Alexandru Cristian

On nationalism

posted on 30 Sep 2020

The idea of a Europe of nations leads down a dark path of nationalism.

Firstly, the entire concept of national identity is reductionist towards our true human spirit. There are no “true” Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians or Romanians. These are all artificial constructs that we have conjured up around arbitrary criteria that change every century. We have all migrated throughout the continent, many of us speak multiple languages and have been exposed to humanity’s great thinkers, whatever their origins may have been. We draw on the rich cultural achievements of our civilization on this planet; humanity is our identity, nothing less.

When I think of this, I remember so many acquaintances throughout the years that moved from country to country during their childhood. What would their “national identity” be? What would mine be, for that matter? In my first 20 years of life on this Earth, I spent about a third of it living in one country, and the other two thirds living in two other countries. Where do I belong? National identity politics are unclear - on purpose. In this way, there will always be an “other” on which to blame your mistakes, a scapegoat to bully and persecute until you can find another, more convenient target.

If national identity is nothing more than an useful illusion, what is sovereignty? In the most literal sense, it is the cornerstone of democracy - the idea that the people are sovereign over their destiny. In practice, this term is all too frequently hijacked to mean “national sovereignty”. It is something entirely different, in my opinion, which simply refers to the notion of protecting some particular form of bureaucracy, variants of which we have established at every national level. These are governments protecting their jobs, yes, but most importantly watching out for their power.

In any European supranational federation, there’s no question that our democratic institutions will be perpetuated and expanded. Areas where we have little oversight will need to be simplified, so that power always returns to the people in as direct of a way as possible. A European federation does not pose a problem of sovereignty; the people are still in control. We merely recognize that a lot more binds us to each other than to our nations. Those standing to lose from this transformation are often those opposed - nationalist organizations, that would be ruined if we finally recognized that there is more to a human being than their nationality.

Ultimately, the final argument towards a European federation is made by the very basis for government in human existence. Nationalist leaders would have us think that our identity revolves around regional politics, hymns, historical prejudice and - in my opinion, most hilariously - borders that have changed after almost every major European conflict, of which our continent has had plenty. They preach that this is the culture that we must preserve and defend from those outsiders who seek to dilute it. It sounds absurd to even write it on paper.

Government exists to serve the people. And the people, time and time again, make it very clear what their identity truly is. You see it when so many of our neighbors choose life partners of different nationalities than their own. When high-schoolers choose to study Asian languages or culture in their spare time, or perhaps read American literature on civil rights and the equality of man - even though their national curriculum has perhaps a different focus, as it was in my case. National governments coerce their citizens into thinking that they need them, that they enjoy being limited by them and have no needs outside of this very well defined area of culture they deem “their own” and, thus, acceptable to embrace in society.

We must recognize our new reality. Realize that we are no more bound to one nation than we are to the organized crime from our hometown, that happens to make the nightly news. Or to the corrupt politicians that invariably infest the generous ranks of all our European national governments, with duplicated functions and responsibilities that have been modified just enough so that it leaves the ordinary citizen frustrated and confused. No, we associate our identity to the great thinkers, artists and scientists of our civilizations. They bind humanity together in a way no inward-looking demagogue can hope to match. And once we take that step, look inwards and ask ourselves who we are - there will be no turning back.

The time of populism is ticking. Our love for each other will always prevail.