0:00:09.727,0:00:11.135
It's no secret that anarchists

0:00:11.135,0:00:12.275
don't like states.

0:00:12.275,0:00:13.820
In fact, we anarchists

0:00:13.820,0:00:16.308
are generally defined by our rejection of,

0:00:16.308,0:00:18.819
and opposition to state institutions,

0:00:18.819,0:00:21.890
such as governments, police, and prisons.

0:00:22.470,0:00:24.015
But while opposing these

0:00:24.015,0:00:26.047
physical manifestations of the state

0:00:26.047,0:00:28.008
is certainly an important part [br]

0:00:28.008,0:00:29.592
of anarchist practice,

0:00:29.592,0:00:31.228
anarchist critiques of the state

0:00:31.228,0:00:33.057
go much further, and include

0:00:33.057,0:00:34.966
the underlying social relationships

0:00:34.966,0:00:36.927
and ideologies that have historically

0:00:36.927,0:00:38.467
been used to create states,

0:00:38.467,0:00:40.213
and to uphold their authority.

0:00:40.213,0:00:41.458
One of the most important[br]

0:00:41.458,0:00:43.093
of these concepts is nationalism.

0:00:43.093,0:00:44.637
So what is it, exactly?

0:00:44.637,0:00:46.738
And what do anarchists have against it?

0:00:46.738,0:00:47.980
Well... basically

0:00:47.980,0:00:50.430
nationalism is a kind of social glue

0:00:50.430,0:00:51.931
that holds together people

0:00:51.931,0:00:53.913
of different ethnic, tribal, linguistic,

0:00:53.913,0:00:56.174
religious and cultural groupings

0:00:56.174,0:00:58.362
into a single defined population[br]

0:00:58.362,0:01:01.272
linked to a specific geographic territory.

0:01:01.512,0:01:03.512
The problem with nationalism is not

0:01:03.512,0:01:05.300
necessarily that it it’s a glue -

0:01:05.300,0:01:06.633
there are plenty of examples

0:01:06.633,0:01:08.521
of organic nationalism, based on

0:01:08.521,0:01:10.847
shared culture, language and history,

0:01:10.847,0:01:12.758
and in fact, many anarchists have been

0:01:12.758,0:01:14.027
heavily influenced by,

0:01:14.027,0:01:15.927
and have even participated in

0:01:15.927,0:01:17.893
struggles motivated by nationalism,

0:01:17.893,0:01:19.344
such as the resistance waged

0:01:19.344,0:01:20.406
by Indigenous nations

0:01:20.406,0:01:22.032
against their colonial oppressors,

0:01:22.032,0:01:24.074
or the establishment, in 1929,

0:01:24.074,0:01:26.015
of the Shinmin Autonomous Zone

0:01:26.015,0:01:28.454
by Chinese, Korean and Japanese anarchists

0:01:28.454,0:01:30.860
fighting against Japanese imperialism.

0:01:30.860,0:01:32.881
The problem with nationalism lies in its

0:01:32.881,0:01:34.974
tendency to mask social contradictions

0:01:34.974,0:01:36.610
among a population,

0:01:36.610,0:01:38.397
thereby allowing for the reproduction

0:01:38.397,0:01:39.657
of hierarchies,

0:01:39.657,0:01:41.517
which in turn end up producing

0:01:41.517,0:01:43.229
a new state structure.

0:01:43.229,0:01:44.950
Which is another way of saying that

0:01:44.950,0:01:46.484
nationalism is a force

0:01:46.484,0:01:48.637
that groups people together in a way

0:01:48.637,0:01:50.232
that tends to maintain the division

0:01:50.232,0:01:53.072
of the human race into competing states.

0:01:53.072,0:01:54.265
In countries with strong

0:01:54.265,0:01:55.547
state institutions,

0:01:55.547,0:01:57.639
nationalism is more commonly referred to

0:01:57.639,0:01:58.867
as patriotism

0:01:58.867,0:02:00.275
and everyone is conditioned

0:02:00.275,0:02:01.743
from a young age to believe

0:02:01.743,0:02:03.865
that loving your country is one of the

0:02:03.865,0:02:06.395
most important, natural things you can do.

