Nationalism is defined as showing loyalty to one’s country
through patriotism and support.
Dictionary.com talks about citizens practicing nationalism through
supporting movements and the aspirations of their own country.
Experiencing Nationalism
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(AFP Photo/ Nicolas Asfouri)
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In “Nationalism, not
Buddhism, Thailand’s true religion” by Sanitsuda Ekachai from the Bangkok Post, Ekachai talks about conflict bringing the Thais together, in more ways than one. Buddhism may be the main religion of the country
but even when the religion is corrupt, the country joins together to reach a
common goal. When asked about committing crimes in their country to push
refuges out of Thailand, a Thai said, “Fear fueled by prejudice often drives people to make cruel choices. Life is full of difficult dilemmas; we all know
that. We may not agree with that choice, but we can understand it.” Although
they are committing crimes trying to get these people out of their country,
they are showing loyalty to their country by supporting this movement.
Thailand is in agreement to push out desperate Muslim
Rohingya, a minority which endures persecution in Myanmar, and Bangladeshi boat
people back out to the sea and let fate take care of them, for the past month.
The conflict all began when the Rohingya Muslims said they were forced to leave the
country by armed men with knives and guns. “Human Rights Watch claims Rohingya
migrants beaten, forced onto boats” by Euan McKirdy on CNN’s website. This
article goes more into depth about how the migrants ended up in the region of
Thialand after being forced out of their own country for their beliefs. Caught
in the middle, the people of Thailand are trying to get to take care of as many
migrants as possible but they can’t take in all of them.
Danger in Nationalism
Zakaria sees danger in the rise of nationalism in his book Post-American
World because the U.S. has always been the dominant world power and “the
rise of the rest” is among us. Countries
that usually wouldn’t have been seen as competition are now coming up to the
plate ready to play for the control.
This is dangerous because not all countries can be number one but they
can all try.
The history of military practices in Thailand is filled with
armed struggles from the past thousand years. From fighting for independence to
conflict with the colonial empires of Britain and France, Thailand has faced
problems just getting started. The
region that Thailand is located in is just recipe for conflict because its
right in the center of south-eastern Asia.
History of Conflict in Thailand
War for rewards like independence and the creation of their
own country differ from wars through conflict caused by religion in many
ways. In 2004, war on religion and
ethnic identity was knocking at Thailand’s door when efforts to impose Siamese
values, language and customs were persistent.
The people of Thailand practice different religions, so pushing views
one-way runs straight for conflict.
While many Thais are Buddhist, many are also Muslim. Fights on trying to run one religion out
break out fairly quickly. And other
religions throughout the country are unable to avoid conflict either.
Inequality
Inequality is present in Thailand. The country has been looking up through
dropping its poverty level very rapidly, but the inequality lies in where the
growth and prosperity is located. The
poverty doesn’t spread far. It’s focused
in the rural areas of the country.
Growth is stuck in the cities and urban areas. This leads to problems like not having birth
certificates and being unable to be recognized as citizens or even, really,
humans. This also creates child labor in
Thailand. Although as Thailand grows
this number is bound to go down, it shouldn’t be such a large problem in the
first place. A blog posted titled,
“Growing Inequality in Thailand” by Allsion Meade at http://borgenproject.org/growing-inequality-in-thailand/ goes
into more depth on the roadblocks Thailand is facing.
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damir.photoshelter.com
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Thailand is still continuing to grow and as that happens
problems like these in rural areas will be addressed and altered for the
betterment of the country. I think
Thailand is headed in the right direction and is moving at a quick pace to make the necessary changes.
Sources
Post-American World 2.0 by Zakaria
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