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

Theme
“If love is blind, patriotism has lost all five
senses.” - William Blum
“Nationalism is our form of incest, is our
idolatry, is our insanity. “Patriotism” is its
cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that
by “patriotism” I mean that attitude which
puts the own nation above humanity, above
the principles of truth and justice; not the loving
interest in one’s own nation, which is the
concern with the nation’s spiritual as much
as with its material welfare — never with its
power over other nations. Just as love for one
individual which excludes the love for others
is not love, love for one’s country which is not
part of one’s love for humanity is not love, but
idolatrous worship.” - Erich Fromm
“The difference between patriotism and
nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his
country for what it does, and the nationalist is
proud of his country no matter what it does;
the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility,
but the second a feeling of blind arrogance
that leads to war.” - Sydney J. Harris
“Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism.
Both words are normally used in so vague a
way that any definition is liable to be challenged,
but one must draw a distinction between them,
since two different and even opposing ideas are
involved. By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a
particular place and a particular way of life, which
one believes to be the best in the world but has
no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of
its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally.
Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable
from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of
every nationalist is to secure more power and more
prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other
unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.”
― George Orwell
“Nationalism ... is like cheap alcohol. First it
makes you drunk, then it makes you blind, then it
kills you.” - Dan Fried
“Nationalism was so perfectly suited to its double
task, the domestication of workers and the despoliation
of aliens, that it appealed to everyone
- everyone, that is, who wielded or aspired to wield
a portion of capital.” - Fredy Perlman
“All nationalisms are at heart deeply concerned
with names: with the most immaterial and original
human invention. Those who dismis s names as a
detail have never been displaced; but the peoples
on the peripheries are always being displaced.
That is why they insist upon their continuity--their
links with their dead and the unborn.”
- John Berger
“There is no national
science just as there
is no national multiplication
table; anything
that is national
is not scientific.”
- Anton Pavlovich
Chekhov
“Patriotism is when love of your own people
comes first; nationalism, when hate for
people other than your own comes first.”
- Charles de Gaulle)
“Nationalism is our form of incest, is our
idolatry, is our insanity. “Patriotism” is its
cult.”- Erich Fromm
“There is a higher form of
patriotism than nationalism,
and that higher form is not
limited by the boundaries of
one’s country; but by a duty
to mankind to safeguard the
trust of civilization. “
- Oscar S. Strauss
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