Nationalism: Does It Unite Or Wreck – To Be Or Not To Be
by Shaumik Samar Ghosh
Are societies dealing with identity discovery or is it just a passing phase? Theorists have defined the difference between nationalism and religion long back, then why do the two get contracted more than often. In religion complete adherence is practiced through the willingness of ‘The Faithful’ to live and die for the teachings of their god, whereas in nationalism, allegiance is shown through the readiness of citizens to live and die for imageries and symbols which define their imagined communities. India and Indians have been talking of a unified India – Akhand Bharat, an idea that was first brought to fore by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and Veer Sawarkar before partition.
In 2017, the RSS published a piece titled ‘Punyabhoomi Bharat’ (The Land of Good Deeds) in its publication/mouthpiece wherein Afganisthan is called Upganathan, Kabul is Kubhanagar, Peshawar is Purushpur, Multan is Moolsthan, Tibet is Trivishtap, Sri Lanka is Singhaldweep and Myanmar is Brahmdesh but as history says the dream remained one after Mohammed Ali Jinnah began making calls for a separate country that he would call Pakistan. The Gandhian idea of supporting ‘Khilafat’ wasn’t a welcome move and thus began a political turbulence when people like Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi abandoned the idea of nonviolence. Thinkers like Munshi believed that an ‘Akhand Hindustan’ - Undivided India was essential for the future of Hindus and Muslims. There was a grand conference too held in 1944 called the Akhand Bharat conference to push the idea deep into the people’s psyche.
Definitely it isn’t about religion alone! Why Ireland chose to become an independent country is a shining example of the fact. Sinn Féin meaning ‘We Ourselves’ was founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905 which became the focal point of all kinds of Irish nationalism, especially Irish republicanism. Internal politics and disagreements were rife in this arrangement. Though it grew in 1916 after the ‘Easter Rising’ and developed structural significance at its Ard Fheis in 1917, it split in 1922 over the Anglo-Irish Treaty which led to the Irish Civil War. Soon two new political parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael started gaining momentum and since then these two parties have been dominant in Irish politics. The Sinn Féin of today is mostly viewed as a republican, left-wing nationalist and secular party.
Cold Wars last longer but do end. The dismantling of the Soviet Union was an amalgam of political maneuvering and tactic. In 1989, George H.W. Bush did not by default follow the policies of his predecessor Ronald Reagan in dealing with Mikhail Gorbachev and the USSR. He instead adopted major policy re-evaluation to bring to fruition his own plan for dealing with Kremlin. But all didn’t go as per plan and conditions in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union changed rapidly. Gorbachev’s decision to loosen the Soviet clutch on East European countries spurred an independent, democratic momentum leading to Berlin Wall’s collapse and bridging imperialism and communism – Berlin and Bonn. This paved way for the overthrow of Communist rule throughout Eastern Europe. Bush and his administration supported these independence movements but in non linear fashion. So, US let events unfold organically, careful not to do anything to stifle Gorbachev’s position. The decision to conduct elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and saw the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict getting brutal with every passing day dates back to the end of the nineteenth century. The 1947 United Nations Resolution 181, sought the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states and on May 14, 1948, a new state predominantly Jewish called Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. A year later Israel won but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and the territory was divided into 3 parts- the State of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. With time tensions arose in the region, particularly between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
Following the 1956 Suez Crisis and Israel’s invasion of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed mutual defense pacts hoping Israeli troops would adhere to restraint. In June 1967, after a series of military exercises by Egypt, Israel launched an attack on Egyptian and Syrian air forces, starting a week long war.
During Yom Kippur – paradoxically that’s what the war was named; Egypt and Syria launched a surprise two-front attack on Israel to regain their lost territory; the conflict did not result in any major gains for the Arab tripartite, but the then Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat declared the war a victory as Egypt and Syria could negotiate over previously surrendered land mass. Jordan couldn’t gain much out of this. International Diplomacy came to rescue and 1979, after a series of cease-fires and peace negotiations, Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, a peace treaty that ended the thirty-year conflict between Egypt and Israel. Peace and even atonement come at a price and Anwer Sadat had to pay up with his life some time after.
Water wars aren’t a new phenomenon. Just as the Suez crisis, in recent times China is astutely trying to gain more control over oceans and for that it may fiercely go for invading island nations – by might or fight. Will it annex parts of Taiwan or Philippines are scorching the minds of many! Political ideologies do make a change. For his fresh approach to politics and policies Gamal Adbel Nasser was favoured by western as well as eastern leaders, so finding the fulcrum is essential to good geopolitics.
Politics and policies become diametrically diverse when things discussed on the table can’t be executed as planned. China being an economic superpower indicates that the world is headed for multi polarity. The USA has 800 military bases across the world and funding each one of them involves herculean costs and printing currency has brought down the value of USD, whereas China already having rights over important lithium and ion mines; has been expanding its gold reserves too – multi polarity is going to have its implications in the new world order. The rising nationalism in the US is being perceived as an existential threat – not just to the US itself but the globe as policies have a domino effect.
Absolute nationalism has its inherent inconsistencies as former British parliamentarian Rory Stewart, a politician by blunder one may say; is of the opinion that religion never or seldom crosses mountain passes. Stewart seemingly didn’t have a great time as a politician for his straightforward views on matters that mattered a lot.
Not long back, the UN general secretary Antonio Gutteres was declared persona non grata and not allowed to enter Israel. The ideal of the nation-state is never fully achieved where people of different faith and beliefs have strong disagreement over issues. There’s no single instance in history when all members of a particular nation were found gathered within one’s state’s boundaries. Conversely, many states contain large national minorities. This lack of full correlation has frequently given rise to unsolvable problems that eventually lead to war.
While commoners can get just a cliff nose of political happenings, one thing is certain that any government inspired by nationalism may design policies that aim at integrating national minorities, as used to be the propensity central and eastern European governments in the interwar period. National groups that are not in control of a state may feel dissatisfied with its regime and claim self-determination in a separate state, as demonstrated in the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
Nationalism may spark wars, especially civil and by its inherent virtues it makes compromise and acceptance of defeat more difficult and it becomes even more complex with political and ideological grouting. It thus tends to heighten the propensity of going for wars. The rising nationalism in the US is being portrayed as an existential threat and China knows that winning wars is the only way it can rise to the pinnacle is seeks.
There seems to be a certain pattern about new, puerile nationalisms and there must be distinctions of what is pseudo, what is nihilistic and what is real. Nationalism no longer is the root cause of conflict and war among the nations. Now wars are more about vengeance and territory, not to forget the religion factor – which has its share of fluctuations as Iranians call the Pahalvis traitors and the present UK Government puts all blame on right wingers for the riots this year. Never ending blame games go on! If Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore dismissed nationalism as a cruel epidemic – calling it a western construct but minds and mindsets are evolving and the ‘N’ word isn’t as stigmatic as it once was.
Shaumik Samar Ghosh is a writer and keen political and geopolitical analyst. This piece from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. IDN does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author
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