Nationalism and Extreme Patriotism: A Threat to Global Peace

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."~ Albert Einstein

An American patriot is rumored to have once said, "My country, right or wrong, I stand by it." 

While it is arguably a very noble trait to stand up for and support your own country, is deriding another country the way to go about doing it? Was Patriotism really meant to be what we see nowadays? Or has it now been converted into a twisted self-centered propaganda mechanism? Is Nationalism merely is a belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one's nation? Or is it an extreme form of patriotism marked by a feeling of unjustified superiority over other countries?

In the current modern World, Patriotism to the masses is about supporting their country, even when the country is in the wrong. It is about abusing and their "enemies", even when they are suffering. It is about considering themselves morally superior. Why? Just cause it is THEIR country.

The current scenario in Syria provides a proper example. The continuous US-led bombing has killed hundreds of innocents, who were already suffering at the hands of the ISIS. The beautiful and ancient cities have been reduced to rubble. And yet major public opinion in the US is with the Government carrying out more air strikes.   Why? Cause the Government considers the Syrian Government and ISIS as enemies and it is the duty of US citizens to support their Governments wars against the enemies. Innocent lives are merely collateral damage for them. Very often while fighting against something wrong, unknowingly we become what we were fighting against. In India, has Patriotism been reduced to merely supporting our Cricket team during the World Cup and insulting countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh whenever we get a chance?

For an Indian to be patriotic, does he really need to abuse Pakistan and hate Pakistanis? Do we really need to treat people Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan as if they are below us? The moment we say that we are better than them cause this is my country and I will support it to the death, we are throwing logic and reasoning out of the window. And that is the first step to extremism. History is the proof that whenever someone considered their country superior than the others around them, it did not end well for the entire world. Be it Hitler, Napoleon or the English East India Company.

I know a lot of those reading this will argue that all other countries are guilty of doing the same, and they are right! Every country does this while preaching of world peace on the other hand. For the world to be at Peace no country should consider itself morally superior, cause we are all suffering together.

The reason there is so much hatred in our sub-continent is that from the very young age children in India are told that we are better than Pakistan. Similarly, children in Pakistan are manipulated the same way. They are taught to blame India for every minor fault. We are taught to ridicule them and taunt them for everything. In general opinion of India, Pakistan is a barren wasteland of people who only worship God and get trained as a terrorist. Similarly, people in Pakistan might consider India as a bully big brother which wants it destroyed. What either side keep forgetting is that both Pakistan and India are a beautiful part of the very same land. It was all part of the same country once, and the very same world. We ridicule Bangladesh when immigrants cross over to India and refer to them as refugees and consider them as people living on India's mercy. We criticize Sri Lanka, even when Indian fishermen get caught after violating International Maritime Laws. Why? Just cause we should support our country, even when they are wrong?  What we do not understand, is for one to be a proud Indian, hating Pakistan is NOT an essential criterion. Just as to be a proud Hindu, you need NOT hate Muslims or Christians and vice versa.  You can love your country. Doesn't mean you have to hate others.

There is also a huge difference in being an anti-national and ant-Government. Everyone who speaks out against the Government is NOT a terrorist. History is proof that those who oppose their Governments may also be the true patriots. It is the duty of a real patriot, to not only love its country but to also stand up and speak when its Country is doing something wrong.

Extremist Patriotism is to blame behind all hindered peace processes. It is our belief that by insulting and abusing another country, we are actually showing our Patriotism. That does NOT show our Patriotism. It merely incites hatred towards the other Countries and encourages an irrational sense of superiority.  Only through honest dialogue can peace be achieved.

I am not against being proud of our culture and heritage and rich history. I am against anyone considering that their culture and heritage is better than someone else's.

A major problem with India-Pakistan relations has always been the fact that both sides care too much about what was their past and too little about what we can achieve together in the future. 

Breaking Stereotypes: Part I (WHY)

Why Are There Stereotypes? 

"There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who believe that there are only two kinds of people. And those who don't stereotype."~ Unknown. 

                 All of us, consciously or subconsciously, are guilty of having stereotyped people around us at some point of our lives. Is it because of the society we grow up in? Or a more animal-istic need to classify everything we see around us. History is proof that being different is never taken as a good thing by the majority of the population and it creates a kind of herd mentality, which forces the 'different' to change themselves against their nature to fit in. 

In my opinion, the first step towards stopping stereotypes, is to understand the root cause behind it. Media and society are the means of its propagation, but not always the source. It is something intrinsic. It is the human need to feel part of a group. And whenever we form groups we draw an imaginary line. A line between the "us" and the "them". "We" classify "them". Mentally reason out why "We" are superior. Why they are unlike us and are to be treated like outcasts. "We" might not outright hate them. "We" simply dont like them cause they are different. It is human tendency to hate/fear what we dont understand. Slowly the imaginary line spreads. Inside our groups to divide "We" into "me" and "others." If we look carefully, half of what we say, think or imagine is influenced by some form of stereotypes or unfounded beliefs. Even something as simple as saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side....". 

The major issue is, in my belief, something which might sound extremely ridiculous. It is our habit of holding back our imaginations. What it means is that where we look, whatever we see, we merely see the narrow version of it. We edit out what we don't want to see or know. In psychology this is called selective perception. We look at everything from our point of view. Anything which doesnt fit our view is dealt with hostility. We think that there can only be two sides of a coin. The "us" and the "them". What we never realise is that maybe, there are more then two or three sides. That there are millions of sides. We are all individual 'sub species'. Different stories, different tastes, different versions. This is what we should be doing. Instead of telling kids that we are all humans and we are all the same, it is time we tell them that, yes we are all humans; but we are all DIFFERENT.! And they can choose to be anyone they want to be without being afraid of being different. Its not just us and them. We are all unique.

