Nationalism

This book is not about the hypernationalism we see on the news all day every day these days. I’m going to be honest, that was my reason for reading this, I wanted to understand the views of the wise poet on Nationalism back in those days to see how well his thoughts stand in our troubled modern times. Instead, this book talks about, from what I was able to understand, the “nationalism” from Europe, the one comprising capitalism, industrialism, and perhaps even the concept of governance to some extent.

The author castigates the lack of humanism of the European nation and warns the East against accepting its ideals. He also praises Japan’s subtle balancing act of retaining her morals and blending it with modernism from the West.

Reading this now in 2023, I found it hard not to counter the statements with instances that have taken place hitherto. Namely, the unsettling fact that the morally strong Japan, as portrayed in this book, would go on to occupy several Asian nations and pillage many others just a couple decades later. Secondly, for all the lack of humanism of the European nation, the tables have turned right around. A stark majority of European nations enjoy high levels of social welfare while the nations–mainly eastern–with more focus on humanism, India is a good example, are now steeped in a fierce sense of false Nationalism that results in no good for its own citizens. But you can also turn the argument around and say that this is the effect of colonialism and that things could’ve been very different had India not been colonized for nearly a century.

We can only argue but the fact is that social welfare in India is still a pipe dream for a vast majority of its burgeoning population, and while Japan is an exception, this is the pattern we’ve seen being followed for most other Asian countries. The author also briefly mentions how the caste system was an experiment in evolving social unity, which seems absurd to me. Overall, I think this was a powerful piece of writing from the author, and I especially enjoy how such pieces encourage forceful thinking on the reader’s part. I also loved how beautifully it was written, mesmerizing at times.