A busy day for nationalism.
The Boston tea party was carried out in 1773 by a group of American colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawks. The Sons of Liberty dumped tea into Boston harbour to protest the Tea Tax imposed by the British on Colonial America.
Today in 1838 the Battle of Blood River was fought between a group of Voortrekkers and a Zulu Impi. The Zulu dead turned the Ncome river red with their blood. The Afrikaners used this battle to foster white Afrikaner nationalism despite being allied with local people in the battle.
In 1971 the Pakistani military finally surrendered today in fighting the insurgency against their rule in Bangladesh. The intervention of India in the conflict was a decisive factor in Bangladesh’s war of independence.
Nationalisms of every sort require founding myths to touch the emotions of their followers and in this way resemble religions. The key work is to transform the myths to achieve social cohesion rather than division?
– Posted by Douglas Racionzer (serendipiday.blogspot.com)