Banksy is back with his new creation, a statue. Just a black statue with a man holding a flag that covers his entire face. That suited man is stepping off the pedestal, blinded by the flag. A general person's mind sparked the question, "How did it get here?" in the heart of Central London. But to every politically aware mind, no questions rose, only a concern and fear. Fear of a fiction and an idea taking a real shape.
Hyper-nationalism is not a new thing; we saw it every time. Different local governments preach for conservative ideas and for unity, they stick to the nationalist ideas to the core. To the point where they are willing to create factions within minority communities, not considering them worthy enough to be called citizens. But it rarely made it into mainstream politics.
We saw the rise of Hitler, Mussolini and different fascists, who used hyper-nationalism as the core idea of dictating their political path. And they carved a deep scar into the lives of ordinary people beyond their own borders. It felt like it was over. Hyper-nationalism would not rise again, right? People saw how hatred divided. It killed millions and destroyed acres upon acres of land.
But they were wrong, traces of hyper-nationalism are already visible. Even countries like the US and India are already being identified for this genre of politics. But is anyone naming it plainly? A young fascism, already growing, already loud, and the people with microphones are too careful with their language to say what it actually is. They call it populism. They call it national pride. They dress it in the flag and let it walk. Nobody wants to be the one who said the word first.
But what we do know is that they are lost. That man in Banksy's statue was stepping off the pedestal, waiting to slip off. That reflects one of the key points of politics. "Never be too blinded, because you are leading the dark road alone. No one will help you on the way." When a leader is blinded by a single ideology, he slips off track, losing what he was meant to do.
As the saying goes, "Silk is the most luxurious fabric, but never suitable for a spiked sidewalk." The silk of over-relying on a single ideology will never work out on the crucial and volatile field of politics like that spiked sidewalk.
