Thoughtful and thought provoking, here are excerpts from Mr. Blum's excellent essay, shining light on the oppression known as "patriotism."
Written on July 4, 2008
Some Thoughts on Patriotism
Most important thought: I'm sick and tired of this thing called "patriotism".
The Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor were being patriotic. The German people who supported Hitler and his conquests were being patriotic, fighting for the Fatherland. All the Latin American military dictators who overthrew democratically-elected governments and routinely tortured people were being patriotic -- saving their beloved country from "communism".
General Augusto Pinochet of Chile: "I would like to be remembered as a man who served his country."[1]
P.W. Botha, former president of apartheid South Africa: "I am not going to repent. I am not going to ask for favours. What I did, I did for my country."[2]
Pol Pot, mass murderer of Cambodia: "I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country."[3]
Tony Blair, former British prime minister, defending his role in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis: "I did what I thought was right for our country."[4]
I won't bore you with what George W. has said.
[...] Howard Zinn has called nationalism "a set of beliefs taught to each generation in which the Motherland or the Fatherland is an object of veneration and becomes a burning cause for which one becomes willing to kill the children of other Motherlands or Fatherlands."[5] ... "Patriotism is used to create the illusion of a common interest that everybody in the country has."[6]
[...] What a primitive underbelly there is to this rational society. The US is the most patriotic, as well as the most religious, country of the so-called developed world. The entire American patriotism thing may be best understood as the biggest case of mass hysteria in history, whereby the crowd adores its own power as troopers of 
the world's only superpower, a substitute for the lack of power in the rest of their lives. Patriotism, like religion, meets people's need for something greater to which their individual lives can be anchored.
[...] "Pledges of allegiance are marks of totalitarian states, not democracies," says David Kertzer, a Brown University anthropologist who specializes in political rituals. "I can't think of a single democracy except the United States that has a pledge of allegiance."[10] [my bold] Or, he might have added, that insists that its politicians display their patriotism by wearing a flag pin. Hitler criticized German Jews and Communists for their internationalism and lack of national patriotism. Along with Mussolini in Italy, the Führer demanded that "true patriots" publicly vow and display their allegiance to their respective fatherlands. Postwar democratic governments of the two countries made a conscious effort to minimize such shows of national pride.
[...] "The very existence of the state demands that there be some privileged class vitally interested in maintaining that existence. And it is precisely the group interests of that class that are called patriotism." Mikhail Bakunin, Russian anarchist[13]
William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II,Rogue State: a guide to the World's Only Super Power. and West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir
http://www.counterpunch.org/blum07062008.html
For William Blum's bio, here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blum
Showing posts with label dictatorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dictatorship. Show all posts
July 5, 2008
Reasons to Resist "Patriotism"
May 8, 2008
Burma Needs Our Help
NASA Satellite Captures Image of
Cyclone Nargis Flooding in Burma
Click on image to increase size
NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of the Myanmar coast on May 5, 2008, showing the devastation of flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Nargis. Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team
[from NASA's report]
Flood water can be difficult to see in photo-like satellite images, particularly when the water is muddy. This pair of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite use a combination of visible and infrared light to make floodwaters obvious. Water is blue or nearly black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, and clouds are white or light blue.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/nargis_floods.html
Events for Cyclone Relief
Candle Light Vigil, Time: 7:00pm, Location: Union Square
San Francisco, May 9th, 4pm - 8pm
(4–6pm Protest & Rally; 6-7pm Speakers; 7-8pm Prayers & Vigil)
San Francisco Federal Building/Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Office
450 Golden Gate Avenue (@Larkin), San Francisco, CA
www.badasf.org
Washington DC, May 11th
Protest in front of SPDC attache (2300 California Ave), 6:00pm
Prayer Vigil at Burmese Buddhist Temple at 10:00 am
Toronto, May 10th
Prayer Service for Cyclone Victims
Place: 12 High Meadow Place
Toronto, Ontario, M9L 2Z5
Boston, Saturday, May 10th
Fundraiser 12-4pm
Yoma Restaurant
5 N Beacon St, Allston, MA 02134
http://harvardbam.blogspot.com
Dallas, Saturday, May 10th
Prayer Service and fundraiser
Thanksgiving Square
1627 Pacific Ave (between Akard and Bryan)
http://uscampaignforburma.org/cyclone-nargis-devistates-burma
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