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The rise of "nationalist-globalists"
One of the great paradoxes of the modern age is the rise of so-called "nationalists" - whether left-leaning or right-leaning - who in many crucial respects are nothing of the sort. What do I mean by this?
- "Nationalists" who prefer to talk in English rather than in their own national language(s). An example is Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu, who writes in his Twitter account almost entirely in English, and even many of his speeches are carried out in English, despite the fact that the national languages of Israel are Hebrew and Arabic. Another example at the other end of the political spectrum is that of Catalan and Basque nationalists who prefer to speak English rather than Spanish, such is their hatred towards the latter, and even carry banners in nationalist marches in English. (Conversely, however, some Quebecois nationalists prefer to speak Spanish rather than English for largely the same reasons!)
- "Nationalists" who advocate mass privatisation of their economies, often in the process handing over large swathes of their countries' economies to foreign ownership. Examples of leaders who have been labelled as "nationalists" while doing this include Augusto Pinochet of Chile, the Argentinian junta, Mohamed Suharto of Indonesia, Margaret Thatcher of the UK and, rather more recently, Narendra Modi of India.
- "Nationalists" who advocate mass immigration - at least from selected ethnic groups and nationalities (principally Westerners and East Asians). This can be seen even in this very forum, where some self-styled "nationalists" from various Latin American countries want to increase immigration (from Europe and possibly North America and East Asia). This goes against more traditional nationalism, which usually rejects mass immigration of any types of foreigners, regardless of race or country of origin.
- "Nationalists" who denigrate those from their own countries who do not look like an imaginary "European ideal". This includes both Southern Europeans who denigrate the swarthier and more MENA types in their own countries, and much more rarely Northeastern Europeans who denigrate their compatriots with marked Saami, Uralic or Mongoloid looks. Furthermore, the racism towards (mostly) darker-skinned ethnic groups by many self-styled "nationalists" from countries across the Americas need not be discussed in greater detail. Partly-related to this also is the obsessive preference for lighter skin in many Asian countries in particular, once again often by self-styled "nationalists".
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