THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEATURES OF NATIONALISM

Grade: 11Term: 3

Topic: 4 – NATIONALISMS – SOUTH AFRICA, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

Sub-Topic: CHAPTER 6 – THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEATURES OF NATIONALISM: SOUTH AFRICA

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Debates and critiques about nationalism

• Has nationalism been a forcefor good or for evil in thefor good or for evil in thechanges during the 19th and20th centuries in Europe and,later, in Asia and Africa?

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When is nationalism beneficial and when is it destructive?

The positive side of nationalism• It motivates millions of people to get rid of their

foreign oppressors.• It makes them want to rule themselves according

to their own ideas, use their own languages andto their own ideas, use their own languages andelect their own people to make the laws that suitthem best.

• The South African case study showed an aspect ofnation-building - the way that we have beenreconciled and brought together as a nation inSouth Africa.

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The negative side of nationalism• The liberation process is often violent, involving wars and civil

conflict, which leave bitterness and destruction behind.• Once nationalist governments achieve power, they do not

always manage to hold on to it. They may be challenged byother powerful forces such as the military, or ideologies likecommunism or fascism (takes nationalism to an extreme).

• A state cannot be a state unless it covers a defined territory andhas national borders or frontiers. In countries where severaldifferent ethnic groups live side by side, conflict can break out if

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has national borders or frontiers. In countries where severaldifferent ethnic groups live side by side, conflict can break out ifthey start fighting for dominance or struggle to break away andform their own states.

• National feelings are often so powerful that people will commitatrocities against people they consider ‘different’, or sacrificethemselves without hesitation and destroy everything aroundthem, in order to bring about a state in which they can rulethemselves according to their own ideas.

The role of nationalism in liberation struggles - EUROPE

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The role of nationalism in liberation struggles - EUROPE

• Nationalism became a force in Europe after the FrenchRevolution and during the 19th century led to theunification of Germany and Italy.

• In Germany’s case this happened without any greatstruggle. The 38 German states saw that it made sense tounite, not only because they all spoke the same language,unite, not only because they all spoke the same language,but because their economies were growing at a fast rateand they would be richer if they united.

• Italy was different. Some Italian states were ruled byforeigners. The strong feeling that all Italians belonged inone state, under an Italian ruler inspired many Italians torise up and in the course of one rebellion (1848) and twowars, to throw out their foreign rulers and unite.

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The role of nationalism in liberation struggles - AFRICA

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The role of nationalism in liberation struggles - AFRICA

• In 1900, only Liberia and Ethiopia were independent states. By1999, there were 54 fully independent states in Africa. Thewhole continent was free of foreign rule.

• Nationalism played a big part in African liberation struggles inthe 20th century.

• Anti-colonialism was by nature nationalist. Educated elites with• Anti-colonialism was by nature nationalist. Educated elites withknowledge of their own history and experience of the widerworld could ‘imagine’ their colony as an independent state inwhich the people, even if they were ethnically diverse as theyoften were, could submerge their identities into the larger oneof the state.

• Kwame Nkrumah managed to weld together the four parts ofthe Gold Coast into one viable country. Ghana is still a unitedcountry today.

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How did nationalist governments behave when in power?

• If we look at the examples of South Africa and Ghana, wesee that, despite there being many different ethnic groupswithin their borders, the governments have managed tounite them and keep the country together. This has notalways happened. Once nationalist leaders were in power,always happened. Once nationalist leaders were in power,nationalism often became a negative force.

• Many nationalist governments have oppressed nationalminorities, causing people to flee into exile.

• In extreme cases, nationalism has caused wars andmassacres between national groups which governmentseither cannot control, or do not want to.

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Many different ethnic groups within borders

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HOLOCAUST

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Why does nationalism persist?

• Nationalist feelings persist everywhere because ournational identity is an important part of who we are.

• In countries where everyone speaks one languageand most of their ancestors have lived there forgenerations, national identity is simpler.generations, national identity is simpler.

• In a state like South Africa, which has many differentethnic groups, it is more complicated.

• Do you consider yourself a South African first andonly after that a member of your particular ethnicgroup? Or is it the other way around? There is noeasy answer.

