December: International

Session 7: Nation

We open with the idea of the Nation. The readings here explore nationhood and nationality as sources of unity as well as division. As you read, think about how you understand the concept of nation. What does it mean to (not) belong to a nation? What is the difference between nationalism identified with a state and those, like the Black and Indigenous nationalists here, often framed as outside of the state? What makes the concept of nationhood useful? How is it constricting? How do war, slavery, and migration shape concepts of nationality? Can nationalism lead to internationalism?

Don’t forget to check out the facilitator guide!

Readings

Core Texts

• Mariame Kaba, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, “Everything Worthwhile Is Done with Other People” (p. 176-186)

  • Free e-books are available from Haymarket Books by clicking the link above. If you would like to send a full PDF of We Do This 'Til We Free Us to an incarcerated comrade, please write: dana [at] haymarketbooks.org.

• Assata Shakur, Assata, Chapter 12 (p. 173-194)

• Emma Goldman, “Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty” (1908) in Voices of a People’s History of the United States

• Muhammad Ali, Speaks Out Against the Vietnam War (1966) in Voices of a People’s History of the United States

• Rita Lasar, “To Avoid Another September 11, U.S. Must Join the World” (2002) in Voices of a People’s History of the United States

• Dan Berger and Emily K. Hobson, Remaking Radicalism, “Borders and Maps”

• International Indian Treaty Council, “Decolonization, Liberation, and the International Community” (1977) in Remaking Radicalism

• Coalition for Immokalee Workers, “Consciousness + Commitment = Change” (2003) in Remaking Radicalism

• Black Hills Alliance position paper (1980) in Remaking Radicalism

• Native American Rights Fund/National Indian Law Library, “Declaration of Indian Independence” (1975) in Remaking Radicalism

• Ashanti Alston, “Beyond Nationalism But Not Without It” (2001) in Remaking Radicalism

Supplemental Texts

• Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa zine

• Kelly Lytle Hernández, City of Inmates zine

• June Jordan, “July 4, 1974”

• Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, “On Violence”

Discussion Questions

• Journalistic accounts sometimes refer to white supremacists as “nationalists.” US wars have often been waged in the alleged “defense of the nation.” From a rather different perspective, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and other freedom movement leaders are sometimes referred to as “Black nationalists” (Alston). Further complicating this question, Angela Davis and Black Panther leaders like Assata Shakur and George Jackson often identify as “internationalists” motivated by “revolutionary nationalism.” Given these differences, how might we define “nationalism”? What about “internationalism”?

• How do geography (Berger and Hobson) and legal standing (International Indian Treaty Council, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Black Hills Alliance position paper)—as well as the stated political orientations of leaders and thinkers, and the groups with which they identify—shape how we define them with regard to these terms? Use the texts mentioned here to craft your response.

• Drawing on the International Indian Treaty Council and the Native American Rights Fund, what is the connection between decolonization, internationalism, and independence? How do rituals and customs as well as notions of sanction shape how people decide who is authorized to represent them—for Indigenous peoples as well as their interlocutors?

• Based particularly on the readings by Kaba and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, identify some linkages between migration and internationalism.

• Ida B. Wells characterizes the kind of violence white supremacists wielded in the post-Emancipation US as mob rule. Mobs have been depicted as inchoate and unwieldy throughout history, yet Wells makes a more specific argument about how whiteness gets bound up with policing. What is it? What makes mob rule different from the way protest movements mobilize and wield force? How does Emma Goldman help us make sense of this distinction between the “violence” of a riot or protest and what Wells calls “mob rule”?

• How does social difference shape who has access to capital and social mobility—as well as how people are governed—in any given nation? Reference Rita Lasar and Mariame Kaba in developing your response.