SEPTEMBER 7 2019 LISTENER 17
national anthem, your heart swells and you
feel you belong. But look at what nationalism
has done in the short history of the nation
state.”
The question is of urgent relevance at a
time when Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has stripped Indian-controlled Kashmir,
the country’s only Muslim-majority state, of
its autonomy. The move has stamped India- the world’s largest democracy – as a Hindu
country rather than a secular republic.
In her 2015 book, Fields of Blood, Arm-
strong writes that Zionism is rooted more
in secular nationalism than in any religious
imperative (although the two, she has admit-
ted, are difficult to disentangle). And Brexit,
she says now, is “viscerally anti-immigrant”.
“After the referendum, hate crimes in
London increased by 48%. I was a trustee
of the British Museum at that time and visi-
tors were coming in and yelling at members
of museum staff who were not Caucasian,
saying they had to go home. That is what has
been unleashed by this hideous vote. Let’s
make Britain great again – that means let’s
not have foreigners here, which is insane.
We need them.”GE
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- The World Trade Center south
tower is hit on 9/11. 2. The burial of a
Christchurch mosque-attack victim. 3.
An engraving of the Knights Hospitaller. - White nationalists burn a cross in the
US. 5. A British soldier drags a Catholic
protester in Northern Ireland. 6. The
aftermath of rioting between Hindus
and Muslims in India. 7. A burqa-clad
person with an AK-47 in Beirut. 8. The
beheading of Coptic Christians in Libya.