By Yaldaz Sadakova
Photo by Yaldaz Sadakova
I used to live in Brussels, and this summer I went back for a visit.
In the symbolic heart of Europe, it was impossible for me not to contemplate the concept of the EU and the enormous privileges I enjoy as an EU citizen.
I have a passport which allows me to freely travel across the EU—and to work in any EU country without a work permit.
I didn’t always have these two privileges.
Bulgaria joined the EU only in 2007, and Bulgarian citizens gained the right to work across the EU without a permit only in 2014.
So I’m super mindful of these two privileges and super grateful for them even though I live in Canada.
The only problem I have is that these privileges don’t extend to non-EU citizens. Because what did I do to gain these work and travel advantages?
Exactly nothing.
I was simply lucky enough to be born in a country which eventually joined the EU.
I say all this because it angers me when I see so many people with passport privilege—and other kinds of inherited privilege they did not work for—get defensive when you point out their privilege to them.
Their facial expression hardens in those instances as if to say, “Well, excuse meeee, do you want me to feel guilty for my privilege?”
No, I don’t want them to feel guilty.
But I think people with privilege, with any kind of privilege, should do two things.
One, be super mindful of their privilege and super honest about how it has contributed to their success and well-being.
And two, try to extend that privilege to those who don’t have it whenever possible.
As an EU citizen, I sadly don’t have the power to extend my privilege to non-EU citizens—especially those non-EU citizens who literally die in an attempt to reach Europe.
There have been way too many deaths like that. Totally unnecessary, totally preventable deaths.
But the very least I can do is to be vocal about my passport privilege instead of attributing all my success and ability to travel to hard work.
I would have never been able to move to Brussels as easily as I did if I didn’t have my Bulgarian passport.
To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.
True, while I lived in Brussels I did not have the ability to work without a permit because I was there before 2014.
Still, the fact that I was able to move there without a visa, without any hassle, without having to pay smugglers, without any threat to my life, is something I need to acknowledge. ♦
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