LIFE AS AN ARAB
What do we, as the new generation want out of this life. Although said to be political but sometimes could not be.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
ARE NATIONALISTIC MOVEMENTS REALLY NATIONALISTIC?!
Alot of you may have heard of the phenomenon known as NATIONALISTIC MOVEMENTS. These movements generally claim that they are meant to fight for the rights of citizens that are claimed not  to be given to them by governments as well as combatting corruption.
This is all very good and very promising and would attract me as a person to go and join these parties or movements for the sake of getting more rights but hey wait a minute let me not be so driven into all this.
A more careful reading into these agendas and the groups addressed reveals a very interesting observation. A classification of the nation's society into original citizens and classes like second and third class citizens, immigrants, and even more radical terms like invaders. Another observation shows aspirations starting from as little as cessation of immigration of 'others' to as radical as kicking people out. Other such movements that I will be giving examples of within the text classify people with respect to ethnicities and races and saying that only one race must dominate, rule and get all the rights.
A very important question that raises itself is what sort of nationalism is this? Who gave someone the right to question the nationality and identity of the other. As we all know nationality and citizenship is not about demographics. It is about belief in a set of principles and values, belief in integrity of a society as well as fulfilling your duties towards your country (or at least the country that you are bearing its citizenship).
Examples of these movements are numerous worldwide. Here in the UK the two famous movements are the British National Party (BNP) and British National Front (BNF) who advocate the superiority of the white race and launch until now verbal attacks on immigrants as well as attacking religions such as Islam.
In the news alot of us must have heard about Neo Nazi movements Europe wide and how they set fire into buildings where people not belonging to their 'race' lodge.
Let us imagine for a moment having such movements in the Middle East or even in Jordan itself. Do you think that the ground exists? What would make such movements attractive to people and most importantly what sort of audience would you expect to follow these principles? Imagine the alphabet comprising only of one letter, numbers of one number, or even a meal with only one constituent, will you find that attractive? Opinions please.....
 
posted by Basil Dudin, in JORDAN SOCIETY, NEW GENERATION, RACISM, WORLD AFFAIRS @ 5:08 PM, , (4) comments
On February, 02, 2007 4:03 PM , th14
from United Kingdom said:

difference here in the UK they are very much looked down upon. While in the Middle East look at Hamas, Fateh, Hizballah, the jokers in Iraq they are unfortunately and embarrassingly celebrated.

On February, 02, 2007 4:12 PM , thefreephoenix
from United Kingdom said:

You may wish to say so but another question raises itself is what if we get movements similar to BNP and BNF in principles in the Middle East, how would you expect people to react to them? HAMAS, FATAH and HIZBOLLAH are fighting over power and authority but do you really think they are fighting the demography of their own countries. For example imagine we get movements with names such as ENP (Egyptian National Party) calling for dominance of Pharoaic Egyptians for instance (there is no such party but just for the sake of argument)or may be Jordanian National Party (again does not exist) or Syrian National Party (again does not exist), what good or what bad would they bring upon? Hope you have an answer for these questions.

On February, 02, 2007 4:37 PM , th14
from United Kingdom said:

dont we see that in iraq now? Shia killing Sunni and Sunni killing Shia. Fateh is a nationalist party. Do you mean 'nationalist' as racist or supremacist? Obviously it will be sectarian rather than racial as societies in the MidEast are largely homogeneous. I mean we are not multicultural there are no races there as such.


On February, 02, 2007 7:05 PM , thefreephoenix
from United Kingdom said:

You have made a very important point. What is going on in Iraq is a very great example of what I meant as they are trying to create states of one colour. Yet in addition to the sectarian killings there is another trend that can be noticed. First many of the Shiites in Iraq call others ARABS and at the same time many Sunnis call the other side terms like SAFAWIS and PERSIANS and both sides say that the other must be nuked i.e. look for a nation with a 'pure'race or sect. The reason why I brought up this blog is that if such thing, god forbids, works well, then it may affect other countries. I slightly disagree with you that societies in the MidEast are homogenous as there are groups (thank god in micro numbers)that called for supremacy of a group over others. If what you say about Iraq, god forbids, goes beyond the Iraqi border, then no one knows the consequences but god. Thanks for you contribution.



Add a Comment

<<Home