Nationalism

Segregation is the adultery of an illicit
intercourse between injustice and immorality.
               Martin Luther King Jr.

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

                    Charles de Gaulle

Whether it is called patriotism or nationalism, both words are used by people referring to the same meaning, in general, with nationalism depicting more of a geographical area. According to Webster Dictionary, Nationalism is: ”loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially : a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups” and Patriotism is: “love for or devotion to one’s country”. For the purpose of this article, let us assume that patriotism and nationalism have the same general meaning of loving one’s country or nation. The question is, whether nationalism leads one to a process of racism and chauvinism, or it is the tool in pursuit of independence and democracy. Deposed kings or those who are exiled from their countries take a fistful of dirt with them to remind them of their homeland, or to get a whiff of their glorious past when they are homesick! This obviously is not nationalism, but idiocy or deceit. The odor of earth is probably different depending on the chemical compound of it, and whether it is picked up from the city ground, or outskirts, or villages, or Home Depot! One may carry with him a rock or a handcraft that is unique to his beloved society, instead. In addition, race, language, custom, tradition, climate and nature are varied in different places on earth. Different countries may have different climates, but a country may have variety of atmospheric changes in different regions. Nature may also be different in parts of a country, while people more or less adapt to the environment easily. Language and looks and attire or fashion may also be different, but one can see variety of tongues and customs and races in a multi-cultural or multi-national society, and within the same border.

Before I was a school age child, I learned names of some streets, including the ones which were named in honor of some poets; such as Sadie, Hafez, and Khayyam. One may live in a neighborhood in the US where names of presidents are adopted for streets; such as Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson. When I learned how to read and noticed names of some poets similar to some street names, I was curious why some people had street names! Whether names of poets are selected as in Iran, or names of presidents as in the US, those names reflect one facet of a culture, representing the fabric of the society. It shows what people of such society value most, in this case their politicians or their artists. What determines the idea of how to name streets or how to build structures such as streets and buildings and parks, stems from a society’s culture. One who lives abroad for most of the adulthood, considering that the person is surrounded with people representing former country who speak the same native language in a daily basis, the person may still get nostalgic about the home country. It only takes a trip to that country to realize that the nostalgia was only a dream, as the society being visited is nothing like the one that person had left one day. The person feels foreign to that society and cannot wait to go back to the adopted homeland. So, what happened to nationalism and love of one’s country? Nationalism is not the soil or buildings or nature or sky or people. Nationalism is the culmination of them, flavored with customs, history, culture, and everything that binds people in a society together. As the culture constantly evolves, so does the country as a whole, and vice versa. People also evolve along with the culture and as a result, there is not a “nationality” that one can go back to after several years of departure, as that nationality is continuously shaped and advanced along with the people’s knowledge and attitude and ambitions. Some immigrants believe in keeping their custom and tradition in order to preserve their culture, and some are very good at that. I know Iranian families who have lived abroad for two or three decades, without knowing anything about their adopted country’s culture. To them, American culture is Hollywood, football, baseball, and hamburger! That is true about some migrated to Canada, Germany, England, Australia, or even Turkey and Dubai. Last weekend, I was talking to a friend about the US during the time of the great depression and its similarity to today’s financial crisis. My friend mentioned some facts about New Deal and FDR, when someone who was listening to our conversation asked who FDR was! The question was asked by some highly educated person who had been living in the US for more than three decades. I do not believe it to be necessary for someone to memorize names of all the presidents of the country he is living in, but some historical knowledge is just common knowledge. Knowing important facts about a country one lives in helps becoming part of that society. Some people make conscious decision not to become a part of the culture of the adopted land, in the fear that they would lose their national origin identity. These people will be surprised when they go back to their homeland to realize that not only they never became a part of the culture of the adopted country, they have also lost the connection they had to the culture of the old country. They have been carrying a culture on their back that is outdated and does not exist any longer!

Any revolution or reform in any country either started by nationalists, or they have had a nationalistic aspect to them. Nationalism was the major ideology behind the war of Independence in the US. The National Front party in Iran in early 50s culminated such strong support in the country, forcing the king to nominate Mosadegh as prime minister. Mosadegh’s aim was to nationalize Iranian oil by opposing the old and dying lion of the time, the Great Britain, and was crushed by the might of the foe in the pursuit of the unequal war. However, he used nationalism as a tool to advance his cause, and he achieved tremendous gains before the British secret plan carried out by the US in the form of a Coup d'état that resulted in his demise. On the other hand, nationalism is the best tool for war-mongers. In order to create an atmosphere where a race or religion or a group of ideas are attacked, an aggressor can use nationalism as a powerful tool. Leading to the war of independence in the US, a sense of nationalism for independence was propagated. Tom Pain’s book “Common Sense” that was published 25 times had a great impact on the declaration of independence of July 4, 1776 and on the struggle for independence from England, by fabricating a nationalistic fervor. In preparation of an attack on other countries (most recent examples are Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan), recruiting soldiers is necessary. Nationalism is used to create a patriotic mood, while the enemy is reduced to sub-human. It is also useful to agitate racism against the people being attacked, and some sexism when necessary.

Racism, nationalism, sexism, and all such differing and dividing ideas produce certain phobia which results in segregation. According to the theory of “divide and conquer”, it is easier to dominate a nation that is fragmented. One of the founding fathers of the US, and an aide to George Washington, and the first US Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, wrote: “All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well-born, the other the mass of the people. The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct permanent share in the government….Can a democratic assembly who annually revolve in the mass of the people be supposed steadily to pursue the public good? Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy….” This excerpt is taken from “A people’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn. Hamilton is segregating people into two camps: rich and well born (which is strange considering that he himself was born out of wedlock), and the rest of the people who are not rich and well born! Basically, he is dividing people into two classes based on their wealth and genes, while giving power to the minority rich to make decisions for the rest of the population. There are two societies in one society, each society defining nationalism differently. Nationalism to the first class is a society where they can receive fame, power, and financial rewards. Outside of that society they may not some or all of the above. To the second class, nationalism is pledging to a society where one can find people whom he knows and he can service. The second class which consists of the majority of the population can easily change its nationality depending on where they can find employment. That is why migration is usually by underprivileged or from the lower economical echelon to a higher one. This has nothing to do with the exercise of democracy, as it is usually referred to.