Ovi Magazine Issue #24: Nationalism - Published: 2013-01-31

Theme
Giorgos Kontogiannis
Nationalism and patriotism
The expansion of the financial crisis in
other European countries, apart from
Greece, led to a social disruption,
decline of living standards and
poverty in most parts of the wider
population.
But even in the cases where the crisis has not hit
the door of parts of the European society yet, fear
of expansion and, above all, fear of unemployment
now permeates more and more European citizens.
Fear reinforced towards every foreigner/stranger
that possibly can rob elements which currently help
maintain the prosperity of the European citizens.
And the dominant element in this fear is work. This
is where xenophobia finds a comfortable ground.
Foreigners, citizens of other countries, from Asia or
Africa even from Europe, are increasingly flooding
the EU member countries’ market seeking for work
or taking the work from locals; volunteering to work
with much lower wages.
This situation reinforces extreme nationalist
tendencies and opinions on national purity, even
though for long many felt that the fall of Nazism
after WWII would lead to its elimination or at least
to an easily controlled reduction, a microscopic
minority in the political spectrum.
The revival of nationalistic tendencies is definitely
not related to patriotism; the natural innate love
for the country that pervades every healthy citizen
of a nation/state, with common elements, history,
language and culture. Obviously related with the
fear of some foreigners coming to the fatherland
with their presence deprive part of the welfare of the
indigenous peoples.
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You can sense the surreal of the situation while
Greece syndromes xenophobia prevalent in much
of the population and have even found political
expression through fascist parties, the same time