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Her new widely condemned immigration policy, has also given license to nationalist bigots and racists. She was later (rightly) accused of “stoking the fires of racism”, by refusing to endorse the players’ actions. The same England ‘fans’ booed opposition teams singing national anthems and their own team, when they ‘took the knee’ before matches a universal non-political act of solidarity that UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel disparagingly described as “gesture politics”. Torrent destroyer poison season torrent#During the recent Euro ’21 tournament black England players who had missed penalties in the final were subject to a torrent of abuse online. This suffocating network strengthens discrimination and prejudice of all kinds, including racism. There are various interconnected threads to and expressions of Nationalism, from the political realm to mainstream and social media, popular culture to education. Politicians (of all colors) in many, if not all western democracies, believe they must reinforce such crass sentiments, or face losing populist support, being attacked as ‘enemies of the people’ – as High Court Judges were in Britain during the Brexit fiasco, or labelled ‘traitors’. Such ignorant, meaningless and completely false ideas have become common elements of political rhetoric. They are loved by nationalists who always believe their country to be ‘the greatest on Earth’, their people the strongest and the ‘best’, their way of life superior. Described as “primordial rag dipped in the blood of a conquered enemy and lifted high on a stick” (in Flags Through the Ages and Across the World by Whitney Smith), national flags evolved from battle standards and means of group identification held aloft during the Middle Ages. It is a moral outrage that flows from and strengthens ideas of global separation, enflames resentment and will prolong the virus.Ĭentral to the fear inducing nationalist program is reductive national identities and cultural images tightly packaged in ‘the flag’. As a result of this injustice, while the rich will have their populations vaccinated by late 2021, developing countries (relying on the inadequate COVAX scheme) are looking at mass vaccination by the end of 2023, if ever. People of Asian appearance have been victimized in various countries, most notably the US, Australia and Britain trapped in refugee camps, asylum seekers/migrants have been forgotten, and vaccine nationalism, the “me first approach”, with wealthy western countries buying up vaccines, has been widespread. Covid has intensified such vile human tendencies, and highlighted what were already strained relations with ‘outsiders’ – those that are different - with ‘the other’. ![]() National interests are favored over international responsibilities minorities and refugees insulted, abused or worse. Such prejudices lead to an agitation of suspicion and hatred of ‘foreigners’. Torrent destroyer poison season skin#It is an insular reactionary movement of introspection and division based on false and petty notions of difference: skin color, religion, language, culture, even food. ![]() Love, distorted but potent, and hate sustain the monster: Love and corrupted pride of nation and ‘our way of life’, seen among the flag wavers as somehow superior hatred of ‘strangers’, and hatred of change to that which is familiar. Rather than addressing issues and tackling underlying causes the ardent nationalist blames some group or other, ethnic, religious or national. The ideal of a post-cold war tolerant world where resources (including food and water), are shared equitably, governments cooperate and borders soften has been usurped by rabid intolerance and racism, wall building, flag waving, cruel unjust immigration policies and violent policing of migrants and migrant routes. Rooted in fear, it feeds on tribal instincts and has become mainstream by offering oversimplified explanations to complex problems, such as poverty and immigration. ![]() But in recent years it has moved from the irrelevant fractious fringes to become a central movement in western politics. Once upon a time Nationalism was an ideology reserved for extremists. ![]()
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