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Having a sense of national identity does no harm in itself, although prejudice and discrimination are

always a danger

• PREJUDICE: preconceived opinion that is not• PREJUDICE: preconceived opinion that is notbased on reason or actual experience.

• DISCRIMINATION: the unjust or prejudicialtreatment of different categories of people,especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

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PREJUDICE:

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DISCRIMINATION:

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Nationalism may become a negative political factor if:

• There are economic problems. It was Germany’s humiliation inWorld War One, followed by the Great Depression, which ralliedpeople to Hitler and Nazism. Hitler said the Jewish minority wasthe cause of all Germany’s problems. The eventual result wasthe Holocaust. The more prosperous and peaceful a country is,the more wealth is evenly distributed across the population, theless nationality seems to matter.the more wealth is evenly distributed across the population, theless nationality seems to matter.

• If the country has a very mixed population, even the best ofgovernments have a hard task to keep the peace between themajority and various minorities, giving all of them a goodreason to live as equals. Our constitution explicitly outlawsdiscrimination in South Africa.

• If a government wants to find an excuse to go to war, a senseof national pride or of national revenge is a powerful tool torally people in support of the war.

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The negative side of nationalism: How do people remember their past,

especially when it is painful?

• In many countries, there are museumswhich remind people about the mistakeswhich remind people about the mistakesof the past. In South Africa, we have theApartheid Museum in Johannesburg andthe Holocaust Museum in Cape Town.

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Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg

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Holocaust Museum in Cape Town

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The positive face of nationalism: South Africa

Reconciliation and nation-building in South Africa:

• South Africa had first been a colonial society• South Africa had first been a colonial societyunder the Dutch and then the British and,from 1910, a white-ruled self-governing statewithin the British Empire.

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• After 1910, South Africans who were not whitewere subjected to ‘segregation’ laws.

• After 1948, the National Party governmentintroduced the policy of Apartheid, which tooksegregation a step further.

• Apartheid involved separating South Africansinto racial groups - black (African), coloured,

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into racial groups - black (African), coloured,Indian and white - and denying most rights toall but the white community.

• Many discriminatory laws were passed andblack people were further divided into tribal or‘national’ groups.

• Apartheid made South Africa into the mostfractured and repressive of all post-colonialcountries.

• Despite strong resistance to Apartheid it lasteduntil 1990.

• At that point the National Party government wasforced to agree to negotiations which would lead

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forced to agree to negotiations which would leadto a new and non-racial South Africa.

• Political prisoners like Nelson Mandela werereleased from jail, political exiles were allowedback into South Africa and banned politicalparties like the ANC and SACP were allowed tooperate.

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• The multi-party negotiations went on for morethan three years, during which there was agreat deal of violence, but at the end of 1993 itwas agreed that free elections would be heldon 27 April 1994.

• The ANC won 62.7 per cent of the vote and aGovernment of National Unity was formed

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Government of National Unity was formedwith Nelson Mandela as the first president of afree South Africa.

• From the beginning, he made nationalreconciliation and the building of nationalunity his first priority.

• His vision was of a nation in which all of uswould feel that we belonged together andthat we had a common identity as SouthAfricans, regardless of colour or language.

• Many problems lay ahead, but in general,nation-building in South Africa shows how

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nation-building in South Africa shows hownationalism can be used in a positive wayto build a common national pride andidentity.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

• Archbishop DesmondTutu’s spiritual and moralleadership during theApartheid period madehim the natural chairmanfor the Truth andhim the natural chairmanfor the Truth andReconciliationCommission establishedin 1997. After theCommission had finishedits work, the Archbishopremarked that:

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• ‘Quite improbably we, as South Africans, have become a beacon of

hope to others locked in deadly conflict that peace, that a just

resolution is possible. If it could

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resolution is possible. If it could happen in South Africa, then it could

certainly happen anywhere else. Such is the exquisite divine sense of

humour’.

New national symbols

• New national symbols, such as OURNational Anthem, the South Africanflag and the new National Coat offlag and the new National Coat ofArms replaced the old ones.

• These have helped to build ourcommon South African identity.

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National Coat of Arms

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SOUTH AFRICAN FLAG

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SOUTH AFRICAN ANTHEM

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