Conversing with our cosmopolitan past: Applying history to the present
BY GLENN K.H. ONG “Knowing where you are going,” declared Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam in the 1970s, “is
Read more
Our Divided City
Societies have been always divided, and cleavages are traditionally most obvious across class, race, gender, and religion. Singapore is no different. We have made strides in overcoming identity faultlines since the riotous era of the 1960s, but new faultlines emerge. Whether we are debating about LGBTQ rights, immigration protections or the urban underbelly, these conversations at once challenge perceptions of what Singapore is while also reflect the changing needs of society.
These tough questions require participation, and we put together a new series of articles exploring these issues. We hope this series provides an avenue for us to think deeply about these issues and critically examine some of the assumptions that have couched debate thus far. Cosmopolitanism and xenophobia runs through the pieces: how did they form, what sort of normative values do we assign to these terms, and how might society move forward, together?
We invite you to enjoy and engage in our new series: Our Divided City.
How Immigrants Don’t Want Other Immigrants
We’ve been extraordinary in economic development. We can be as good at defeating xenophobia. BY ROYCE QUEK Rome wasn’t built in a day: and it also wasn’t built by the people and riches of its own lands. Instead, its armies conquered Greece, North Africa and Asia Minor through the manpower of not just Romans, but the many Roman allies: fellow Italian cities which had been subjugated by Rome and were forced to give soldiers to the Roman war machine. With this strategy of co-opting other cities into its growing dominion, Rome swept all before it. But the Italians weren’t happy …
Read more
Sea Levels are Rising, and so will Social Anxieties
BY HOE JIA WEN Climate change has arrived.
It is no longer simply a threat for the hypothetical future generations, but a problem for our generation, and particularly, our children’s generation. For the first time, 2015 saw the global average temperature hit 1°C above than the pre-industrial era, moving perilously closer to the 1.5°C limit that countries committed to Paris only the year before. Singapore’s own annual mean temperature has risen by 1.7°C since 1972, from 26.6°C to 28.3°C in 2015 (NCCS). …
Read more
On the Ground, In our Minds
Relooking Cultural Integration and Cosmopolitanism in Singapore BY Z.H. From the rash of online sentiments directed against foreigners during the
Read more