Who will feel Iran of their being;

Hans Kohn; nationalism is a state of mind.

Nationalism is an idea, an idée-force, which fills man’s brain and heart with new thoughts and new sentiments and drives him to translate his consciousness into deeds of organized action. Nationality is therefore not only a group held together and animated by common consciousness; but a group seeking to find its expression in what it regards as the highest from of organized activity, the a sovereign state.

As long as a nationality is not able to attain this consummation it satisfies itself with some forms of autonomy or pre-state organization, which however, always has a tendency at a given moment, the moment of liberation, to develop into a sovereign state.

Without shared memories and meanings, without common symbols and myths, without shrine and ceremonies and monuments, except the bitter reminders of recent genocide and wars, who will feel Iran of their being, who will willingly sacrifice themselves for so abstract and idea?

In short who will die for Iran. Basic ideals of nationalist movement, they are: the world is divided into nations, each with its own character and destiny.

The nation is the source of all political power, and loyalty to the nation overrides all other loyalties.

To be free, human beings must identify with a particular nation. To be genuine each nation must be autonomous. For peace and justice to prevail the world, nations must be free and secure. Ceremonies, symbols and myth are crucial to nationalism: through them nations are formed and celebrated.

Nationalism does not have a theory of how the national will or the national boundaries may establish. It requires other ideologies, for combined with all kind of other movements and ideologies from liberalism to communism and racism.

Nationalism’s core doctrine provides no more than a basic framework for social and political order in the world, and it must be filled out by other idea-systems and by the particular circumstance of each community’s situation at the time.

Nationalism combines a high degree of fixable abstraction with a unique ability to tap fundamental popular needs and aspirations, but it does not pretend to offer a comprehensive and consistent account of history and society. Nation and nationalism remain political necessities because they alone can ground the interstate order in the principles of popular sovereignty and the will of the people however defined. Only nationalism can secure the assent of the governed to the territorial units, to identification with historic culture communities in their homeland.

The sense of national identity is often powerful enough to give rise to a spirit of self-sacrifice on behalf of the nation on many, if not most of its citizens. This is especially true of crises and wartime. Here one can witness the degree to which most citizens are prepared to endure hardships and make personal sacrifices in defense of the nation to the point of lying down their lives willingly, often in vast numbers, as occurred in several of the combatant countries during both world wars. The nation has become a mean vehicle of warfare and national identity the chief justification for participation in lethal combat.

M.S baloch_m_s@yahoo.se