Ive always been uncomfortable with the phrase “Irish Nationalism”.
I, obviously, love the idea of preserving and renewing Irish Culture and using that to heal the scars of colonisation but I don’t like the implications of Nationalism.
To me the idea of Nationalism is anothet thing that was imposed upon us by our colonisers. It’s a distinctly Coloniser mentality; it’s Nationalism that made the British think they were superior to us and had the right to opress us. It creates an Us and Them mentality that always puts “Us” at conflict with “Them”.
We’re still in the process of rebuilding Irish Culture and I worry that doing that under the name of “Nationalism” will only lead to a culture built with the same mentality as those who oppressed us and build an extremely un-Irish Ireland.
Ireland should not hate immigrants or refugees. The people of Ireland should not hate or look down on people of other nations snd I feel the only way to avoid this is to steer clear of the term Nationalism.
At the same time we should embrace our culture. Some people have suggested the term Decolonisation to me and while I think its a more or less perfect term I feel trepidation at commandeering a term specifically coined by communities that are still actively suffering colonialism.
In the the.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s various societies and organisations wete established with the intention of restoring various aspects of Irish Culture.
Historically this period is referred to as The Gaelic Revival and I think that might be the perfect term to replace Irish Nationalism.
Not only because it avoids the term Nationalism but also because it avoids the principles of Nationalism in that it includes our Gaelic cousin cultures throughout much of the UK and Europe.
Though we.must be wary not to exclude people either. Anyone living in Ireland should be welcome and encouraged to participate in Irish culture, but at the same time it.must not be expectef of them or forced on them. And we must remember that people peacefully bringing their own cultural practices to this country is not the same as violent invaders forcing their culture upon us.
The slow, gradual change of culture that comes from building friendships across cultures is a good and natural thing that we should treasure alongside our heritage, language and folklore.