– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

People are amazing. Working together as

part of social groups, human beings have

created an enormously dynamic connected

world. We've become the species that has

been most successful on this planet. And

we do so because we cooperate. We work

within societies.

However, you may have noticed. We live

in a world full of conflict. We live in

a world which has a depleted

environment. We have a world of

increasing inequality

and millions of people migrating to try

and find a better life.

Now, the political environment which

this all takes place in is what we call

nationalism. We all live in these things

we call nations which creates a sense of

us and them. We live within borders and

we have a sense of self-interest and we

are told we need armies to protect us

through all of this. I want to ask a

tricky question. I want to ask is

nationalism good for you and is

nationalism good for this world? Now I'm

a social anthropologist. What we do is

we look at how society works. We look at

social cohesion. Why is it you feel

you're part of one group and not another

sort of group? And of course, if we're

interested in social cohesion and

groups, we are inevitably also

interested in conflict.

Now, the most amazing groups in a way

are nations. These are groups of

millions of people who all feel that

they're in some way the same. So it's

important that we critically understand

how nations work and what their impact

is. So firstly, I'm probably going to

surprise some of you with some

something. You may think that your

nation is hundreds and hundreds of years

old. I have to tell you that's almost

certainly wrong.

uh human beings through their existence

have lived in a whole range of different

sorts of political systems. But broadly

speaking, the group that was most

important to you would have been your

kith and your kin, the family you were

born into, your clan or your lineage.

Now, as societies got more complex and

you got hierarchies um with with leaders

and monarchies, uh society formed

through what we call the state. But

through most of that history, your kith

and your kin, your family would still

have been the most important group in

your life. They would have placed you in

the society that you're in. you would

have had rituals and symbols, religion

and myth that would have given you a

form of social cohesion.

Social and political scientists broadly

agree that the modern nation only really

comes in um and around the 19th and into

the 20th centuries. That's a sort of a

populist ethnational

group. This is after the reformation and

the enlightenment, industrialization,

urbanization, democratization and the

tensions between social classes that we

start to develop a sort of large

cohesive

sort of compliant social group. And this

may sound strange, but nations are

pretty much all the same. They're a

group of people who claim a particular

territory and they have a history that

legitimizes that with a narrative of

continuity over time, usually connected

to a language or religion or some

element of their social identity.

And that that history usually contains

stories of suffering particularly around

battles and wars and is full of heroes

and martyrs that the stories are told

of. And then you build statues to all

the heroes and martyrs and you come up

with flags and you have anthems. And

then you have playwrights and actors and

musicians who all start to present

emotionally how that nation hangs

together.

Um and and the people in that nation are

usually told and think that somehow they

are braver or better than other nations

and then occasionally you have a leader

who gets up and tries to persuade you

that they are the greatest nation. Okay.

And part of that you stereotype all of

your neighbors nations, right? We're all

very familiar with that sort of thing.

And that comes about because of what we

sometimes call everyday nationalism. How

do you become

part of these identities? You're sort of

born into it. You're given a name. All

around you are lots of street names and

and and building names which all connect

you to this history. You end up going to

school when you're taught a particular

history. And what's more, you're told

it's your history, right? And then there

are commemorations. There are museums

which will tell you about what your

history is. There's memorials. There's

memorial days. All right? But more than

that, there's events in your life. The

sporting events where you remember the

great wins or the great losses that your

nation has. And there are dramas on the

TV when all of this is explained to you.

And that's because the nation is

reproduced in our everyday life. Or to

put in another way, the nation is a

social construction.

So that your sense of self is intimately

linked to the group and it's emotionally

linked. It's been part of your life.

It's been part of your family's life.

It's part of your family's history. So

in that way, the idea of the nation is

linked to something which is very close

to you. And that will make people do

inspiring things, amazing things. It

makes people go and die in wars for this

huge large groups. That's actually

really quite an extraordinary thing to

think about. It's made people fight in

revolutions. This emotionalfilled idea

has also helped us build and define

rights for citizens and make citizens

feel protected so that the well-being of

the individual appears to be linked to

the well well-being of this large social

group. And I tell you who knows how this

work. Politicians know how this work.

Because when they want to get elected,

they will stand by the flag and they

will tell you that they best represent

your nation and they will make your

nation great again.

But there's another story to be told

about nations and nationalism.

The violence of the 19th and 20th

century saw millions and millions of

poor people die in the name of defending

their nation.

Ideas of superiority around race and

gender were built into nationalism and

empire.

