A CITIZENSHIP QUESTION

Arecent article about a citizenship test seemed amusing but the process comes with a long history of problems including racism.

The Italian man was applying for Swiss citizenship but failed because he didn’t know enough about the local zoo animals and it was decided he wasn’t ‘socially and culturally integrated enough’. Fortunately this was reversed in court. There seemed to be no concerns about his character or behaviour or that of his family. The process of deciding who should be given citizenship should be rigorous although knowledge and languages do not guarantee a good citizen.

In Australia there was a ‘White Australian’ policy basically designed to keep non-Europeans people out. Part of the test was a simple 50- word dictation test although it could be conducted in English and even if they passed, they could be retested in another European language and eventually any language. How many of us know English, the almost extinct Manx language, Japanese, or any of the Cyrillic languages including Tajik or Turkmen? Sorry, no citizenship for you then.

The updated test involved a set of 20 multiple choice questions drawn randomly from a collection of 200 questions. The questions are based on an online booklet with 84 pages of information. This originally included a question about Don Bradman’s cricket batting average which of course we all know was 99.94.

Now it’s just a big, beautiful, wall that will keep people out, if President Trump eventually gets his wall built.

The right to citizenship should consider what you bring in terms of skills and work attitude and what you have to offer the country.

• Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Astralia