Will national identity become obsolete?

For this triangle to perpetuate, the colonial past, for some, is neither forgotten nor let alone-it is constantly re-enacted, not only delaying racial reconciliation but keeping existing racial tensions very much alive. Worst of all, it will never liberate Indigenous Australians to adopt a positive, optimistic and resilient role, taking responsibility for their destiny genuinely, instead of being trapped in a historical role of victimhood. As such, it does not allow white people to find common ground with Indigenous Australians and with new migrants, genuinely and constructively, to move forward with a common goal.

There is no healthy sense of belonging in this endless tension, all remaining collectively trapped in the past trauma and behaviour of their ancestors, and nobody feels at home in the end, either.

In such a case, some of us may either feel ashamed of our national identity or become more defiant, filled with discontentment, leading to a duty of disobedience and a sense of revenge. Furthermore, we may abandon your national identity by embracing the freedom of being nobody or somebody as a global person, or we may become a hardened patriot to reclaim our identity as perceived to be taken away from you. While the former erodes our connection with our nation, the latter re-connects us to it more radically, often ending up in what is too broadly described as a far-right-wing faction. Either way, it profoundly impacts the sense of belonging as a key foundation of social cohesion, either positively or negatively, individually or collectively.

There is a third way out of this dilemma-globalisation and its charms. We are living in a gradually globalised world. One of the key aspects of this world is its connection through online virtuality within which we live as ghosts or phantoms, not in a physical form but rather a mental form, in a digital world. This sense of virtuality creates a false sense of belonging beyond recognition in the long run-it promises us a new identity that is liberating and extended, like a sweet dream.

Then, for us, a nation is not the soil we stand on, the air we breathe in and out, or even the passport we hold. It is a free, imaginative moment on-screen, in photos, memes, or videos. We may roam from one country to another within a second in this virtual world. In extreme cases, as some advocate for, a digital ID will fixate us on a permanent identity to make us traceable and controllable, a potential for control that is a stark reality of our digital age. Or, as Elon Musk promises, we will become part of AI or a matrix with chips inserted in our brains to gain a new identity, half human and half machine.

At no time has our national identity, however socially constructed it has been, been as diluted as it is now, gradually losing all its traditional seriousness, meaning, and implications.

In this brave new world, the question remains: What makes us united as Australians - our Constitution, citizenship, an American or Brazilian-style melting point caused by an ever-increasing level of immigration, a shared sense of belonging, a lifestyle shaped by our geographical location, history, and reality, a digital ID, or a global network of cyborgs?

The choice is ours.