beyond nationalism

Dear WSN,

On Sat, 4 Dec 1999, Andrew Wayne Austin wrote:

|Claims that the WTO protests are expressions of nationalist sentiments are
|misguided.

I agree with the main point, I think, although I don't think claims can be
"misguided"; they are just false. (They can also be true, but in this case
they would be false). (However I have not seen anybody claiming that "the 
WTO
protests are expressions of nationalist sentiment".)

The key issue beyond language and precision, however, is this: to understand
the current situation, and to be able to imagine some kind of viable future
for humankind, we have to make a choice between a nationalist and a, for 
lack
of a better word, non- or postnationalist frame of reference. (I am at a 
loss
for words as "international" is misleading in reproducing the nation as
primary, "global" is perhaps a bit trite.)

I think the nationalist language, even if it is made in America, even if it
is about protecting the wages, work conditions, air, water, food supply, all
of the above, "the American worker", is a trap. (And I am saying that as a
member of the U.S. labor force, not without interests myself.) There can be
no national-level solution to a global challenge. There is no solution for
"the American worker" without an equally sharp solution for the Benghali /
Chinese / Ghanaian / Hungarian worker.

It is also to distinguish patriotism (love of one's roots, language, 
culture,
social surroundings and the resulting structures of identity) and 
nationalism
(the epistemic scheme that privileges one's roots, surroundings and identity
to the detriment of all others).

Jozsef Borocz