We are global citizens with tribal souls, so what does this mean for global ethics?

There is a universal understanding that when an individual claims to be a "global citizen" that they accept obligations in principle towards people in any part of the world, this is one the key elements of the idea. An example of such obligation would be to support organisations that try to stop the violation of human rights. A Danish poet by the name of Piet Hein addressed an international conference with what I believe is a good simplification about our status of global citizenship " we are global citizens with tribal souls"(Barnaby,1988). I like it because it is simple and it highlights that as human beings living on earth, we all have a shared responsibility to look after it and there are some who do not have the ability to where it may be due to lack of education, lack of resources and other things.

Considering all these differences (Fletcher,2014):

• Access to information
• Personal beliefs
• Psychological makeup 
• Personal background

Surely there must be a variation in ethical views that people hold, where some values are more important than others. This is one of the main issues of global citizenship where we can not create a list of global ethics that will appeal to every global citizen. However, we can provide reasons as to why we think certain values are important. There are three proposed by Academic Dower and others that I quite like as I believe they should or least be common between global citizens.

Common Values (Dower et al, 2002)

1. Global scope of responsibility

I truly believe as a global citizen that it is not enough to merely respect and act in accordance to what we value but, we must also support those who promote the value as well. For example, I am against human trafficking and as an individual, I would not do it myself. However, as a global citizen,  I would support organisations such as Anti Slavery Australia that works to abolish slavery, trafficking and extreme labour at local and international levels (Anti-Slavery Australia, 2014).

2. Attitude towards one's society/nation state

As a global citizen, there is loyalty to a global moral and ethic. However as Dower suggests, this does not mean rejecting one's own values and moral of local or national communities but it simply becomes a balance between the two. If the two were in conflict, in my opinion, it simply becomes a matter of preference as there are those who argue that supporting the local community is contributing to the 'global good'. For example, If I was living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I would much rather contribute to my own community financially than say a recent crisis that occurred in another developed country leading them to require financial aid.

3. All human beings have an equal moral status

I think this would be the most common value as human beings should understand and recognise that all humans should be entitled to the fundamental necessities such as food, water, shelter and good health. However, in my opinion is the hardest value to uphold as it is in no way possible to be able to recognise and promote these values equally around the world as putting effort locally would cause an individual to be morally partial due to ignoring the global community.

Despite the complications involved in each of these three values, I think it's very important for a global citizen to be able to understand and share these values.

Barnaby, F.B, 1988. Gaia Peace Atlas. 1st ed. London: Pan Books.

Annabelle Fletcher. 2014. Challenges to Global Citizenship. [ONLINE] Available at: http://moodle.telt.unsw.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=503302. [Accessed 26 January 15]

Dower et al, N.D & J.W, 2002. Global Citizenship A Critical Reader. 1st ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Anti-Slavery Australia. 2014. Anti-Slavery. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.antislavery.org.au/what-we-do/about-us.html. [Accessed 26 January 15].