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Within a pop-up Lab roundtable in Zurich we launched the virtual Republic of Responsible Optimists (RORO).
As traditional governance structures globally are challenged by cross-border phenomena such as the climate crisis or data driven organisations that – per their very nature – exceed national, legal control. Simultaneously like-minded human beings form global communities around solution-driven lines of thinking, agnostic of their default citizenships.
With this Systems Change Lab on social citizenship we explored possible overlays and cooperative models at the intersection of the new, emerging global social citizenships and traditional national governance structures. Global identities ask for global values. We started a discussion around these values independent and free of economical or political interest. With our initiative we hope to strengthen the convergence rather than the separation of humane interests in living up to the challenges of our times.
Up to this year, there have already been two kinds of citizenships available to most people in Europe.
1) The “normal” one:
The nationality that one has been assigned per default through birth, heritage of parents or other preconditions. It’s the citizenship that is ultimately proven by your passport, which allows you to move freely and enter other countries etc.
2) The “digital” one:
The Estonian digital citizenship, that anyone can apply to and makes it possible for one to open up and tax a company within EU laws without ever stepping foot into the small Eastern European country. It’s the citizenship that allows you to conduct business.
By joining the virtual Republic of Responsible Optimists one commits to a third variation of possibility within citizenship. A “Davuzer” – as our citizens are called – one will commit for example to a co2-neutral life and in further generations get access to training for future-resilience. Our citizenship is the possibility of connecting with like-minded human beings on a global scale and take responsibility to economically and ecologically sustainable present and future.
In a further step, we eventually want to generate fruitful ground for circular economy businesses within a real jurisdiction.
For our exclusive pop-up roundtable we invited a diverse but small group of people to explore theses around the chances of our new-founded community and to commit them to a first-generation citizenship of RORO. Amongst them was the leader of the German Liberal Party (FDP) and renowned thought leader on the Digital Modern era Christian Lindner.
Together with them and a few hand-picked witnesses, we discussed the following theses:
We need a remoralization of globalisation
– because it has too many losers.
We need a remoralization of technologisation
– because it otherwise destroys humaneness.
We need a progressive governance of planetary resources
– because we otherwise deprive ourselves of our livelihood.
