the placing of Nationalism

international | politics / elections | opinion/analysis

Monday November 24, 2003 16:56

by under your fingernails - and up your snotty noses

A reflection on recent performances by nationalist party's in Europe.

In the last six months nationlist partys in Europe have contested many elections and have surprised many international commentators by their increased share of both left and right wing votes.
It is quite apparant that many parties with nominally "left sounding" propaganda have profited electorally from the uncertainty facing new €uropeans at this stage of "neo-liberal globalisation". They seek to find "local" solutions to problems first formulated in the 19th century which in many ways have now been superceded. This is in many ways natural, but it also poses a series of questions. The most important of which may be:
"¿are we ready to transcend the _local_ nationalist prejudice model?"

Corsica- both parties have now merged. leaning to the right.
Croatia- nasty right.
Austria- nasty right.
Denmark- nasty right.
Basque 52% nationalist both right and left. Right are in serious constitutional conflict with the supernational interest (Spain) and the left are officialy disbarred from elections.
Catalan majority voted nationalist of both right and left.

In those states which have held elections in the last year where nationalist identity parties have been given "pivotal" power in forthcoming assemblies or reform of present constitutional ties between their "nation" and "another", the far right vote that of "xenophobia" has dropped.

There is a potent connection.

Northern Ireland is neither a nation or state properly, it is a fudge between two near irreconcilable jingoist cultural identities. In a region of €urope where immigration is at the lowest, neighbouring a satelite state of the Imperialist USA, and the crypto-fascist Eire/Ireland. It is in many ways one small pocekt of Ireland where a nationalist vote be it an "irish" or "british" nationalist vote is the most worrying.

I think the people of the wee north might just about be ready to have really grown up politics.

So- delegitimise the system by not voting for it.
or vote for the yogic fliers or the greenies or anyone but the usual fucking suspects because they haven't a hope in hell of achieving what they wish for against the backdrop of contemporary €urope.

Ireland can not afford to face a €urope of right wing nationalist regimes again which undoubtedly are supported by the Rightwing nationalist regime in the U$A. And to be fair she did not do so the last time.