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Title: What is Nationalism?
Author: sub.media
Date: 2016
Language: en
Topics: nationalism, primer, video transcription, Breadtube
Source: https://sub.media/video/what-is-nationalism/
Notes: a transcription of the sub.media film short of the series “A is for Anarchy”

sub.media

What is Nationalism?

It's no secret that anarchists don't like states. In fact, we anarchists

are generally defined by our rejection of, and opposition to state

institutions, such as governments, police, and prisons. But while

opposing these physical manifestations of the state is certainly an

important part of anarchist practice, anarchist critiques of the state

go much further, and include the underlying social relationships and

ideologies that have historically been used to create states, and to

uphold their authority. One of the most important of these concepts is

nationalism. So what is it, exactly, and what do anarchists have against

it?

Well... basically, nationalism is a kind of social glue that holds

together people of different ethnic, tribal, linguistic, religious and

cultural groupings into a single defined population, linked to a

specific geographic territory. The problem with nationalism is not

necessarily that it it’s a glue - there are plenty of examples of

organic nationalism, based on shared culture, language and history, and

in fact, many anarchists been heavily influenced by, and have even

participated in struggles motivated by nationalism, such as the

resistance waged by Indigenous nations against their colonial

oppressors, or the establishment, in 1929, of the Shinmen Autonomous

Zone by Chinese, Korean and Japanese anarchists fighting against

Japanese imperialism. The problem with nationalism lies in its tendency

to mask social contradictions among a population, thereby allowing for

the reproduction of hierarchies, which in turn end up producing a new

state structure. Which is another way of saying that nationalism is a

force that groups people together in a way that tends to maintain the

division of the human race into competing states.

In countries with strong state institutions, nationalism is more

commonly referred to as patriotism, and everyone is conditioned from a

young age to believe that loving your country is one of the most

important, natural things you can do. In school we are forced to stand

every morning for the national anthem, and taught a heavily sanitized

version of our nation's history. We even celebrate its birthday every

year... with fireworks no less.

Because nationalism is so ingrained into our lives, customs and beliefs,

many people would be surprised to learn that it's is a relatively new

thing. While some countries, such as China, have existed as a more or

less unified territory for thousands of years, others, such as Italy,

have been around for less than 150. And lots of states are even younger

than that.

For most of human history, nation states simply didn't exist. Instead,

the world was split up into city-states, ruled by kingdoms and empires,

whose borders were in a constant state of flux. Back then, most people

lived simple lives as farmers, and had very little contact with what we

now understand as the state. And because languages were mostly passed on

orally, many different dialects flourished and existed side by side.

Although nationalism emerged in different parts of the world at

different times, the development of the modern nation-state is often

associated with the early development of capitalism, and European

colonial expansion beginning in the 16th century. The race to plunder

the world of its land and resources kicked off an intense competition

between kingdoms in Europe, leading to the proliferation and gradual

consolidation of states with clearly defined borders.

In the so-called “New World”, settlers from a variety of European

nations forged new collective national identities, born of the shared

experience of racial domination over Indigenous nations and enslaved

Africans.

During the mid-19th century, many states first began introducing

centralized education systems, further facilitating nationalist

indoctrination, and helping to eliminate remaining linguistic and

cultural differences. In extreme cases, such as the Residential Schools

system in so-called Canada, this practice amounted to full fledged

genocide.

Not content with their pillage of the Americas, European colonialists

carved up Africa and the former Ottoman Empire into arbitrarily defined

states, which in turn produced nationalist strong-men who brutally

massacred linguistic and ethnic minorities, such as the Tuaregs of

North-west Africa, and the Armenians and Kurds in the Middle East.

Nationalism relies on grand, unifying narratives to bind populations

together in pursuit of a common destiny. Whether this assumes the form

of the individualistic pursuit of the so-called American Dream, or the

Nazis' pursuit of the Third Reich, whether the heavily militarized

ethno-religious protectionism of Israel, or the totalitarian

self-reliance of North Korea's Juche, nationalism provides an

ideological framework for the manipulation and social control of large

groups of people. It provides a sense of collective belonging, and unity

of purpose, while simultaneously helping to justify the massive

application of state violence towards perceived “others”. Human history

is awash in blood justified in the name of nationalism, from ethnic

cleansing and genocide, to aggressive wars launched in defense of

abstract, emotion-laden concepts, such as freedom, or the glory of the

fatherland.

Rather than limiting ourselves to the narrow perspective of nationalism,

anarchists put forward the competing concept of internationalism. This

flows from the realization that borders and nations are artificial

constructs meant to divide us, and that struggles for freedom and

dignity waged anywhere in the world are deserving of our solidarity and

support. That rather than fighting and dying in wars for the sake of the

rich and powerful, oppressed people should unite to wage war against our

common oppressors. And finally, that for humanity to reach its full

potential, and come together to confront the problems that we face as a

species, we require nothing less than a global revolution.