Date: Friday, February 12, 2016

Participants

(From 10 countries)

Host: Rick

Teams

Panel PRO: (Team A): Ayisha, Marwa, Johny.

Panel CON (Team B): Flory, Mohiuddin, Hassan, Hashim, Soso, Robin, Djamila.

Audience (Team C): Suren, Behnam, Seif, Azamu, Elham, Fastline, Himalay.

Team A summary

Ayisha:

· It can provide jobs opportunity and the economy would rise.

· The country and the people would feel more united.

· Countries could combine their infrastructure and help each other.

· Traveling issues and obstacles may solve.

· Innovation and creativity may travel faster without the barriers that national borders represent.

· Although there may be reasons to have borders, if we don’t have them, people would be more collaborative towards each other and overcome their challenges in an easier way.

Johny: throughout history we can see that human beings have survived thanks to things that brought us closer, such as the innovation in the transportation medium. In today’s world, progress is slowed down at the moment to import and export needed goods because there are political procedures to be followed.

In the past, when there were not political borders, humans traveled without barriers to anywhere in the world, for instance, when they needed to find warmer weather or find new territories to inhabit. The only way we were able to survive as species was to travel and escape difficult conditions. Progress can only be achieved if we are united. Nowadays if anyone has a problem with their papers and visas in rule, they can’t visit the country. Our civilizations could be stronger and more united if we didn’t have to go through these processes (visas).

Creating borders is creating feelings of “being different”. Nationalism implants in people’s mind the idea that 'Our country is better than others'. It creates the feeling of “us against them”.

. If we just get rid of this, we can all benefit of the mutual acknowledgement that we all live under the same roof (Earth) and that we all have the rights of accessing the same goods.

Marwa: There are countries that are really small and very much restricted in the things they can do and countries borders only hinders the dream of knowing other people, other cultures, other countries. Not having borders doesn’t necessarily mean that people will lose their identities or their culture. Our identity is what we bring within us. It is in inside of us and you can still keep it without national borders. Nationalism can be a really dangerous thing: borders are only in our minds; in most cases there are no real physical borders between countries, only an imaginary line in the map. Some people believe that these borders is what keep us away from enemies and undesired people but what really keep them away are our policies and the way we are organized, not the borders per se. Without borders, people may feel more united and friendlier towards each other.

Team B summary

Flory: If we didn’t have borders, some crime would be easier to be committed by either individuals or by criminal organizations such as those of human trafficking. If we don’t have borders, how do we protect the security of the people within the country against criminal activities? Such as gangs, contraband and human trafficking.

Without borders, without rules we have anarchy and chaos.

Mohiuddin: If there were not borders, terrorists from other countries may come to our countries very easily. Convicts could travel to other countries more easily. Traveling causes food scarcity. The revenue produced by taxes to import and exportation of goods will be lost. Not having borders brings more sicknesses.

Hashim: having borders means having rights, rights over the land and resources which it contains. Having borders also decreases the problems of immigration. The revenue generated by tourism is given to the citizens so we need it. Like when we have guests in our house, they should bring gifts to the host, the same goes for people visiting the country. They should give money to the people in the country if they want to visit it. If they want to enjoy the landscape or the place, they should pay for it. It would be very difficult to have just one government to rule the whole world.

Hassan: Although it does sound a nice idea, I don’t think it would work in this world.

Soso: if we don’t have borders, there will be places that will be overcrowded and others that will be empty because then people would have the freedom to go to the countries they always dreamed going and this can generate huge problems. For people who pay taxes, a borderless nation could represent a menace to their rights.

Djamila: Borders refer to boundaries and limits. Limits are needed whether they’re land borders or political ones. A borderless country is like a house without a door, anyone can come in whenever they want. It has never worked this way and will never work this way. When it comes to immigration, selective immigration is acceptable. People have the rights to visit other countries but they have to follow a process. They have to meet some criteria.

Team C summary

Behnam: There have always been borders. Borders come from the selfishness of people. Having borders generate extra work for humanity, and it also foment illegal activities. It also widens the gap amidst languages and cultures as well as the general ignorance. Many problems and divisions could be solved if we didn’t have borders. Boundaries create fights, passion and tensions.

Seif: If we don’t have borders but still keep different laws and different justice system in different places, criminals who commit crime could feel encouraged to commit even more, since not all places would enforce the death penalty (for instance).

Suren: Technology can help us overcome the challenges that may present if we have problems not having borders. Let’s take Internet and Skype for example, we can all talk to each other, reach out to anyone in the world across borders and we can learn and keep a respectful interaction with one another. Not having borders doesn’t necessarily means living in chaos.
There are still too many things to learn about the universe, about science, about human interaction and about how to make our lives better and thus we cannot state with absolute certainty that we will have always problems or live forever in chaos if we don’t have borders. Some countries even use their policy about closed borders to impose or show dominance toward other countries.

Azamu: there are advantages of having borders; however, the advantages of having none overcome the advantages of having borders.

Votes:

· Behnam: remained undecided.

· Elham: Team B (through chat).

· Seif: Team B.

· Suren: Team A.

· Azamu: Team A.

It was a tie.

Rick’s take away: National security is very important. The first responsibility of a nation is towards its people. A country can look after its citizen but also be open to the rest of the world. However, Skype is a very good example that we are already living in a wordless world to some extent, but there is a reason why we have borders, why we have national security and why citizens have certain rights. Is important to have structure and in the absence of this, we have anarchy.

Thanks everyone for participating. Below are the links to listen to this discussion