Not one experience is common to all. A series of man- made firewalls protect national cultures. Societies belonging to racial, religious, linguistic and ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable to political, economic and social alienation and discrimination socially. What these societies are to their communities, so is the globalised world to its citizens.
Racial profiling, gender discrimination and cultural exclusions are but some of the global challenges. A failure to take account of the role of these sequential firewalls has commonly led to exaggerated assessments of the risks to national diversity.
Cope would like to begin by looking at the foundation of our Constitution, indulging, as we do, with an approach and a view of looking at the world outside ourselves, with an attitude that begs the question: What does the Constitution of our country say about culture and diversity? What does it say about a common nationhood or respect for others?
Governments and parliaments have a primary responsibility to manage and build common values and balance diversity with social cohesion within the framework provided by international law and standards. This is the key to advancing social justice, co-operation and peaceful relations at the national, regional and international levels.
Debates about the supposed peril arising from cultural imperialism, Coca- colonisation or McDonaldisation, have raged for almost half a century. South Africa comes from a deeply fractured society. The subsequent change brought about by our new Constitution in 1996, revealed that apartheid in South Africa committed massive cultural and linguistic genocide. Other languages were marginalised and suppressed and one dominates - Afrikaans, for example. Once again, thanks to an esteemed South African Constitution, all cultures and languages are recognised. Equally, that famous speech by our former President Mbeki "I am an African", crowned it all.
What lesson of global significance do we learn from the Marikana saga, the Arab Spring, the Libyan or Sudan conflict? Unfortunately, populist movements of minority views are gaining more seats in parliaments around the globe, reflecting a lack of universal confidence in the political establishment.
It is Cope's belief that citizenship is an act of belonging to a community, which revolves around politics and rights. Citizenship always has a political dimension, because citizens have the capacity to determine the law, oversee the respect for universal justice, human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. Citizenship stresses the notion of equal respect and dignity even where there is unequal power.
The European Commission of Human Rights, European Union, EU, in its constitutional preamble also says the twin pillars of political values are an effective political democracy on the one hand, and a common understanding and observance of human rights on other.
Finally, reconciliation, the legacy of first democratic President Nelson Mandela and the work of Bishop Desmond Tutu, calls upon us to have a global sense of recognition and a realisation of a common nationhood. Events of torture against foreigners, acts of xenophobia and increasing arrests of innocent asylumseekers and refugees is a sign that we still have a mountain to climb in our quest for internationalism.
In conclusion, our Constitution does not disregard the spirit of internationalism. It values the human rights across the globe and human standpoints as we guide across the country.