0:02:06.395,0:02:08.152
In school we are forced to stand

0:02:08.152,0:02:10.753
every morning for the national anthem

0:02:10.753,0:02:12.836
and taught a heavily sanitized version

0:02:12.836,0:02:14.556
of our nation's history. [br]

0:02:14.556,0:02:16.940
We even celebrate its birthday every year.

0:02:16.940,0:02:18.606
...with fireworks, no less.

0:02:18.606,0:02:20.881
Because nationalism is so ingrained

0:02:20.881,0:02:23.240
into our lives, customs and beliefs,

0:02:23.240,0:02:25.322
many people would be surprised to learn

0:02:25.322,0:02:27.373
that it is a relatively new thing.

0:02:27.373,0:02:29.364
While some countries, such as China,

0:02:29.364,0:02:31.192
have existed as a more or less

0:02:31.192,0:02:33.956
unified territory for thousands of years,

0:02:33.956,0:02:35.287
others, such as Italy,

0:02:35.287,0:02:37.737
have been around for less than 150.

0:02:37.737,0:02:39.126
And lots of states are even younger

0:02:39.126,0:02:40.116
than that.[br]

0:02:40.116,0:02:41.657
For most of human history

0:02:41.657,0:02:43.901
nation states simply did not exist.

0:02:43.901,0:02:46.089
Instead, the world was split up

0:02:46.089,0:02:48.198
into city-states, ruled by kingdoms

0:02:48.198,0:02:49.986
and empires, whose borders

0:02:49.986,0:02:52.109
were in a constant state of flux.

0:02:52.109,0:02:54.263
Back then, most people lived simple lives

0:02:54.263,0:02:56.437
as farmers, and had very little contact

0:02:56.437,0:02:59.236
with what we now understand as the state.

0:02:59.236,0:03:01.140
And because languages were mostly

0:03:01.140,0:03:02.512
passed on orally,

0:03:02.512,0:03:04.432
many different dialects flourished

0:03:04.432,0:03:06.194
and existed side by side.[br]

0:03:06.194,0:03:08.028
Although nationalism emerged

0:03:08.028,0:03:09.491
in different parts of the world

0:03:09.491,0:03:10.864
at different times,

0:03:10.864,0:03:12.996
the development of the modern nation-state

0:03:12.996,0:03:14.499
is often associated with

0:03:14.499,0:03:16.744
the early development of capitalism

0:03:16.744,0:03:18.604
and European colonial expansion

0:03:18.604,0:03:20.411
beginning in the 16th century.

0:03:20.411,0:03:22.566
The race to plunder the world of its land

0:03:22.566,0:03:24.119
and resources kicked off

0:03:24.119,0:03:25.298
an intense competition between

0:03:25.298,0:03:26.671
kingdoms in Europe,

0:03:26.671,0:03:28.152
leading to the proliferation

0:03:28.152,0:03:30.276
and gradual consolidation of states

0:03:30.276,0:03:32.485
with clearly defined borders.[br]

0:03:32.485,0:03:34.837
In the so-called “New World”, settlers

0:03:34.837,0:03:36.919
from a variety of European nations

0:03:36.919,0:03:39.490
forged new collective national identities

0:03:39.490,0:03:41.318
born of the shared experience

0:03:41.318,0:03:42.772
of racial domination over

0:03:42.772,0:03:44.163
Indigenous nations

0:03:44.163,0:03:45.488
and enslaved Africans.[br]

0:03:45.488,0:03:46.987
During the mid-19th century

0:03:46.987,0:03:48.998
many states first began introducing

0:03:48.998,0:03:50.888
centralized education systems,

0:03:50.888,0:03:52.794
further facilitating nationalist

0:03:52.794,0:03:54.911
indoctrination, and helping to

0:03:54.911,0:03:56.668
eliminate remaining linguistic

0:03:56.668,0:03:58.618
and cultural differences.

0:03:58.618,0:03:59.959
In extreme cases[br]

0:03:59.959,0:04:01.686
such as the Residential Schools system

0:04:01.686,0:04:03.078
in so-called Canada,

0:04:03.078,0:04:04.419
this practice amounted to

0:04:04.419,0:04:05.761
full fledged genocide.

