Labour must wholeheartedly embrace patriotism to win back support, the new leader Keir Starmer has said as he faced ex-Labour voters as part of a virtual tour of the country.https://www.theguardian.com/politics...m-says-starmer
He said the Labour movement and patriotism were “two sides of the same coin” and the party should not shy away from displaying national pride.
During a video call with people in Bury, there was criticism from one ex-voter who said he had been made to feel his support for the monarchy, Brexit and even waving the union jack was tantamount to racist behaviour.
Starmer said: “I’m really proud of my country and I wouldn’t be leader of the Labour party if I wasn’t patriotic,” adding that he has felt this even more strongly during the Covid-19 response.
“What I desperately want for our country is for our country to get better. In the Labour party we should be proud of being patriotic.
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... because we love the country we live in.
“I don’t think we should shy away from that. That is a really good thing to be proud of, and [to] want your country to be the best it possibly can be,” he said.
The former leader Jeremy Corbyn was regularly criticised for a perceived lack of patriotism owing to some of the international causes he supported and past comments that he would prefer an elected head of state.
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In a question on how he would tackle “anti-patriotism”, Starmer was also asked to condemn the former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott for her comments on Brexit supporters, and Clive Lewis MP for saying the Brexit campaign had “racism at its heart”.
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Starmer said he thought the hate crime statistics were of justifiable concern. “The vast majority of people who voted leave – nothing to do with racism at all and I don’t think Brexit was really about that,” he said.
“I was concerned about the spike in hate crime that happened at the same time, and that we do need to take very seriously. Although it may be a very, very small element, and I don’t think the EU is really to do with that at all. But there are racist comments and incidents that are said and done and there has been hate crime out there and we need to be very firm about tackling that.”
As of April 30, Sweden ranked among the 10 countries in the world with the highest covid-19 deaths per million people, with a ratio of 244. This is seven times more than neighboring Finland and Norway. While an essential part of Sweden’s strategy was to cocoon the elderly, two thirds of the nursing homes in Stockholm are now infected. Estimates of 10,000 to 20,000 deaths are no longer off the table.Att vara stolt över sitt eget land verkar vara mycket farligt - så länge man inte är bosatt i något annat land än det man är stolt över - och steget till gasugnarna är aldrig långt för patriotiskt sinnade som lever i det land de är stolta över. Enda skyddet mot detta hemska verkar vara självtuktan och medvetenhet om arvskuld.
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Can trust explain why Swedes are so supportive of Sweden’s coronavirus response despite the relatively high death rate? Swedish authorities and academics have repeatedly reminded everyone that Swedes trust each other, and they trust their institutions. But so do Danes, Norwegians and Canadians — and those countries responded more forcefully to the pandemic threat.
Is this a matter of Swedish pride?
What we are witnessing in Sweden is more likely to be the dark side of nationalism. To be sure, many Swedes who now say “let Sweden be Sweden” are staunch supporters of wider immigration and international cooperation. But such convictions are no vaccine against the psychological forces of nationalism.
Like any group identity, national identity is a powerful force. In “Liberal Nationalism and Its Criticcs,” contributors and I show how national identity can charge both the best and worst sides of human behavior. In a recent research article, I argue that when self-critical and based on a shared public culture, nationalism can legitimately be liberal or even progressive in nature. But when it takes the form of blind allegiance, nationalism becomes a danger to liberal democracy.
In research with Ludvig Stendahl, I find a strong link between taking pride in one’s nationality and having confidence in the political institutions in one’s country. This holds true even when controlling for socioeconomic factors and overall political beliefs.
In Sweden, those who say they are “very” or “quite” proud to be Swedish make up 92 percent of the population.
Sweden has the lowest number of “critical patriots” out of the 33 countries included in this survey, which covers nationally representative samples from Europe, America and Asia (and South Africa). Only 6 percent of Swedes agree strongly that “the world would be a better place if Swedes acknowledged Sweden’s shortcomings.” Although 30 percent agree with the statement, this is still less than in Hungary or Russia.https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...nd-patriotism/
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The problem is that identity threat and nationalism often prove a lethal mixture. In safe and secure times, those who think their country is superior to others, or beyond critique, pose little risk for democracy. But when they perceive a threat to their country, they become aggressive. British thinker Isaiah Berlin called this the nationalism of “the bent twig”: It lashes out against anyone who steps on it. In northwestern Europe, including Sweden, research has shown that this happens not just with ethnic but also with civic conceptions of nationhood.
In Sweden, there are signs that this process may already be in motion. Critics of the Swedish pandemic strategy meet with hostility and ridicule, both in academia and the media. Vulnerable minorities might be next in line. Former chief epidemiologist Johan Giesecke, for instance, pinned the failure to protect the elderly on immigrants. “Many of the people working in nursing homes are from other countries; they are refugees or asylum seekers,” he said. They “may not always be understanding the information.”
Wounded national pride, it may turn out, is a disease that Swedes, however rational, are no more immune to than anyone else.
