The Future of Citizenship? – Citizens without Borders Public Expo

On the 21st of September, we had our first public event in Russell Square park in London. The event was to introduce Citizens without Borders to the public. Using posters, interactive display and installation art, this mini-expo presented various CwB themes and past activities we’ve so far explored since our kick-off in December 2011. This also created a space for the members and the public to share thoughts and explore new ideas, projects and activities that we could do together in the future.

One of the themes was citizenship and society. This had three interactive installation to explore the ways we think about citizenship and to discover and question boundaries that exist in our society and our mind. Our hope was that this would stimulate thoughts about citizenship – for ourselves as well as others. 

One of these installations was ‘Polling Station’. This was a mock polling station that invited people to vote on one aspect of citizenship – the right to vote. There were 6 candidates with different backgrounds and situations. As an imaginary policy maker, voters were asked to choose which candidates should have the right to vote.

If you haven’t done so already, try it for yourself, and vote for who you think should have the right to vote.

Then see the results.

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Some feedback gathered on the day:

“It’s so hard to decide (groan)….. how can I draw a line…”

“I think some kind of test is needed”

“I ticked ‘Yes’ here (candidate A) because my wife is in that situation.”

“I think she (candidate F) should have the right to vote even though she’s been away, because she’s got nationality…”

“In perfect world, I want to vote ‘yes’ to all of them, but in reality, it can be dangerous to have foreigners’ influence on the national election and policies…”

“It’s case by case.”

A big thank you to everyone who participated!

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If you have any comments or would like to have information on/participate in our Citizens without Borders’ citizenship projects and activities, get in touch with: Asako Kobayashi (asakoishere@yahoo.co.uk)