Why Nationalism?
This week I was asked a curious question by a friend from work. He asked me, “out of all the political ideas why do you support ‘right wing’ nationalism and why do borders matter?”
I was a little confused by the wording of his question at first because I had never thought of nationalism as an idea. Nationalism is a reflection of the ‘natural order’, which is perceived from our objective observations of the natural world around us and our own biology. We take inspiration from these observations to help us ‘realise’ how we might live our lives in balance with the natural world and our own human spirit. Blood, soil and the desire for our own folk to not only survive but to live a prosperous good life are at the core of nationalism rather than an idea.
Meanwhile, extreme socialism, Marxism, communism, neo-con style globalism and capitalism without nationalist safeguards are ideological movements. These ideas, at their core, are in firm opposition to the natural order, perpetually trying to devolve us into something we were never meant to be. Perpetrators of these ideas tend to be ideologically possessed rather than folk led by reason and logic.
My friends point about nationalism being ‘right wing’ (?) didn’t make much sense to me either. I had stopped thinking of nationalism as right or left-wing a long time ago. This is just a man-made construct, designed to keep us in conflict with each other or at least create the illusion that we are in conflict with each other while the powers that be do what they want with our lives and resources. If an idea or an action is a good one and it will reap positive rewards for our people, then what does it matter if the people proposing it give themselves a left or a right-wing label? The only political spectrum that is based in reality has neo - tribalist ways of life inspired by the natural world at one end and universalist, man-made ideas at the other end.
Human beings ‘need’ to live among their own kind, in their own territory. It is hard-wired into our DNA. It cannot be debated or argued against and it will never change. Furthermore, I would state that this is a core tenet of life itself. If we allow multiculturalism to continue our descendants will only inherit perpetual conflict leading to their genocide through population replacement and worse. Do you think that they will be as kind to us as we have been to them when we are a minority in our own lands? Do you want to be part of the generation that allowed this to happen?
Lions guard their territory well to stop other predators encroaching on their hunting grounds, as do wolves and many other animals. Do lions often mate with tigers? Do elephants get romantic with hippos? Birds flock and nest with their own kind. Fish often swim in great schools with their own kind. Have you ever watched a beetle crawl into a wasps nest? It is like WW3! We can even take this to the microbial level. I would remind you of those biology classes at school where we grew bacteria in separate Petri dishes. When you introduce a foreign bacteria to the dish the others surround it, starving it of food and oxygen, it can be a brutal world…….. There are obvious examples of life that don’t follow these patterns but do you really want to be inspired by parasites? Living among your own kind is a biological imperative if you want future generations to carry on existing.
Borders are an important part of nationalism. Some folk reading this might find an interest in borders to be old fashioned or even in opposition to modern politics. Politicians, pressure groups, the media, university professors, celebrities and many others like to tell us that borders are just a man-made social construct. It is fair to say that they would like us to tear down those borders……
With this in mind let us ask if borders are indeed a social construct or if they are based in nature. Great examples of natural borders are the mountain ranges and frozen landscapes between Europe and Asia which can be difficult to cross. Ask yourself, would European or Asian people even exist now as separate races if those mountains weren’t there? Let’s look at the UK. We are surrounded by water, another great example of a natural border. As a result, we have been masters of our own destiny for a thousand years under a version of the same rule since 1066. Our queen can even trace her ancestry back further to the first king of Wessex, King Cerdic in the 5th century. Go across the channel and the countries there have changed their borders countless times, often with a great loss of life.
Let’s take it down to a different level. To all of you green-fingered folk, you will have seen that weeds and other plants can start growing where you have planted something, resulting in your plant dying. Yet, if you protect that area, with raised borders/beds, the removal of foreign flowers and with the provision of care, water and nutrients your plant will succeed. The first peoples of the Americas lived in that continent on their own for many thousands of years at the top of the food chain until Europeans found a way to cross the natural border we call the Atlantic ocean. There are so many more examples but I think most reasonable people can accept that borders are a core component of life, survival and indeed are a part of the natural world.
In conclusion, our connections through blood and soil run deep, especially in our home counties where most of our family likely live. Indeed, when academics have studied DNA from modern folk and analysed their findings against the DNA found in ancient skeletons they have often found that people living today have a familial connection to someone who lived thousands of years ago in the same area. Think about that? Mother to daughter, father to son, passing on their genes, family spirit and traditions - struggling to survive for thousands of years. These connections through blood and soil make us so much more than flesh and bones. How can one not be in awe of our ancestor's efforts that concluded in us and the country that we live in? Nationalism is the only way that our society can move forward, honouring our traditions that help us succeed and creating a nation where we can all live in frith.
(Frith is an old Anglo Saxon word meaning "peace; protection; harmony and prosperity")
Article by Gary H
Dorset
Good essay. Thanks.