The influence of nationality
However much the world is becoming globalised, however much we travel around and even settle in other countries, however integrated a foreigner may feel in a society, foreigners are still foreigners. Even adopting the nationality of your new home still makes you of foreign origin.
The news we read and hear every day only emphasises how the place where someone is born and the culture they were brought up in defines their identity. However different the citizens of a country appear to be from each other within that country, once on foreign soil they have much more in common than they thought.
Here on the Costa del Sol where people of different nationalities have been living together for years our countries of origin are still used to define our identities, however “Spanish” our lifestyles and customs have become. If that wasn’t the case “She’s French” or “He’s Argentinian” would not be the first thing we say when describing a new acquaintance.
So this brings me to the tragic death of the man – the British man – following a late night fight outside a bar in Cómpeta earlier this month. However the incident started (the police seem to be getting somewhere at last – two are behind bars) no one has had any doubt that it was a conflict between a group of Spaniards and a group of British residents or holidaymakers. Cómpeta, a town that has always attracted foreigners and where many people of different nationalities happily live side by side, normally without any problems, became a battlefield with two very distinct armies.
The youngsters involved in the scuffle that got way out of hand would probably find they had a lot in common if they sat down together under different circumstances: sports, TV programmes, music, cars, computer games, etc …. But differences caused by nationality, culture and language seem to lead to hostility more easily than to friendship.
About the same time we read about the Bolivian man who lost an arm in a machine while working in a bakery. His boss left him outside the hospital, telling him to say he had simply had an accident, before throwing the severed arm in the rubbish and cleaning the machine in question. The victim, not a legal resident, was working with no contract and making no social security payments. In this case the language and cultural barriers were probably smaller, but the fact that the worker was of a different nationality meant that his bosses thought they could treat him like a second class citizen.
If only there was a way that personality could get through before our impression and treatment of others is influenced by their nationality.
Filed under: General by Rachel Haynes
and here again what do we learn from this? Dog eats dog and man is not any better. I pray for all man kind and still nothing has changed except we people are liveing to far apart.
I am writing the comments in this section by understanding the ray of hope in the time to face frustrating discrimination.
I would like to apprise you to a serve issue concerning citizenship of Spain. My wife is a Pakistani origin Spanish National lady. She got the citizenship of Spain after 10 years of residence. We get married in 2004 and we have a son and he is Spanish national by birth.
I came to know, it is the rule that if some one gets the Spanish citizenship through naturalization (10 years of legal residence) his / her spouse cannot get the citizenship of Spain on behalf of his spouse. The only reason is, one is Spaniard but not Spaniard by origin. It is strange.
Generally, if a Spanish person get- married with some one, his wife or husband is eligible for Spanish citizenship after one year of legal residence in Spain then why this rule does not apply for those who got the Spanish citizenship through naturalization?
If some one gets the Spanish citizenship then he must enjoy the full right of citizenship like the other Spanish people. Currently, it is said, only spouse of Spaniard can apply for the citizenship of Spain after living one year legal residence in Spain if the Spaniard is Spanish by origin not who gets the citizenship after living for ten years in Spain.
I do hope that the Spanish media will bring this issue before the concern authorities so that the spouse of a person who got the Spanish citizenship through naturalization can get the Spanish citizenship also.
Naveed, I think you might find that Spanish policy is this way for quite a large reason. Spain obviously has a colonial past in South America. The Spanish speaking world would then see Spain as a potential place to migrate to if Spain was to adopt a policy whereby a naturalised Spaniard can then pass on citizenship/naturalisation to his/her married partner. Spain obviously sees this as a risk and so has adopted its current policy. In your case though you have legal right to abode in Spain as does your Wife and of course as does your son so it just means that you are effectively prevented from further sponsoring into Spain other family members – which goes back to the reason why Spain has this policy. I assume the policy is this way because the economy would not cope with a large population increase should the rules be different.
Naveed, Aus is aboslutly right spot on. Spain has not the same problem like the UK as an example.
Myself as an example, I was born in Switzerland lived for 26 years there my mum is spanish origin and my vather italian origin and I live in the UK since 14 years and married to an English woman.
What origin am I and what Citishenship do I have and what Passport?
Il let you guess but you will never gett it right.
I quote – “Since citizenship carries with it a responsibility to be exclusively loyal to one country, the whole concept of dual citizenship and nationality raises questions about which of the dual citizenship’s have priority.”
While we at the Temple of Ansar Al-Haqq don’t deny issues such as these to be a controversy that should be addressed, as stated above in our excerpt from the Law of nations; “Every thing ought to be conducted according to its nature. Nations cannot be well governed without such regulations as are suitable to their respective characters; and in order to this, their characters ought to be known.”
Therefore, from the spiritual protection offered by being a part of a nation of peace, we best think the security of allegiance is safeguarded when that nations people conduct themselves in the manner complementary to their nature.
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