I am nationalist

27 02 2013

I’ve got many identities. I’m a man, bridge player, liberal, mushroom-picker, white, European, human, I was born and live in Vilnius, etc. However, when somebody asks me, ‘What are you?’, first of all I reply, ‘Lithuanian.’

I do not mean, ‘I’ve got pure Lithuanian blood,’ or ‘my predecessors were all Lithuanians,’ or similar rubbish. Being Lithuanian means to me three basic things: language, self-identification, and the place of living.

Language is deciding

Speaking Lithuanian is crucial to being Lithuanian in my eyes. If you have already learnt to speak in common human way and you still don‘t speak Lithuanian with Lithuanians, then you definitely are not Lithuanian.

Self-understanding is of high importance too

If somebody speaks fluent Lithuanian, but doesn’t consider himself Lithuanian, then he certainly isn‘t Lithuanian. For instance, if anybody’s mother tongue is Lithuanian, but he considers himself Jewish, then in my eyes he is Jewish and he is not Lithuanian.

Lithuanians live in Lithuania

In my opinion, Lithuanians should appreciate living in Lithuania. If a Lithuanian lives abroad and raises his children as foreign nationals, in my eyes, he is not Lithuanian any more.

The Lithuanian nation is my extended family

I’m egoist. In fact, I love the people that are close to me and on whom I can rely if I need. I love my mother, my second part, and some close relatives and friends as well.

That’s my flag

Being a very selfish person, I highly appreciate the people who make me feel safe and comfortable. So, I like to be with those people who speak the languages that I speak or understand myself.

However, my mother tongue is Lithuanian, I grew up in Lithuania, so Lithuanians are of extreme importance to me. Only with Lithuanians I can feel myself at my full ease —confident that there will be no misunderstanding for either cultural or language reasons.

With Lithuanians I feel as if I was among my remote relatives, in my larger family of sorts.

I‘m ready to fight for my nation

When I was 9, I was still loyal to the Communist regime of the USSR. However, being about ten-years-old, under the influence of my family, I changed my self-understanding completely. Since then, I identify myself as a member of the Lithuanian nation.

I am man. As opposite to women, who are biologically devised to live for their men and children, most men need to be members of some community, group of people they can identify themselves with.

Men are meant to fight for their packs and even die if it is necessary. I’m sure that a man simply cannot be truly happy without this. Women will never understand it, however.

So, I have chosen to be first of all Lithuanian. That’s my basic identity, and it’s made me what I am.

Being nationalist gives my life sense. I could do many things in my life, but doing anything for the sake of my nation means participating in something more important than me. My gods do not order me to serve them humbly, they are first of all protectors of my nation. Doing something for the Lithuanians means doing it for my gods too.

In my eyes, nothing can be more noble for a man than devoting his efforts to his nation. Hardly anything can give more satisfaction either.

The State is secondary to the Nation

I do not appreciate the current Republic of Lithuania. As a nationalist, I’m ready to defend Lithuania as the land of my nation, but I owe no allegiance to the state that is currently bearing its name.

The second Republic of Lithuania has proven to be an extremely ruinous project for the Lithuanian nation, that has already lost about a quarter of its people in less than a quarter of a century.

So, I’m no patriot at all. I usually mourn on the Day of the State and the Day of Independence of the current Republic of Lithuania.

However, the non-Lithuanian citizens of Lithuania are not strange to me. They live in Lithuania, more or less speak Lithuanian, so they belong somehow to my nation though not completely.

In my eyes, a loyal non-Lithuanian who lives in Lithuania is more important to my nation than a true Lithuanian who has emigrated and has no intention to return.

I sympathise with other nationalists

I never compare the Lithuanians with other nations as I never compare my mother with other mothers. Loving YOUR nation —which is not necessary MY nation— seems natural and human to me, at least, as it concerns men.

Therefore, I almost always support, at least emotionally, the nations that fight for their independence. And I usually sympathise with other nationalists, even those whose nationalism threatens my own nation.

What do you think about it?