A fair society!

Is there such thing as a fair society? Well that depends on what your view of a fair society is. A fair society is when ‘everyone is equal, no matter their differences or disabilities. A fair society sees each of its members as a full citizen - a unique person with a life of their own. A fair society is organised to support everyone to live a full life, with meaning and respect.’ My English class was given the opportunity to take part in a lecture organised by George Orwell Foundation and led by Kamila Shamsie: the author of seven novels: ‘In the City by the Sea; Salt and Saffron; Kartography; Broken Verses; Burnt Shadows; A God in Every Stone and Home Fire, at UCL.

She talked to us about citizenship and dual citizenship and how there were ‘83 confirmed cases of people wrongly deported.’ She also said that ‘if you can find a way to deal with one of them then you can find a way to deal with all of them,’ and if you don’t have a way to deal with these people let's make them some other countries problem. 'As Theresa May states that ‘citizenship is a privilege’ but individuals are getting that privilege viciously ripped away from them.

She also said that for someone to be legally deprived of their British citizenship they had to have dual nationality so they could not be made stateless. Prior to 1948 – if you chose to become a neutralised citizen of some other country you lost your British citizenship, with another nationality could be deprived of their British citizen. Also prior to 1948 any British woman who married a foreign national automatically lost her citizenship.’ Is that fair? The obvious answer would be NO, as women were being forced to choose between their state and the love of their life. This shows that ‘equality of all citizens is a myth.’ If this is fair, then what is unfair? People who migrate to other countries such as UK to provide a better life for themselves and their families but the ‘government is exiling citizens without criminal records’. I personally think that we don’t live in a fair society and our society ‘doesn’t see everyone as equal, doesn’t see all its members as full citizens and doesn’t support everyone to live a full life’. This means that people are losing their ‘right to have rights.’