No future for nationalism The Bundestag has marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the World War I. Keynote speeches in Germanys parliament stressed that nationalism has no prospects, writes DWs Martin Muno. A commemoration in the German Bundestag marking the start of the World War I wasnt just about remembering the 17 million people who were killed, and innumerable others who were maimed and injured. It was also about a question posed by the president of the German parliament, Norbert Lammert: What does the First World War have to do with us? Its more than just commemorating unfathomable suffering or remembering the delusion of the then-powerful who blundered into the great seminal catastrophe of the 20th century. Its also more than acknowledging that World War I was the conflict that marked the beginning of an industrial apocalypse - leading up to dropping the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the calculated killing of 6 million Jews in concentration camps. Its about learning all over the world that nationalism has no prospects - and hasnt had any for a long time. German-French publicist Alfred Grosser, who delivered the keynote speech in the German Parliament, said it in a nutshell: The utter defeat in 1945 generated a different kind of Germany. The federal republic has not been built on a nation, rather on a political ethic. This concept has been dubbed constitutional patriotism by German sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 14:04:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015