Ovi Magazine Issue #24: Nationalism - Published: 2013-01-31

Nationalism and Universalism in Italian and European History
been a positive or negative one?
Hard to answer such a question
in the light of what we have just
explored above. What remains
paradoxical in all this is that
Europe now claims to have
abandoned nationalism forever
for a sort of unifying federalism
called the EU. Some no longer
speak of the European Union but
of the United States of Europe
where nations govern themselves
internally but contribute to
a unified political goal and a
common cultural identity and in
the ideal spirit of solidarity and
brotherhood, equality and liberty.
But is this a reality as we speak?
What about the rabid regionalism
of an Umberto Bossi out to declare
independence from Italy. Is that
universalism or parochialism of
the worst kind?
Were not egalitè, fraternitè,
libertè also the ideals of the
French revolution? When things
were going well economically,
this seemed indeed to be the case
in the EU. Now that hard financial
times are upon us in the West as a
whole, words like solidarity seem
to have suddenly disappeared
from the vocabulary. What
one ears is the cold utilitarian
language of the bureaucrat, the
banker and the venture capitalist
devoid of humanistic criteria,
euphemistically characterizing his
capitalistic activity, based on social
Darwinism, as entrepreneurship,
abysmally ignorant of the genuine
heritage of European civilization.
Which leads one to suspect that
once again, just as with Italian
unification, the cart has been put
before the horse and the European
cultural identity remains elusive
at best. Indeed, we live in a Brave
New World.
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