country’s borders as their home. By saying that some people do belong, and others do not, we create an “us” and a “them”. This could be for a sports team, where players on the green team recognise themselves as a group that belongs to the green team and recognise players on the blue team as not belonging to the green team. These blue team players are labelled as “the others” that don’t belong to the “us” of the green team. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, when people are treated in harmful ways or as “less-than” for not belonging to a certain group, then this dynamic of “us” vs. “them” becomes harmful. Xenophobia is an example of a harmful “us” vs. “them” dynamic. Xenophobia is when people who are from another country or who are viewed as foreigners are treated badly. People who are stateless could be considered to be foreign no matter where they live, as they do not have citizenship of any country. Although stateless people often do have strong ties to the country of their birth or ancestry and may feel a strong sense of belonging to “their” country, this is not formally recognized through the enjoyment of citizenship. And since being a citizen is a form of belonging, stateless people do not officially “belong” to any country. If you choose to start a discussion prior to the activities, here are some questions about borders and belonging you may ask the participants. These questions can also pop up during the activities: • • • • What are the borders of your school? How do you know this? Why does the school have borders? Who can cross the school borders? Who cannot? Who decides who can and cannot cross the school borders? What other places have borders? What do those borders look like? Who decides them and are they necessary? Why do countries have borders? What purpose do borders serve for a country? Who can pass through borders of the country we are in now? Who cannot pass through? Why? Are there times when borders have caused problems for you? In what kind of groups do you belong? Is the feeling of belonging important to you? Do you feel that you belong to a certain country? Key Takeaways of this theme 1. Borders are manmade and dynamic and as they shift, they influence our sense of belonging and can lead to exclusion. 2. Nationality is a manmade system that determines who gets to belong and who doesn’t. However, as this system is not predefined, there is room to re-imagine and improve it. 3. It is important to speak out against exclusion and fight for the right to nationality for everyone. There are different fora and actions to affect change regarding statelessness. Key Words Borders; Belonging; Citizenship/Nationality; Identity; Inclusion/Exclusion; Xenophobia. 12