Antinationalist Nationalism

[Fantastic Anarchist]

The snippet that follows is a very interesting perspective on nationalism, fascism, anti-fascism, racism and reactionary positions; and how they can get mixed up without us even realizing it.

As anarchists, we can find the explanation for this not in the innate bloodthirstiness and anti-Semitism of Arabs (nor the imperialistic machinations of Jews, for that matter), but in the way nationalists and nation-states pit human beings against one another. For us, the answer is clear: we must struggle against the governments of Israel and Palestine, as well as those of the US, Germany, and all other nations. So long as one intolerant, violent, self-interested government is able to carry on unchallenged, it will be all too easy for rival governments to muster frightened adherents to commit murderous acts as well. So-called pragmatists who insist that we must support one or another of these gangs would have us perpetuate the whole mess into eternity. We can find our solidarity with all Palestinians and Israelis who struggle against their own rulers on the basis of a recognition of each other’s humanity.<6>

Before we conclude, let’s revisit the origins and mentality of the Anti-German ideology, as it exemplifies many of the potential pitfalls for radicals in today’s global context. Long before the Nazis came to power in Germany, opposition to capitalism and the rich was often directed against caricatures of “the International Jew.” Many German nationalists considered the proletariat to be composed of non-Jewish Germans, who were supposedly preyed upon by Jewish money lenders; the implication was that by getting rid of the Jews, the capitalist system could be symbolically cleansed of its parasites. Anti-Semitism was taken for granted in many revolutionary circles: Bakunin, one of the most famous early anarchist thinkers, made anti-Semitic remarks, and Mussolini himself started out with an interest in anarchism. Revolutionary working class activism was co-opted by national socialism such as that of Mussolini’s blackshirts no less than by nationalist socialism such as that of the Bolsheviks. This checkered heritage makes it easy for the Anti-Germans to read anti-Semitism in the radicalism of their contemporaries, whether it’s there or not.

Today, fascists in Germany and other nations have similarly muddied issues by adopting environmentalist and anti-globalization stances. It would be nice to stop at the conclusion that the Anti-Germans have simply been provoked by their enemies into thoughtlessly adopting contradictory positions, but the fact that they have crossed into nationalism and borderline racism suggests something more insidious: that in setting out to resist fascism, they have been infected by it, perhaps as a result of the same German predispositions they aim to oppose. In studying their example, we can recognize the importance of developing a nuanced critique of power relations, but we are also reminded of Nietzsche’s dictum that those who do battle with monsters must take care lest they become monsters themselves.

Every holocaust justifies itself on the pretext of protecting innocents. In the US, during the extermination of Native Americans (and, later, during the segregation era), white women were said to be threatened by colored savages; in Nazi Germany, citizens of pure “Aryan blood” were fetishized as victims of a worldwide conspiracy of degenerates. In coming to see the Jewish people as a category—“the” endangered, “the” victims of oppression—rather than committing to a struggle against injustice everywhere and in all forms, the Anti-Germans set the stage for themselves to end as abettors of racist, nationalist war. It is easy to see how German radicals, eager to distance themselves from their nation’s anti-Semitic history and desperate to oppose a resurgent fascist movement, might prioritize Jewish concerns over others. But this is sometimes how new atrocities occur: the survivors of persecution become persecutors, and others, anxious to atone for condoning their former persecution, turn a blind eye.

Antinationalist Nationalism: The Anti-German Critique and Its All-Too-German Adherents

[bemildred]

1. Oh good.

:popcorn:

[Fantastic Anarchist]

2. Uh oh ... why the popcorn?

[bemildred]

3. I think this thread has a good chance of being an interesting discussion. nt

[Fantastic Anarchist]

4. I think so ... I found it interesting ...

[bemildred]

5. Not much so far, which puzzles me. nt

[Fantastic Anarchist]

6. Oh well ...

I guess you and are the only ones that found it interesting.

:D

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. An interesting contradiction in the article

“I’m from the United States,” I began, “and I can’t fucking believe you would march with a US flag at this rally. Don’t you know what this flag means?”
...
His answer was almost plaintive. “But Britain and the United States beat the German government! They were the only ones who could do it. We carry their flags to remember this.”

“They fought that war with their armies segregated into black and white divisions, and Japanese citizens in internment camps! They weren’t fighting for freedom, but for their own national power—just like in the genocidal wars against the Native Americans! That flag is stained with the blood of millions!”
...
That night, sporting a limp that lasted for weeks, I stayed at a squat in Erfurt. Here, someone had gone around to every poster that had read “Antifascist” and blacked out “fascist” to replace it with “Deutsch.” What kind of people thought it was more important to take at stand against Deutschland than against fascism?

The author castigates the 'anti-Germans', without realising his/her own 'anti-American' stance - unable to march with someone else holding a US flag, even in the context of an anti-fascism action in Germany, where fascism clearly means, primarily, Nazism.

Is his point that he dislikes the 'anti-Germans' concentrating on being against their own state, rather than against all states, as he expects any anarchist to be? It's not clear that the antifascist action was 'anarchist', anyway. Maybe it's just his surprise that antifascists include plenty of people who aren't anarchist.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

8. I don't see the contradiction.

He is not only "anti-American" as you put it, but against all states. Whereas, as he illustrates in his essay, these "anti-Germans" hold their particular violent and oppressive past as somehow unique, and so should be above all other atrocities committed by other states. That's somehow an inverse of our "American Exceptionalism" where we proclaim that we are uniquely the best and most moral nation on earth, the anti-German holds their "German Exceptionalism" as they're being the worst and most immoral nation in the world. In both instances, the German and American Exceptionalists are wrong - as they do have peers.