Patriotism versus Nationalism

There is a lot of talk these days about patriotism and dissent. Most Americans have confused Patriotism with Nationalism, though the two are often diametrically opposed. Waving a flag is Nationalism. Dissent is Patriotism. "My country, right or wrong" and "USA: Love it or Leave it" is Nationalism. Pointing out dangerous flaws in government policy is Patriotism. Telling people to "Shut up and get in line with the President" or "If you don't like it, move to France" is the antithesis of Democracy.

Growing up in a communist country we didn’t have those worries. You speak against the government, you die, or if you’re less lucky you go to jail.

As a child growing in what is today’s Serbia, I was reasonably proud of being Serbian and thought I knew the language reasonably well. There were many dialects and one could say with a degree of certainty where the speaker is from (not as accurately as Mr. ‘enry ‘iggins, from My Fair Lady). I must have been around 15 or 16 when a dreadful thought crossed my mind. Serbia (one of the six Yugoslav republics) has been divided into three sections:
1. Serbia proper
2. Kosmet province
3. Vojvodina province
Since most our school teaching was based on communist “brotherhood and unity”, I couldn’t see why it was only Serbia that has been divided into three sections. This fear was doubled when I realized that there are villages, hamlets, counties with an almost entirely Serbian population within Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, etc. Those republics were never split up like Serbia was, I concluded. Some degree of unhealthy nationalism existed in my home advocated by both of my Serbian parents. They openly feared that Serbia is being “chopped up” only in order to make it less united and more thinned out so that each unit (enclave) would have to fend for itself. To get a time perspective, I am talking about 1960s and 1970s.

This dreadful fear proved correct during the 1990s. The entire country was chopped up into many small countries. Jokingly we were commenting how in Yugoslavia there was a surplus of “would-be-kings”, but not enough kingdoms so many countries were created out of one. This is somewhat contrary to the American dollar bill moto “e pluribus unum” – from many, into one. The first signs of separation, partitioning that I recall took place on the linguistic war lines. The language I spoke was called Serbian, Croatians and Bosnians spoke the same language and called it Croatian or Bosnik – although I could understand every single word while I only had to learn 10 new words or so along the following:
Zrak – vazduh = air
Hlace – pantalone = pants, slacks
Kruh – hleb = bread
Kava – kafa = coffee


The fears of that same little boy (40 odd years ago) are taking place this very day. More partitioning is in the works. Now we even invented new names for non-existent languages. Could it be that even what was once called Serbia proper will be subdivided again? If we go by my experience, the answer is definitely yes. Today’s New York Times article claims some new (and exotic) languages that I never knew existed. Reference: www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/international/europe/24serb.html?

Now, as an adult, I’m asking myself who is to benefit from this continuous subdividing? Answer that is often offered is: You Serbians are paranoid like the Jews, you always think somebody is out to get you, exterminate you. Even if that were true (which I don’t think it is) we’d be able to find ample reasons for such fears in the very close past.

Iliya Pavlovich