Posted: Mar 26, 2017 7:15 am
I've often observed that, until now, we don't have problems with "radical Islam" "terrorism" in South Africa. Possibly it's the inclusiveness of our Constitution, and that we have a right to worship as we like, and no formal government religion. When they do have prayers, they're inter-denominational, so there's no favouritism. The biggest problem here is xenophobia against other Africans, not against other nationals, and that's because of the perception that they're "taking our jobs". South Africans don't care about an influx of Chinese people (well privileged white people whine about them) but if you're a Nigerian living in and running a "spaza" shop in Alexandra, you're taking your life in your hands. Because of our Constitution, there's no reason for anyone to threaten us with bombs because if you want to worship the big boogeyman on the mountain, you're free to do that, no one cares. If you want to make your wife and daughters walk around in black tents, big whoop, we don't care.
Nationalism in the west, I think it's just fear of "others". There might be an element of a fallout from what all of you have mentioned but when I look at what I see on Facebook, certainly among the Americans, they're not interested in anything that's not about their own country, and depending on their affiliation either for or against the current regime, or in Europe, if they're for Brexit, or in favour of right-wing politicians. And because they're not interested to learn, they fear anything that isn't what they perceive to be their own culture. A friend of mine who's lived in the US for 15 years, and who still has a bit of an accent, was told to "go home, or learn to speak American" recently, by someone she works with every day.
The ones who are for the regime are particularly nationalistic. They tell me to STFU about it, it's "not your business" apparently even though it's having an effect on all of us, and if there's fallout, it will affect all of us. They sometimes say outright that they don't respond to my posts about other countries because they're not interested in learning about other countries.
Americans who are against the regime might be polite about my posts that aren't about the people they hate in government, but not as much as they want the rest of us to be in awe of how awesome the USA was before the regime took over.
The pro-Brexiters are becoming a little more nationalistic than they were before, almost as if they've found a forum to express their xenophobia about the people who "won't integrate". I think the problem is with governments who instil fear when the make laws against burqas, or say that their language is compulsory. My experience of foreigners is that they eventually do learn the language, especially if their kids are in government schools where they have no option but to become fluent or they don't pass to the next grade. In my opinion, the idea that everyone wearing a burqa is carrying a bomb is fear-mongering. If women want to dress according to their religion, leave them alone. If people want to be called to prayer, leave them alone. If they won't learn the language, make the language part of the curriculum no matter where the kids go to school. Stop discriminating against foreigners, and introduce cultural diversity learning in schools.
I like this story showing how our kids really deal with diversity in their society (as opposed to the badly-behaved parents having a shouting match about their kids that I don't want to talk about).
When nationalism takes over, you get Apartheid. That was not a nice system.
Nationalism in the west, I think it's just fear of "others". There might be an element of a fallout from what all of you have mentioned but when I look at what I see on Facebook, certainly among the Americans, they're not interested in anything that's not about their own country, and depending on their affiliation either for or against the current regime, or in Europe, if they're for Brexit, or in favour of right-wing politicians. And because they're not interested to learn, they fear anything that isn't what they perceive to be their own culture. A friend of mine who's lived in the US for 15 years, and who still has a bit of an accent, was told to "go home, or learn to speak American" recently, by someone she works with every day.
The ones who are for the regime are particularly nationalistic. They tell me to STFU about it, it's "not your business" apparently even though it's having an effect on all of us, and if there's fallout, it will affect all of us. They sometimes say outright that they don't respond to my posts about other countries because they're not interested in learning about other countries.
Americans who are against the regime might be polite about my posts that aren't about the people they hate in government, but not as much as they want the rest of us to be in awe of how awesome the USA was before the regime took over.
The pro-Brexiters are becoming a little more nationalistic than they were before, almost as if they've found a forum to express their xenophobia about the people who "won't integrate". I think the problem is with governments who instil fear when the make laws against burqas, or say that their language is compulsory. My experience of foreigners is that they eventually do learn the language, especially if their kids are in government schools where they have no option but to become fluent or they don't pass to the next grade. In my opinion, the idea that everyone wearing a burqa is carrying a bomb is fear-mongering. If women want to dress according to their religion, leave them alone. If people want to be called to prayer, leave them alone. If they won't learn the language, make the language part of the curriculum no matter where the kids go to school. Stop discriminating against foreigners, and introduce cultural diversity learning in schools.
I like this story showing how our kids really deal with diversity in their society (as opposed to the badly-behaved parents having a shouting match about their kids that I don't want to talk about).
When nationalism takes over, you get Apartheid. That was not a nice system.