Editorial 21: Welcome to 1991!

Dear readers,

They say the fashion is circular and the things usually become fashionable again some 20+ years later. Well, they are quite right. In the case of nationalisms and patriotism, referenda and independences.

I remember the bipolar feeling when we saw so many flags on the streets in the beginning in the 90s. Every nation had its own flag, own agenda of independence and perhaps a bit of territorial overlapping. The “Carnival of Independences” was a kind of a travelling circus. Usually accompanied by wars and blood. No, I woke up in the world when in Ukraine there are many different flags, in Syria and Libya, and the forest of flags of Catalonia and Kurdistan followed last week. Again, some unofficial or formerly official German flags became quite popular with the rise of AfD. Some former nations in Africa want to be nations again, so I have seen the white-bly flag of “Ambazonia” (ex-British Cameroon), and deeply African flags of Biafra being hoisted. Whenever one deep division (Communism-Capitalism) is over, some other appears, like nationalism and independentism in 1991. Now, with Islamic States shrinking, and religious differences being put aside a bit, a new quarrels over Shia-Sunni rift, Kurdish-Arabic or Catalan-Castilian, Veneto-Italian… seem to have risen. We can never be left at peace, right? The flags are nice, we love them, the langugages are beautiful, we should all be proud. But not up to the point of spilling each other’s blood. And the wisdom is what we all need now. Otherwise, the Dark Ages of the 90s are going to come back. Grow up. Or welcome back to 1991. One of the two.

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