Purported patriotism practiced through symbolic ideals and actions has always made us smug while fuelling our false sense of national allegiance. For us, slogan chanting jingoism, passionate milli naghmay and going green while screeching about two-wheelers with sputtering silencers on Independence Day are all the sights, sounds, and sensations that patriotism is tactlessly about. Doesn’t matter if a few riding those motorbikes decked up in emerald emotionality, grope, catcall, or harass women revelers within the same Independence Day procession; the ensuing hue and cry raised by the women hence targeted, is conveniently hushed and muted under the vociferous, assertive sloganeering of “Pakistan Zindabad” by the “patriotic perpetrators.”
Learning about the Quaid and independence leaders in drudgerous Pakistan Studies books is also a symbolic display of our patriotic adherence to the country and its forefathers; wearing a flag lapel pin or waving the national flag on our vehicle also make us appear like patriots, much to our shallow gratification. Applauding pride-inducing parades of the armed forces, lauding Pakistanis for distinctive achievements in various fields at home and abroad, and reiterating our patriotism by punctuating it with the conviction of religious faith as the reason for this country’s birth, how we love to ‘perform what gives the illusion of patriotism’ while flaunting our impregnable love for this country.
What good, though, is patriotism if it is not about inclusivity, tolerance, and impartiality, or doesn’t improve lives for the masses? Dare we say that patriots don’t cause racist, religious, or ethnic splits or kill minorities and the marginalized for the sake of the country or in the name of religion? Patriotism should be about exhaustiveness and pluralism, not sexism or xenophobia. Patriots should seek to strengthen and celebrate unity, not destroy it through feuds, bigotry, and intolerance. Patriots shouldn’t be blind to social injustices or shy away from promoting minority interests. Patriots don’t rob their countrymen of wealth, peace, security, and resources or slaughter them over minor feuds. Yet, in as many ways and many more, we fail to practice patriotism on a daily basis, while all this time also continuing to assert our love for the country through futile rallying and senseless jingoism.
This is why quoting from speeches of the Father of the Nation seems hollow without our reflecting and living those words through acts of unity, faith, and discipline; patriotism propounded by rising for the national anthem is delusional, until we also learn to rise above blinkered beliefs and archetypes that exist within the society and which, the very national hymn that we love to croon prohibits; the essence generated by emotions of patriotism is also lost unless humming the national psalm also inculcates the desire to practice unity and brotherhood which the anthem underscores in such words: “the Order of this Scared Land is the might of the brotherhood of the people.”
And yet, brotherhood and its might are terms that are currently totally lost on the whole of the Pakistani nation, as we stand polarized and divided like never before with gaping fissures that have no likelihood of healing anytime soon. A total lack of harmony within the society has rendered patriotism synonymous with partisan ideals, a (mis)understanding thoroughly exploited by political players and the ruling elites. Party loyalty and patriotism are shrewdly allied in such a way by the ruling classes that being faithful to your country entails supporting a certain political leader and their party; a situation where you are told that not siding with a particular political party is tantamount to your being a ‘traitor’ and guilty of treason. Such extremely dangerous contentions are carving an equally perilous trajectory en route in which love for one’s country is being exploited and misrepresented for political gains and vested interests. It is rightly said: “Often, monsters masquerade as patriots and manipulate patriotic sentiments to serve their own ends.”
This aligning of partisan political goals, party loyalty, and chauvinistic following with nation-centric patriotism has done more damage to the jist of the latter than go-green jingoism, contorting its very definition as the political elite stretches and elongates its scope to suit its self-bolstering motives. Moreover, religious loyalty is also rendered synonymous with party and country loyalty, where ideological adherents follow the popular leader’s populist narrative while he propagandizes the precarious conjoining of two supposedly identical ideals, accusing any defectors of idolism!
Patriotism is neither there to serve the ruling elite, nor to pander to the citizens’ complexes and intolerant ideals about self-preservation and identity. For any citizen, patriotism should go beyond party and individual loyalty, while putting the love of one’s land above partisan interests should be a natural choice. Unfortunately, under the present toxic, propagandist, populist political culture what’s happening is more so the opposite.
But even pure love for one’s homeland needs to be guided and guarded to prevent the sentiment from turning into a misguided mash machine and for it to be all-encompassing and unbiased. Philosopher Simon Keller in his book, The Ethics of Patriotism: A Debate, argues against the proposition that patriotism is “a character trait that the ideal person would possess,” and that patriotism is mostly misguided, often synonymous with xenophobia. The crux of Keller’s proposition is that patriotic inclinations lead patriots to refute unflattering truths about their country and its leaders while making them prejudiced towards other races. While sincere patriotism should accept and own negative truths about a country and its conduct, it often doesn’t, as one’s country appears infallible when viewed from the lens of parochial patriotism.
Chauvinistic adherence to one’s homeland defies cosmopolitanism in a fast blending world if there is no forbearance or regard for pluralism. Putting the country above the self can also lead to highly prejudiced tendencies, while even more dangerous is the pretense of putting the country above the self, a ploy that our ruling classes have mastered and conducted with utmost expertise and brazenness. They fool the citizens for the sake of the country’s good, while, in fact, they are the real beneficiaries of all their moves. Hence, “The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government,” says American political activist, Thomas Paine.
Another defining feature of patriotism is for its devotees to put contribution above consumption, something that grossly fails us, as we love to strip the country of all its resources and whatever it has to offer much more than contribute towards it. The blessing of the multiple freedoms that the homeland bestows upon us is never exercised with care or responsibility either, as we continue to transgress and trespass, breaking all limits along the way.
George Kateb, another renowned philosopher also endorses that patriotism promotes self-love and discourages inclusivity and pluralism, as we strive to nurture the purebred only. Exclusive attachment to one’s nation has led critics to view the sentiment of patriotic pride as morally hazardous, giving rise to chauvinism that is incompatible with cosmopolitanism and the acceptance of equal worth of all human beings. This holds true, particularly, in the context of Pakistan where we witness an alarming degree of intolerance towards religious minorities and the marginalized in every sphere of life. Encouraging patriotic jingoism and its vulgar display, whether through pedagogic textbooks, no-holds-barred social media, or crassly emblematic national day celebrations, has, over the years, buttressed an already prevalent wave of ethnic violence, intolerance, and hate crimes in the country.
“More sympathetic approaches to patriotism have sought to ground it in new forms of loyalty that are compatible with universal values, respect for human rights, and tolerance of ethnic and national differences,” adds Kateb. At the heart of this enriched interest in patriotism lies the conviction that stable, democratic societies require a strong sense of allegiance on the part of their citizens. “Truly democratic states committed to equality and equity rely on citizens who can make sacrifices for the common good, be it in terms of reallocation of revenues to meet welfare needs of people across the board or the provision of collective goods and services such as food, healthcare, and education.” Guided patriotism induces a strong sense of solidarity and camaraderie within stable democracies; and since political instability and acrimony mar us today like never before, we need no think tanks to break it to us that we are miles away from achieving any of this.
With the Quaid’s picture adorning the walls, self-proclaimed patriots and nationalists resort to violence, obscene language, offensive gesturing, and sexist expletives, indulging in bouts of fisticuff with their political opponents within the very Parliament that guards the sanctity of the Constitution, our holy grail of law, governance and code of conduct. A blot on the image of the land of the pure, the lawmakers turned lawbreakers continue to assert their love for the country; acting impure in the land of the pure in multiple ways is what makes ‘seasoned’ politicians here, respected and loved for their purported patriotism and real bigotry.