0:04:05.761,0:04:07.274
Not content with their pillage

0:04:07.274,0:04:08.422
of the Americas,

0:04:08.422,0:04:10.626
European colonialists carved up Africa

0:04:10.626,0:04:12.698
and the former Ottoman Empire

0:04:12.698,0:04:15.411
into arbitrarily defined states,

0:04:15.411,0:04:16.945
which in turn produced

0:04:16.945,0:04:18.387
nationalist strong-men

0:04:18.387,0:04:20.013
who brutally massacred linguistic

0:04:20.013,0:04:22.298
and ethnic minorities, such as

0:04:22.298,0:04:23.479
the Armenians and the Kurds

0:04:23.479,0:04:24.466
in the Middle East.

0:04:24.466,0:04:27.067
Nationalism relies on grand, unifying

0:04:27.067,0:04:29.671
narratives to bind populations together

0:04:29.671,0:04:32.232
in pursuit of a common destiny.

0:04:32.232,0:04:33.831
Whether this assumes the form

0:04:33.831,0:04:35.626
of the individualistic pursuit

0:04:35.626,0:04:37.648
of the so-called American Dream,

0:04:37.648,0:04:40.005
or the Nazis' pursuit of the Third Reich;[br]

0:04:40.005,0:04:41.803
whether the heavily militarized

0:04:41.803,0:04:44.770
ethno-religious protectionism of Israel,

0:04:44.770,0:04:46.913
or the totalitarian self-reliance

0:04:46.913,0:04:48.864
of North Korea's Juche,

0:04:48.864,0:04:50.123
nationalism provides

0:04:50.123,0:04:51.515
an ideological framework

0:04:51.515,0:04:54.004
for the manipulation and social control

0:04:54.004,0:04:56.452
of large groups of people.

0:04:56.452,0:04:57.509
It provides a sense of

0:04:57.509,0:04:58.718
collective belonging

0:04:58.718,0:05:00.353
and unity of purpose,

0:05:00.353,0:05:02.650
while simultaneously helping to justify

0:05:02.650,0:05:05.138
the massive application of state violence

0:05:05.138,0:05:07.271
towards perceived “others”.

0:05:07.271,0:05:09.506
Human history is awash in blood

0:05:09.506,0:05:11.660
justified in the name of nationalism,

0:05:11.660,0:05:13.956
from ethnic cleansing and genocide,

0:05:13.956,0:05:15.166
to aggressive wars

0:05:15.166,0:05:16.719
launched in defense of abstract,

0:05:16.719,0:05:18.324
emotion-laden concepts

0:05:18.324,0:05:19.665
such as freedom

0:05:19.665,0:05:21.504
or the glory of the fatherland.

0:05:21.504,0:05:23.129
Rather than limiting ourselves

0:05:23.129,0:05:25.242
to the narrow perspective of nationalism,

0:05:25.242,0:05:26.421
anarchists put forward

0:05:26.421,0:05:28.716
the competing concept of internationalism.

0:05:28.716,0:05:30.728
This flows from the realization that

0:05:30.728,0:05:31.612
borders and nations

0:05:31.612,0:05:33.044
are artificial constructs

0:05:33.044,0:05:34.151
meant to divide us

0:05:34.151,0:05:36.549
and that struggles for freedom and dignity

0:05:36.549,0:05:37.818
waged anywhere in the world

0:05:37.818,0:05:39.647
are deserving of our solidarity

0:05:39.647,0:05:40.808
and support.

0:05:40.808,0:05:42.046
That rather than fighting

0:05:42.046,0:05:43.599
and dying in wars for the sake

0:05:43.599,0:05:44.980
of the rich and powerful,

0:05:44.980,0:05:46.403
oppressed people should unite

0:05:46.403,0:05:49.117
to wage war against our common oppressors.

0:05:49.117,0:05:50.537
And finally, that for

0:05:50.537,0:05:53.006
humanity to reach its full potential

0:05:53.006,0:05:55.106
and come together to confront the problems

0:05:55.106,0:05:56.856
that we face as a species

0:05:56.856,0:05:58.391
...we require nothing less

0:05:58.391,0:06:00.808
than a global revolution.