CIVIL Media asked the citizens of Skopje today, what according to them is the difference between nationalism and patriotism.
Some of those who were surveyed said that there is a huge difference between these two terms, while others consider they are the same thing.
“Nothing. One is positive, and the other is negative. Nationalism is negative, and patriotism is positive”, says one citizen.
“There is no difference, it is the same. Maybe we can make a difference between fascism and patriotism, but nationalism is patriotism”, was decisive one citizen.
“There is no difference, both one and the other are bad. For me, neither one of them is good. It is not nice to be a nationalist, and it is also not good to be a fascist. All of this that we have here in Macedonia is fake patriotism”, says one of the respondents.
Another one says: “The difference is big! Patriotism is love towards the country, whereas the basis of nationalism is hatred towards the other, and those two things should not be confused”.
One citizen was not sure what the difference is, but says that still there is one: “I would not make any big distinction between one and the other. We feel patriotism, and that is natural. And regarding nationalism, I would say that there is something extreme here. Nationalism does not sound nice to me”.
Maja Ivanovska
camera: Dehran Muratov
