Zygmant Bauman on the stateless person

Zygmant Bauman recently passed away, but his words linger - as does his legacy. I received his latest book as a gift, which I read during the holiday season. The book Strangers at Our Door is pertinent, but most importantly it is a clear, critical intellectual voice calling all people to witness the human tragedy that is unfolding, none the least in our hearts - unable to acknowledge the humanity of another human being, due to their having lost their status as the citizen of a nation. The "stateless refugee" as Zygmant defines him/her. I read this interview he gave upon the publication of the book last year. He responds to the interviewee:

"Part of the issue is the way in which the political world is framed and understood. Refugees are worldless in a world that is spliced into sovereign territorial states, and that demands identifying the possession of human rights with state citizenship. This situation is further compounded by the fact that there are no countries left ready to accept and offer shelter and a chance of decent life and human dignity to the stateless refugees."

Recently, I learnt that a person who had played an important role in my family, a displaced family in 1970s Australia, had passed away. While I felt the impact of the loss, I searched for words that would describe the actions of this person that made a difference to my family, and our sense of place. As I recalled the numerous acts of kindness, which went towards ameliorating the experience of being "stateless", I finally concluded that what made the greatest difference was that in those acts, I felt that a sense dignity restored that was otherwise suspended with the loss of status by relocating from a country of origin to another.

Zygmant Bauman's words are for the refugees, migrants or relocated people of this moment. Nevertheless, I still harbour a certain thirst for the words of an intellectual who is able to acknowledge that those that are caught in the midst of political jugglings, are but human. He writes:

"Insofar as the label “economic migrant” stigmatizes these victims, its use should be condemned. Such discursive acrobatics leave the causes of these crises unexamined, and those responsible untouched by guilt. In a culture that ennobles the pursuit of self-betterment and happiness by raising it to the rank of life purpose and meaning, it is nothing less than utter hypocrisy to condemn those who try to follow this precept but are prevented from doing so by lack of means or proper papers."

Silvana Tuccio 2017

Here is the interview:

The Refugee Crisis Is Humanity’s Crisis Refugees have been stripped of their humanity, insofar as it is supposed to grant “inalienable” rights they are denied. nytimes.com|By Brad Evans and Zygmunt Bauman