Back in force

Chauvinism, jingoism, xenophobia and racism all seem to be raising their ugly heads, but they are the symptoms of different mental structures. The first two are French and English versions of the same thing: the sentiment, going back to the 19^th century, of being the greatest and best nation in the world. The third is a morbid rejection of anything and anyone foreign. The last considers that humanity is divided into species according to their physical attributes and the colour of their skin. French and English pretentiousness has been crushed by two world wars and the loss of empire, but chauvinism and jingoism have a strong subliminal persistence, not only in their countries of origin. Xenophobia closes the mind to everything different coming from outside a sometimes very restricted perimeter. Racism imagines a human hierarchy where some particularities are superior to others. Gobineau (1816-1882) was among the first to theorise this notion and placed northern Europeans at the top of the pyramid. But it originated in the abject treatment of subject populations by colonial conquerors (1). As America is the best example of what is happening around the world, chauvinism and jingoism are epitomised by MAGA and “America First”, xenophobia is the reaction to immigrants, and racism is, as always, about white supremacy.

1. See Theodore Allen’s “The Invention of the White Race”