A few days ago I read an interesting interview with a political scientist from Switzerland. She argued for a “Republic of Europe” and for a different view on the concept of nation.
Basically what the far right has managed to accomplish over the last decades, is to make people perceive a non-existing unity of the concepts of nation and of “home”.
Historically that is nonsense. Therefore she proposes the nation as more or less an equivalent of the state. Nation is “institutionalized solidarity”. Nation is, “where solidarity in not called into question”.
I think that’s a beautiful picture. Try to think about it. It’s not about opposition against an “other”, it’s about embracing community.
Doesn’t that feel good?