Nationalism and the Left

Their money is cheap so their products are cheap so you buy Chinese rather than stumping up the extra cash to buy american and keep jobs in country.

Because global capital does entail open labour markets and a race to the bottom for wages. This phenomenon is not "spooky", it just occurs, quite plainly.

The ideas of racial superiority or inferiority, culture or traditions or whatever, on the other hand, are fairly arbitrary " spooks".

You're more than welcome to return to Holla Forums chap.

Nationalism is just tribalism with a state added and if there was no state people would still be tribalist.

There is literally nothing spooky with wanting to stick to people similar to you. There is no real difference between a circle of friends and a tribe. There is no real difference between a tribe and a nation.

And thus by that logic there is no real difference between the nation and the entire human race.

Also, the idea that in order to oppose nationalism you must be a globalist is bollocks. Localism != nationalism, in fact it can be it's antithesis.

kill yourself along with your hero donald dump

I remember Zizek's recent remarks on how some leftists are trying to combat Not Socialism (europe's rising tide of anti-immigrant right wing populism) with "Socialist Nationalism", when Capital today is truly Global with the emergence on the world market what's with the left retreating from internationalism into nationalism? Shouldn't we struggle on this terrain of what is the hegemonic internationalism, international Capital or international Labor?

Traditions can be spooky and cumbersome, but they can also be cherished and beloved by many without regarding how long they've been kept, but rathet how much they enjoy them.

I think floklore and traditions produce plenty of marvellous arts and crafts, without these, life doesn't really seem to be worth living to me.

Sure they are arbitrary, but what does it matter how arbitrary something perfectly harmless is if you can ejoy it?

I don't play identity politics, but I am a fan of the arts, and you really can't have wonderful art without drawing something from a "cultural identity".

And to that end, I think a self-conscious Nationalism that preserves a rich well of unique culture is worth far more than a bland global "unity" will ever be worth.

That's too bad.

I too enjoy the spooks of my culture. But it is important to understand them as what they are; by their nature fleeting and subject to change.

The culture you call yours will change and develop, there is nothing you can do about it. How it changes and develops, we can collectively guide.

I'm not advocating for globalism, and nationalism is not the only alternative to globalism. A self-conscious local culture that preserves a rich well of unique culture might be worth far more than a bland global "unity", I completely agree. At no point did I call for global uniformity.

The nation state is a specific type of society, and nationalism its defendant. I am not anti-localist.

Then I think we're in deep agreement here.

And I just understood something whicj I hadn't thought of before… My Gott the genius of it!.Not only seizing the means of production, but seizing the means culture.

Liberating labour will also liberate culture and national identity, since it will not serve the interest of the bourgeoisie. I was so caught up in the economical and class-relations aspect of a revolution that I completely failed to realize this.