Happy United Nations Day! We all live on the same planet, and we all need to learn to live together. I’m Hannah Telluselle and this is The Source Podcast, your source of inspiration and good things. Today’s episode is dedicated to celebrating United Nations. What is a global citizen and how can we show more solidarity?
The two latest movements, we’ve seen a lot of on social media: Protests against ICE in the United States, and protests against high cost of living around Europe, show solidarity at its best: When we stand up for other people’s rights to a decent life, as well as our own. Both movements move me personally, since I can relate to both, even if I’m not featured in media about them or the focal point of these protests. I do believe we don’t always have to protest to show solidarity though. We can do this by simply acknowledging the other person and his or her rights and needs with respect and support.
United Nations was officially founded in San Francisco, after World War II, on October the 24th, 1945 to prevent new conflicts. Representatives from 50 countries met to draw a charter that became ratified by several members and became the foundation for this international organization. While causes of environment and sustainability has been added, the United Nations still work to protect human rights, to maintain peace and security and help those in need, as well as uphold international laws.
Since Sweden used to be a neutral country and where we’ve had a Swedish Secretary-General as one of United Nations earliest, I’ve naturally always felt a great respect for the United Nations. We have travelled a lot in my family when I grew up, and I was a member of the UN-club at Hawaii Pacific University when I studied there in 2010. So, therefore, it was a natural thing to do, to report US Immigration detentions after I had become deported back to Sweden 2012. I gathered stories from as many as possible that I met with, while I was detained and decided early to compile them all to a book, that I called Under the Wings of Freedom, published on a blog first. I later changed the title to The Call for Divine Fathering, to better match my other books and make them into a trilogy about my life, and it seems that the famous Netflix-series Orange is the New Black, plagiarized quite a lot from my book, without my permission. Unfortunately, I’ve had to move around a lot and my computer with all my examples of their plagiarisms were stolen 2018, so I could never sue them. But their producer and the production company have both been reported to the Swedish police and the FBI. You can’t just take stories that others have told me in confidence and exploit for your own winnings!
The United Nations however, formed a working group consisting of a couple of representatives from various countries in 2014 and made an investigation for two years, by doing more interviews with other immigrants. The result became an article where the conclusion was an urging to the United States to stop their arbitrary detentions of immigrants, especially children. I so wish, I had been interviewed in the news about this back then. What if ICE could have changed and improved their handling already ten years ago? Solving immigration is a hot potato and not as straight forward as one could think. The problem is seldom not being documented but not being able to get a visa because of the other party, the business owners, the universities or the spouses, not wanting to sign the petition or when this relationship fails or ends, and the visa therethrough becomes invalid. What do you do then?
We’re all humans with similar needs. But sometimes, these needs can’t be met where we live and therefore, we’d like to move elsewhere. And sometimes, even must, to be able to survive. And at the same time, hopefully we can contribute with our experiences and knowledge from where we come from, into the new country.
The expression being a global citizen, to me, means not to forget or forego your actual citizenship, but to acknowledge and respect humanity as a whole first. That we all belong to the same planet and that we all must do our best to protect, preserve and take care of this planet. That Mother Earth is the source for us all, as its own entity. And in acknowledging this, we hone that none of us are superior to the other. We just have various expertise and just like with businesses, earth can thrive thanks to this diversity, where we can blend perspectives and create new ways for our caretaking. For diversity to function, we need to treat others with equal respect and everyone as their own individual, rather than categorizing groups that either are treated less than or are too privileged in comparison. The point is not which group we belong to, which too can differentiate depending on where we live, but that we are good fellow humans.
Are you getting your needs met and do you see how these are your rights at the same time? Do you honor others’ needs and rights?
The next episode of The Source Podcast is published on November the 1st, to celebrate All Saints Day. Tune in on November the 1st, to receive a life coaching tip about remembering those who’ve lived before us.
To listen to this blogpost as a podcast, find The Source Podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.
