[lbo-talk] Definition of nation (was as if on cue)

[Wendy Lyon]

I should add that one of the reasons I doubt the favorableness of it
is that I'm not at all sure it wouldn't just take on the same
negatives you attribute to national identity - but in relation to
Asians, Africans etc.  People who object to Turkey joining the EU
often assert that they're "not really European". Obviously to some
extent that reasoning is a mask for Islamophobia, but it might not be
entirely a mask.

On 3 February 2011 16:29, Wendy Lyon <wendy.lyon at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3 February 2011 15:58, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> PS.  I also like the pan-European collective identity promoted in the EU -
>> it is a favorable alternative to the dreadful national identities that
>> created so much misery in that part of the world.
>
> Whether or not it's "favorable", there doesn't seem to be much
> evidence that it actually exists as an alternative to national
> identity. The latter is as strong as ever in Europe. Some nationalisms
> seem to be growing stronger (Catalunya, Flanders) and new ones are
> emerging (Northern Ireland).
>
> There is a European identity of course, but for the overwhelming
> majority of Europeans* it exists alongside - and ranks below -
> national identity. The idea that these distinctions would wither away
> in the EU looks about as likely now as the idea of successful monetary
> union.
>
>
> *I've actually never met an exception, though I'm sure a few exist -
> undoubtedly more so on the continent than here in Ireland.
>