[Peace-discuss] Nationalism

[Bob Illyes]

Patriotism is, literally, taking the position of a "father" to your
country, i.e., looking out for your country in the way you look out
for your children.

Nationalism is something rather nasty, or should I say Nazi? It is
related to corporatism as promoted by the fascists. The key notion of
nationalism is that each kind of person should have their own nation-
state, that one should rule and be ruled only by ones own kind.

Napoleon enforced this on the Austrian empire, which he broke up,
by trying to set up little kingdoms for every German dialect, thinking
that this would keep the Germans "nations" from ever getting together
and being a danger to France. As we all know, this plan did not have
a happy ending.

Bob