A Belgrade view. Photo used with permission of author.It was a pleasant Sunday evening in Elbasan, Albania. Crowds were murmuring in the streets, creating a ruckus rarely seen in the town before. Police were everywhere. Trained snipers were strategically positioned on rooftops of every highrise in town. In approximately 2 hours, an event attracting tens of thousands of people would start; defining everyday life in the Balkans for weeks to come. It was a football game, a EURO qualifier, a game between Albania and its archrival, Serbia.
A wise man once said, “Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it.” Although many might silently nod their heads in agreement with this statement, or at least the message it entails, this analytical sentiment often leaves us blinded to the modern day importance of one’s country of birth (or choice for that matter).
What is even more worrying is the insufferable ease with which people today decide to nonchalantly take this prevailing sentiment outside its borders, entering arenas of nationalism, perhaps even chauvinism, completely unaware of the fact that they have crossed that line. Finally, the concern does not stop there, given that this trend is not in decline, on the contrary. With all the globalization, international trade, foreign direct investment and partnerships that exist in today’s day and age, the feelings of patriotism may have shrunk, but the feelings of nationalism are definitely on the rise.
