Story by Refresh News • Yesterday
Ban on flags: football patriotism equals nationalism?© Provided by Refresh Lifestyle CAEN
It’s here again, the high season of football. As always in the luggage:Fan miles mice and public viewing parasites, Schland chanters and flag-wavers. Surprisingly, it is the latter who are now the topic of the discussion, because the young greens seem to be at loggerheads with the German flag.
Shitstorm from the football fans
„For the European Football Championship, we call on all fans not to leave any room for nationalistic ideas! Football fans flags down”, was on Friday evening on the Facebook site read by the Green Youth of Rhineland-Palatinate. An absolute no-go, not only for the common beer hat wearer. Also the reactions of Bundestag politician and the Greens themselves ranged from amusement to horror. For example, SPD politician Johannes Kahrs tweeted that he would now “hang another German flag over the beach chair”.
Green youth calls on football fans, dte. Rolling up the flag would promote nationalism. If we asked that of others, it would be racism
— Julia Kloeckner (@JuliaKloeckner) June 12, 2016
#GreenYouth doesn’t get it: the fans‘ flags are the opposite of the flags of yore: a symbol of cosmopolitan, friendly Germany!
— Peter Altmaier (@peteraltmaier) June 12, 2016
How embarrassing is that. Now I’m hanging a German flag over the beach chair again. Yes sir. https://t.co/tszQ3AAF1R
— Johannes Kahrs (@kahrs) June 12, 2016
The fine line between patriotism and nationalism
“Nationalism is a form of patriotism. Those who define themselves as patriotic exclude others. The effect of patriotism always has consequences and is particularly evident where it presents itself as an aggressive form and stigmatizes the other as an enemy,” writes the Green Youth. One thing is clear: About the fashionable tastelessness of German flags on the face, as headgear, sunglasses or a Mohawk wig cannot be disputed. Apparently yes about the moral intentions behind it. Above all, the Green Youth itself criticizes the “party patriotism” that occurs during major events such as world or European Championships reigns. Is there a greater danger behind the beer bliss after a Schweinsteiger goal than we thought? Again this year there are enough idiots, riots and brawls. Before the opening game of the German team attacked over 50 hooligans Ukrainian fans in the city center of Lille, there were also massive outbreaks of violence among the English and Russians. Should these idiots but represent all football fans or opportunistic biennial viewers who celebrate the EM peacefully? Is it morally reprehensible to be proud of the National team to be?
What the Green Youth forgot somewhere between the search for clicks and the probably intended call for openness and tolerance: patriotism is not the same as nationalism. Patriotism denotes aloud Federal Agency for Civic Education „a special appreciation of the traditions, cultural and historical values and achievements of one’s own people“, whereas nationalism glorifying one’s own nation and belittling other nations. Whether you should see the achievements of the German national team as your own remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: whoever is proud of the achievements of one’s own country is by no means disparaging the values of another. So a patriot is not a nationalist, even if the line is often very thin.
The Germans and national pride
Terms such as love of fatherland and national pride have been difficult to come off the keyboard, and not just since the events of the last few years. Somewhere there is always this bad feeling, the fear of offending someone or someone xenophobic to give any form of confirmation among us. While in countries like the US it works the other way around, with every self-respecting suburban family displaying at least one flag in their front yard, we have a hard time feeling proud of our country. After National Socialism and a decades-long divided Germany national feeling is not a matter of course for most Germans. In fact, many of us find identification with our country rather uncomfortable. With patriotism we are either sarcastic or, at best, very timid. In principle, this is probably often the smarter option: identifying and boasting about yourself and your character traits instead of some outdated stereotypes. But are feelings of national unity just as dangerous, as Jamila Schäfer, federal spokeswoman for the Green Youth, claims? In an interview with Mirror online she explains: „We fundamentally consider national community feelings to be dangerous“ – suggests that the team could also be supported with a green DFB flag.“ You could. But you don’t have to.
You can be proud – at least for two weeks
Of course we distinguish ourselves with Schland calls and German flags and maybe even find ourselves better than the rest of the group for 90 minutes World. In the same way, we grow together a bit, hug complete strangers when we celebrate a goal and suddenly we are a big, happy one familywho is happy about her own country. After a month you glare at the same people you were holding in your arms just before Subway on. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether that’s so bad.
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