Lucy”.
It was really in the 20th century that people began to insist on national identities. “By thinking in terms of citizens and foreigners, we have created barriers for ourselves”.
According to Lord Desai, before the rise of national identities people used to think in terms of clusters of households. But in the 20th century, “our imagination stopped to see individuals and families and began to see only nations”.
While I was listening to this, my mind wandered back to Prague. I heard the voice of a Jewish friend of mine saying how much he hates nations. And he does have a strong point.
Prague’s cultural and social life was much richer before WWII when they had a Czech, a Jewish and a German community.
All this is gone for ever. Thanks to people chasing national identities and turning neighbours into strangers.
Lord Desai also spoke about the urge that people have to create “locals and foreigners”.
That puzzles me. It does exist. I have often been called a “foreigner” and I have always found it intriguing.
I don’t really know what a foreigner is. May be it is because I cannot really identify with a specific country or a particular place.
I have always thought that nations create distance between people. Or may be it is because of what I have seen in Easter Europe.
No, I don’t particularly like the word “foreigner”.
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