Slovakia is in the middle of an identity debate as there has been a bill put forth to compel more identification with Slovakia--more anthem-playing, more flag-waving, etc.
The really interesting thing is that there is a fair amount of push-back:
Earlier this month, nearly a thousand students, teachers and parents took to the streets, chanting, “No to Patriotism!” in front of the palace of the president, Ivan Gasparovic. Some, dressed in traditional Slovak folk costumes, defiantly sang the national anthem — whose words, nationalists had complained, many of them did not know.Enough folks see this as the empty (yet costly, compelling schools to buy flags and other stuff) posturing that it is. On the other hand, this seems pretty familiar--I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance growing up in the US although I don't remember flags in every classroom.
It does sound like Slovaks have a sense of humor about it:
When Mr. Hudak recently made fun of the bill on his program, calling the coat-of-arms a “portrait of white antenna planted in three scoops of Smurf ice-cream” and the national anthem a “not very well done poem about bad weather over the Tatra mountains” the vice-chairwoman of the right-wing Slovak National Party, Anna Belousovova, called him “perverted” and threatened criminal charges. His ratings soared.And the young folks are pretty bright:
The law has attracted the particular ire of students. Veronika Kosnirova, a 19 year-old senior at Mr. Kyndl’s school, said that being forced to listen to a recording of the national anthem would inspire giggles rather than pride. “You can’t force identity on people,” she saidThis is where I would make the predictable remark that the parties in Quebec don't get it.
* HT to Sherrill S for the fb link.
1 comment:
Good post. Everyone should defy the anthem-playing, flag-waving, etc.
The USA is a case in point. The USA's Pledge of Allegiance was the origin of the Nazi salute, and the swastika -although an ancient symbol- was used to represent crossed S-shapes for "socialism" under the National Socialist German Workers Party.
Francis Bellamy (cousin of author Edward Bellamy) was a socialist in the Nationalism movement and authored the Pledge of Allegiance (1892), the origin of the stiff-armed salute adopted much later by the National Socialist German Workers Party. See the work of the symbologist Dr. Rex Curry.
http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
The early pledge began with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. In practice, the second gesture was performed palm-down with a stiff-arm when the military salute was merely pointed out at the flag. Thus, the military salute led to the Nazi salute in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States.
http://rexcurry.net/pledge_military.html
It was not an ancient Roman salute. That is a myth debunked by Dr. Curry, who showed that the myth came from the Pledge.
http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html
American national socialists (including Edward Bellamy), in cooperation with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, popularized the use of the Swastika (an ancient symbol) as a modern symbol for socialism long before the symbol was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) and used on its flag. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
See also http://rexcurry.net/45th-infantry-division-swastika-sooner-soldiers.html
The Bellamys influenced the National Socialist German Workers Party and its dogma, rituals and symbols (e.g. robotic collective chanting to flags; and the modern use of the swastika as crossed S-letters for "Socialism" under German National Socialism). Similar alphabetical symbolism was used under the NSDAP for the "SS" division, the "SA," the "NSV," et cetera and similar symbolism is visible today as the VW logo (the letters "V" and "W" joined for "Volkswagen"). http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter4a1a2a1.html
The Bellamys wanted the government to take over all food, clothing, shelter, goods and services and create an "industrial army" to impose their "military socialism." See the video documentary at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BssWWZ3XEe4
It is the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): ~60 million killed under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; ~50 million under the Peoples' Republic of China; ~20 million under the National Socialist German Workers' Party. http://rexcurry.net/socialists.html
Today, the flag symbolizes authoritarianism in the USA. The historical facts above explain the enormous size and scope of government today, and the USA's police state, and why it is growing so rapidly. They are reasons for minarchy: massive reductions in government, taxation, spending and socialism.
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