French revolutionary enthusiasm. But unfortunately, from the point of view of those with power, the masses tended to demand too much. Instead of answering their demands directly, politicians learned to guide patriotism with various tricks; centralize government, create uniform schools, promote one language and alphabet and foster media to convey them. Invoke symbols to identify with, and search for internal and external enemies to help create a national consensus. Describe the nation, language and culture in natural, ancient and eternal terms, and reinterpret history accordingly. Create a positive image of the citizen. Promote the idea that everyone has equal rights, even if they don’t, so that the community seems to share values and responsibilities. If necessary make the nation into a republic, to give an appearance of legitimacy, even though it’s impossible for most people to run for office, or know anything about the people who do run. Promote talk about “National Interests’’, so that the state never seems partisan. If the administration has money, indoctrinate citizens through universal primary school and mandatory military service. Finally, get people to confuse themselves with the nation, replacing what “I” think with what “we” think, and refer to national conflicts as if they were personal ones. Identify the nation as an underdog, mistreated yet kind, ultimately victorious through sheer goodwill and hard work. Despite these manipulations, not all of which were so conscious, nations sometimes fell out of control. Few leaders expected the kind of support they initially received during the First World War, which pitted Briton against German in an imaginary battle of ethnicity and morality, disguising the real battle over power blocks. By the end of the 19th century the modem nation was an off-the-shelf model for mle. Japan is the classic example of a single-minded drive to create a Nation, made by the Meiji administration after the restoration of 1868. The modular nation took many forms: a single language wasn’t even required. Switzerland with its many languages and dialects took on trappings of nationalism during its 600th anniversary in 1891. Centennial anniversaries themselves were invented in the late 19th century as celebrations of the supposed Progress that nations represented and promoted. The great heralds of this Progress, the mass media of newspaper, film, radio and television, were always the source of social amnesia they are today. Mass media naturally promote the ideals of the power they depend on, sometimes capital, sometimes the state. As sources of entertainment national media break up local community, discouraging people from entertaining and informing themselves, creating a national culture with a fantastic quality. The fantasy nation seems slow and stable, despite headlong falls into ecological disaster, social decay and war. Since national entertainment and news media are the scaffolding from which the national idea is built, in times of war the majority criticizes the media only in how well they represent the nation. Perhaps there is a fear that without an obedient mass media the nation could not exist. Because of the dreamy nature of the national image, the culture can often absorb ideals such as ecology, community and cooperation without changing the way things actually work. But a deeply felt revelation can spread through the media, sparking direct action. No one could have predicted the 1968 spontaneous general strike in France in support of students at the Paris barricades, made possible through the same news agencies that kept Charles de Gaulle’s conservative government in power. Contrast this direct revolutionary appeal to the public with the difficulties of revolutionaries in 18th century France, trying to contact the populace when most peasants spoke diverse non-French patois. The partial success in breaking through the national fantasy in 1968’s Paris implies that even after years of indoctrination citizens can indeed question their affiliations. But preparing people for the personal rejection of national identification must begin in times of peace, and at the grassroots. The people who will most surely fight the momentum and insanity of mass warfare are those who are secure in their local relations, ready to openly challenge deeply held beliefs at any time. Rain Winter/Spring 1992 Volume XIV, Number 2 Page 29
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