 The moment someone gasps this logic that humans are not merely a homogeneous species but every single individual is a sub-species, in a sense of speaking, with our own characteristics and choices. Maybe then we will realise that we cannot and should not use one lens to view everyone. And then we will stop judging people simply because of how they look, talk where they come from or what they believe in etc, and then, maybe we can finally have complete acceptance of each others existence and peace.

At the end of the day, we were all born different. Till society convinced us that we need to fit in. 

Empathy as a driving force for peace and conflict resolution

I begin to write this on a rather hopeless note despite being part of conversations that are so full of hope and optimism. Everyday, now since I have moved to Ahmedabad (a city in the western part of India), I have been driven to thinking how empathy is a lost cause for our country. As I drive back home from my workplace everyday, the rush of traffic that I witness has led me to this view. The streets in my country are not empathetic. People are outdoing each other on the roads everyday, there is a general hurry to reach to one's destination. In the process, I have realized that people (and I do not exclude myself) have become resistant to inculcating empathy within themselves. Most of the conflicts on the 'road', which is a public space are witnessed due to a lack of empathy. We are not sensitive to the fact that the way we drive may cause harm to others, may cost them their life and may result into chaos in the way people move. The idea is to be the first one, find space and not think of the 'other'. In discussions with my father, on the lack of empathy in the public space, I have come to the conclusion that most of the times we think only about ourselves. In a conflict zone too, parties think about their own gains, losses, strategies, moves and tactics. Since a conflict emanates from differences in goals, attitudes and perceptions, thinking about the 'other' is obviously absent.

When Kirthi threw up words like empathy, mutual respect, religious tolerance, co-existence and international equality in the discussion last week, I faced a tough time ranking these in an order of priority primarily because I could not figure out how these values which are so much shared in their very nature and characteristic, be disconnected from each other. More importantly, how is it possible to attain peace while emphasizing on one value and underscoring the other. Yet, I ended up placing empathy on the top of the ladder. There were several reasons for this. One, I thought and believe that empathy can serve as a basis for remaining values to be achieved in the process of resolving conflict. An attitude and position of empathy can lead to mutual respect, religious tolerance, harmonious coexistence and international equality. It is as if all of the other values are offshoots of empathy. An empathetic understanding in conflict can lessen differences, make more room for conversation, spring up never thought of solutions and help us to look at positions beyond our own narrow and restrictive lens.

Googling on empathy, I learnt it means 'understanding and sharing' feelings of others. To add to this, empathy also means care, placing yourself into the shoes of the 'other', imagining how it would be to look at and experience the world from his/her position, learning about and recognizing the sufferings and loss of others and moving beyond a very self-centered attitude to life. To me, what creates conflict is not a perceived sense of difference in aims and aspirations, but also a lack of empathy. This happens not only at the macro level, but in a day to day life situation as well. For examples, lets take a look at conflicts in personal spaces like family and friends. There emerge feelings like:

"Why should I always be the one to understand, compromise and give up my claims."

"She doesn't seem to care, understand and adjust."

"He only thinks of himself, not realizing how much he is hurting others in the process."

Each one of us tend to experience such feelings whereby it is ingrained that the 'other' is not sensitive to our needs. In cultivating and absorbing an empathetic demeanour, we only create more and more space for positivity, accommodation and solutions. In my view, empathy can be a driver of peace because:

• Empathy as a trait serves to be the basis of positive attitudes and actions in human beings
• Empathy can lead to several other desired values that foster peace
• Empathy can bring us to a position of dialogue
• Empathy can help us look at conflict in ways we never thought of previously
• Empathy can create safer spaces for people with differences to come to common ground
• Empathy displaces you from both the position of privilege and victimhood
• Empathy helps us to 'know' - knowing is important because conflicts often aggravate owing to ignorance of what it is to be like on that side of the fence
• A position of empathy can make you a good listener - must to resolve conflicts
• Empathy empowers you to better understand your own realities 

As an example, of how I believe 'empathy' is significant to my work in peace building and conflict resolution between India and Pakistan, it is empathy which has enabled me to undertake conversations with Pakistanis, previously impossible in a hostile atmosphere. It is because of empathy that I am able to continue these conversations despite healthy differences in opinion. I empathize with the fact that my Pakistani friends are struggling against political violence and terrorism in their country and it is insensitive of me to bracket them as people who believe in and perpetrate violence. It is because of empathy that I am able to appreciate the amazing work that they do to counter violence and help the underprivileged in their country. Empathy has exposed me to a Pakistan that was unknown to me beforehand. Today, I feel, they are no different, in fact, we are on the same page when dealing with hostile attitudes and politics that breathes on extremism and hatred. How, in any case, would I feel one with them if not from a position of empathy? Empathy is the solid ground on which I have built long lasting friendships with my friends from across the border. I do not pity or sympathize with them, neither do they. We don't see each other as victims. We see each other as partners in building a more peaceful world. Empathy empowers us, on both sides, to deal with differences and still be the best of buddies. It is this empathy that makes us talk for hours together, where, at times, listening to the 'other' becomes more important that one's speaking itself.

It is for empathy that I understand how painful Peshawar 2014 was to them and it is for empathy that they can read the pain in my voice when I talk of Mumbai 2008. Empathy is what dissolves and renders redundant those compulsions of having to prove our Indianness and Pakistaniyat! Empathy is what has made me fall in love with Pakistani TV dramas and them to go crazy over Bollywood. If not for empathy, we'd still be where we were - isolated, disconnected, aloof, ignorant and still fighting. And though I started out quite gloomy, I end here with hope!