As of April 30, Sweden ranked among the 10 countries in the world with the highest covid-19 deaths per million people, with a ratio of 244. This is seven times more than neighboring Finland and Norway. While an essential part of Sweden’s strategy was to cocoon the elderly, two thirds of the nursing homes in Stockholm are now infected. Estimates of 10,000 to 20,000 deaths are no longer off the table.Att vara stolt över sitt eget land verkar vara mycket farligt - så länge man inte är bosatt i något annat land än det man är stolt över - och steget till gasugnarna är aldrig långt för patriotiskt sinnade som lever i det land de är stolta över. Enda skyddet mot detta hemska verkar vara självtuktan och medvetenhet om arvskuld.
...
Can trust explain why Swedes are so supportive of Sweden’s coronavirus response despite the relatively high death rate? Swedish authorities and academics have repeatedly reminded everyone that Swedes trust each other, and they trust their institutions. But so do Danes, Norwegians and Canadians — and those countries responded more forcefully to the pandemic threat.
Is this a matter of Swedish pride?
What we are witnessing in Sweden is more likely to be the dark side of nationalism. To be sure, many Swedes who now say “let Sweden be Sweden” are staunch supporters of wider immigration and international cooperation. But such convictions are no vaccine against the psychological forces of nationalism.
Like any group identity, national identity is a powerful force. In “Liberal Nationalism and Its Criticcs,” contributors and I show how national identity can charge both the best and worst sides of human behavior. In a recent research article, I argue that when self-critical and based on a shared public culture, nationalism can legitimately be liberal or even progressive in nature. But when it takes the form of blind allegiance, nationalism becomes a danger to liberal democracy.
In research with Ludvig Stendahl, I find a strong link between taking pride in one’s nationality and having confidence in the political institutions in one’s country. This holds true even when controlling for socioeconomic factors and overall political beliefs.
In Sweden, those who say they are “very” or “quite” proud to be Swedish make up 92 percent of the population.
Sweden has the lowest number of “critical patriots” out of the 33 countries included in this survey, which covers nationally representative samples from Europe, America and Asia (and South Africa). Only 6 percent of Swedes agree strongly that “the world would be a better place if Swedes acknowledged Sweden’s shortcomings.” Although 30 percent agree with the statement, this is still less than in Hungary or Russia.https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...nd-patriotism/
...
The problem is that identity threat and nationalism often prove a lethal mixture. In safe and secure times, those who think their country is superior to others, or beyond critique, pose little risk for democracy. But when they perceive a threat to their country, they become aggressive. British thinker Isaiah Berlin called this the nationalism of “the bent twig”: It lashes out against anyone who steps on it. In northwestern Europe, including Sweden, research has shown that this happens not just with ethnic but also with civic conceptions of nationhood.
In Sweden, there are signs that this process may already be in motion. Critics of the Swedish pandemic strategy meet with hostility and ridicule, both in academia and the media. Vulnerable minorities might be next in line. Former chief epidemiologist Johan Giesecke, for instance, pinned the failure to protect the elderly on immigrants. “Many of the people working in nursing homes are from other countries; they are refugees or asylum seekers,” he said. They “may not always be understanding the information.”
Wounded national pride, it may turn out, is a disease that Swedes, however rational, are no more immune to than anyone else.
Svenskhet är mer än en invandringsfrågahttps://kvartal.se/artiklar/svenskhe...andringsfraga/
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Den gemensamma kulturen spelar en central roll i den liberala nationalismen, vars filosofiska såväl som psykologiska förutsättningar jag ägnat de senaste åren åt att utforska. I förstone kan visserligen liberal nationalism låta lika motsägelsefullt som ”en vänlig rottweiler”, som min kollega David Miller i Oxford brukar notera. Men här föreligger vare sig någon filosofisk eller historisk motsägelse. Som Björn Östbring nyligen redogjort för här i Kvartal är det fullt möjligt att förena liberala ideal med en dos nationalism. Det är därför inte så konstigt att flera framstående liberala tänkare och politiker genom historien också har företrätt just en sådan kombination.
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Liberal nationalism har alltså implikationer inte bara för migrations- och integrationspolitiken, utan också för skol- och kulturpolitiken.
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På det sättet, menar liberala nationalister, är såväl demokratins som välfärdsstatens överlevnad i längden beroende av en känsla av nationell gemenskap. I alla fall i nuläget, eftersom vi ännu inte har några välfungerande demokratier eller omfattande välfärdssystem på en högre nivå än den statliga.
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Slutsatsen vi kan dra av allt detta är att det inte bara är legitimt utan även praktiskt nödvändigt att söka främja en gemensam nationell identitet med olika politiska medel. Men också att vi måste vara varsamma så att vi främjar människors känsla av anknytning till och stolthet över nationen utan att samtidigt underblåsa deras chauvinistiska böjelser.
Målet är alltså att odla en gemenskap som är tillräckligt tjock för att binda människor samman psykologiskt och samtidigt tillräckligt tunn och föränderlig för att vara tillgänglig för nykomlingar och minoriteter. De ska inte behöva göra avkall på till exempel sin tro eller sina subnationella identiteter.
Målet är alltså att odla en gemenskap som är tillräckligt tjock för att binda människor samman psykologiskt och samtidigt tillräckligt tunn och föränderlig för att vara tillgänglig för nykomlingar och minoriteter.Tjock eller tunn nationalism? Eller praktisk patriotism som det nu lanseras som.
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