NATIONALISM (Part3);

_ By Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (h).

Continuation of part 3....

Bases of Nationalism

 

Another basis of nationalism is territory and country. This may even be considered 

first of all before the people living in the territory. This great urge to show love and

emotional feelings towards ones own place of birth and country (territory demarcated geographically either as a result of war or otherwise) makes the French to consider France as their basis for nationalism; Germans, Germany; Italians, Italy and so on. One will not only extol his own people but even his own geographical area by saying, For example,, that his climate is the best in the world, the agricultural products found there is the best in the world, and even the animals found there were the best found in the world, likewise the grasses, the natural phenomena and features found within the

geographical area such as rocks and so on. That may even be considered the beginning of civilization and the call for all human being to return back to its origin.

 

The third basis of nationalism is language. Apart from the territory where the people 

live, common languages spoken is a unifying attribute that brings them together and they would consider their language as the best in the whole world.

 

The fourth basis of nationalism is common history and culture as well as civilization. 

That is to say they would proclaim after all they all share the same history, either they

were all born there or migrated at a point in time and moved to that place or had a long history of being under the same umbrella for many centuries. This makes them a nation sharing same history and culture. This will also become a basis upon which they make nationalistic urges and appeals. 

 

Accompanying the history is the culture that is to say the habit of the people in form of dress, food, music, dances and so on. Also their arts and literature are extolled by their nationalists as being superior to others in the world. This was the case with France after colonizing some parts of Africa. They felt they should Françoise Africans as French people. So they invented the concept of assimilation where some western educated elites among the black skinned Africans where given the status of French men, dressing like French, drinking coffee and whiskey every morning like the French people do. Thus they felt they have “promoted” them to the status of French citizens.

This idea of feeling that ours is the best way of life also moved the French to annex

Algeria and made it part of France.

 

The fifth basis of nationalism is race. Race can be considered as an advanced form of tribe, after all one can say the whole of Europe is one race, but having French, German, British, Portuguese and so on which cannot be considered as races. After all what is a race? Race is a people sharing common ancestor; coming from one descendant(one man); or all of them originate from one powerful king who did this and that or they all originated from one tribe and expanded claiming common ancestry. The idea of considering one’s own race to be superior to all others in fact moved them to be condemning other races. For example,, the Greeks and the Romans, at the height of their civilizations called all others barbarians. The Greeks considered the world as containing the Greeks and the barbarians. Likewise the Romans at the height of their civilization divided the world into three, the Romans, their allies (second status) and the barbarians.

The sixth basis of nationalism is political and economic organization. They consider themselves having one political entity and practicing one political system as a basis of their nationality. The system and forms of these associations would be considered the best by the exponents of their form of nationalism.

_ We will Continue at part 4 Insha Allah.