The varieties of nationalist extremism

Posted April 7th, 2007 by zeeshanhasan

The Guardian has a good story today about the numerous death threats being received by Turkish writers who dare to challenge the nationalist myths of the country, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. I’m used to hearing of similar death threats being made in places like Bangladesh and Pakistan, but this is quite different in that the extremist ideology is question is Turkish nationalism rather than the more familiar Islamist religious ideology.
It got me thinking about nationalism. It’s a pretty scary thing when you think about it. Ever since the emergence of the modern nation-state, nationalism has been the rationale for everything from the 1915 Turkish slaughter of a million Armenians (mentioned in the Guardian article) to the Pakistani slaughter of millions of Bangladeshis in 1971, which is a lot closer to home for me. In the latter case, it was the Islamic-tinted Pakistani nationalist ideology that was to blame.
No coincidence; Islamism is in many ways similar to nationalism. Only rather than a particular region or ethnic group, it tries to claim for its own the disperse and disparate Muslims of the world, generalizing them into an ummah or people.
How are the nations of the world, Islamic or otherwise, going to get over this bloody legacy of nationalism? It’s not going to be easy. In my optimistic moments I think that the natural progression of society as it industrializes is towards fewer traditional/religious social structures and more opportunity for individualism and liberalism. So ultimately the Islamism issue will sort itself out. However, there is no indication that industrialization decreases nationalist extremism. In fact, the reverse might be true. Would George W. Bush’s American nationalist ideology have bothered itself with Iraq if not for the importance of oil for America’s energy security?
It really seems as though we are in a pickle here.

Comments

Denying the Armenian

On April 9th, 2007 Laury Silvers says:

Denying the Armenian Genocide is a major problem. Any Turkish thinkers who speak out publicly acknowledging the genocide get pinned. It is so bad, I never mention it when around Turks should the conversation come to that. I never know when someone is going to flip out on me because of it. You’d think it would just be easier to deal honestly with one’s past. But I guess we are no better since the US cannot even get Congress to make an official apology for slavery or native american genocide.

Funny timing, I've been

On April 10th, 2007 DA says:

Funny timing, I’ve been runnning into a rash of Turkish-Genocide deniers recently, one of which was actually Jordanian. I mentioned it in my latest blog entry. I also read how the last Mandeans are getting killed and/or chased out of Iraq. I truly think this is the Muslim dark ages we live in now (though I’m aware that our ‘golden age’ is somewhat mythologized as well).

I truly think this is the

On April 10th, 2007 center says:

I truly think this is the Muslim dark ages…DA

it is a matter of perception….don’t be too hard on yourself.

Iranians are extremely

On April 10th, 2007 GustavoMustafa says:

Iranians are extremely nationalistic. Many now see Islam as a "foreign Semitic religion" that is presumably not fit for the "civilized Indo-Aryan Persian race" whose culture has been corrupted by nomadic tribesmen we now call "Arabs" who lack the racial purity of the Indo-Aryan.

Talk about white supremacy, this is the Persian take on Aryan Pride.

Sad but true.

But I hate Pakistan and I’m Muslim. I’m against Kashmir joining Pakistan, I favor either greater autonomy from New Delhi or independence. But joining Pakistan, big mistake.

I may sound like a Hindu nationalist right now, but to me Pakistan is a sponsor of terror in Afghanistan (Karzai says pretty much the same thing), Iran, and India. And of course, my country the US props up the dictatorship there.

Another Muslim country I hate is Saudi Arabia, I do agree with bin Laden on one thing, the monarchy there must go.

There is an old Persian

On April 10th, 2007 GustavoMustafa says:

There is an old Persian saying my grandfather said, "Love the stranger, hate your neighbor."

No wonder I find myself espousing anti-Arab and anti-Pakistani Punjabi sentiments. I love Punjabi Sikhs from India though, and most Pakistani Muslim Punjabis would espouse negative views towards Sikhs, because of tensions that arose during partition of the subcontinent.

bin Laden needs to realize, Muslims will never wage a "global Jihad" since we are so divided!