European empires stormed across the

globe, invading other places and spaces.

And in fact oppos often inventing

new countries and often inventing new

countries we'd have complicated

ethnicities in which were almost

inevitably going to end in many of the

civil wars that we see today. Those

countries were exploit exploited um in

forms of extraction so that the empires

could survive. That is a complicated and

difficult world. So how do we remember

that history? Well, ironically,

we sort of remember the wars of that

time in a heroic sort of way. We put up

memorials and commemorate our people

that have died for that empire.

All right? We we we thank our

forefathers for the work that they have

done. This I suggest you is the politics

of the dead. We don't actually remember

a lot of other amazing things like you

scientists trying to cure malaria or or

or overcoming famine or the rights we've

managed to give to people or the

literacy we've spread around the world.

The stories of war seem more powerful

than all of this.

So I want to suggest something. Suggest

something a bit radical.

The debt we owe is not to the past. The

debt we owe is to the future. The debt

we owe is to the living and those yet to

come about. The debt we owe is the

future of our children.

Now, I can see a problem here, and you

can probably see a problem. You're going

to see to me, right, these nations are

just going to disappear in this amazing

world that I'm suggesting we could have.

Well, it is, of course, very, very

difficult. But there are things that

suggest that we might be up to that

challenge. We know humans are very good

at cooperating and very good at creating

solidarity. If you ask most people in

this room, they would accept that all

human beings, it should have basic human

rights.

Many of you will be part of enormous

generous processes to try and help

people in other parts of the world in

humanitarian projects. And we know we

have a common interest with people. We

experienced COVID. We're experiencing

everything that takes place in the

environment. All right? So we know we

need to work with the world in creating

a different place and we also know that

we're capable of organizing this because

ironically nations and world religions

work on a global scale. So we know we

can do these things. So I've got a few

suggestions.

Look again at nationalism.

Ask where it came from and when. and

don't get too sucked in to the myths and

the stories about your nation.

Secondly, I think we need to lose the

militarization

our nations appear to have been built

upon and we need to think about some

core values that we can share across

humanity. And I'm thinking of trust and

partnership. I'm thinking of reciprocity

and generosity. And I'm thinking of the

values of equality, justice, and human

rights.

Maybe we could have a few statues and

songs that remember humanity and

cooperation.

Nationalism, I think, is a uniquely

dangerous form of political organizing.

We need to understand it.

We need to build new bonds of solidarity

beyond the nation. And we need to do so

because we owe it to our children.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
dynamic /daɪˈnæm.ɪk/ B2	adjective - characterized by constant change, activity, or progress
cooperate /koʊˈɒp.ər.eɪt/ B1	verb - to work together toward the same end
inequality /ˌɪn.ɪˈkwɒl.ə.ti/ B2	noun - lack of equality; disparity
nationalism /ˈnæʃ.ən.əl.ɪ.zəm/ C1	noun - identification with one's own nation and support for its interests
anthropologist /ˌæn.θrəˈpɒl.ə.dʒɪst/ C1	noun - an expert in the study of human societies and cultures
cohesion /koʊˈhiː.ʒən/ C2	noun - the action or fact of forming a united whole
lineage /ˈlɪn.i.ɪdʒ/ C1	noun - direct descent from an ancestor; ancestry
hierarchy /ˈhaɪə.rɑː.ki/ B2	noun - a system in which members are ranked according to status
legitimize /lɪˈdʒɪt.ə.maɪz/ C2	verb - to make something conform to the law or rules
continuity /ˌkɒn.tɪˈnjuː.ə.ti/ C1	noun - the unbroken and consistent existence of something over time
martyr /ˈmɑː.tər/ C2	noun - a person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs
stereotype /ˈster.i.ə.taɪp/ B2	verb - to view or represent as a stereotype
commemoration /kəˌmem.əˈreɪ.ʃən/ C1	noun - the action or fact of commemorating a dead person or past event
reciprocity /ˌres.ɪˈprɒs.ə.ti/ C2	noun - the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit
militarization /ˌmɪl.ɪ.tər.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ C2	noun - the action of process of preparing for war

Key Grammar Structures

• We've become the species that has been most successful on this planet.

  ➔ Present Perfect Tense

  ➔ Used to describe a state that started in the past and continues to have relevance in the present.

• You may have noticed.

  ➔ Modal verb of probability (may) + Perfect Infinitive

  ➔ Used to speculate about a past action or event.

• I want to ask is nationalism good for you and is nationalism good for this world?

  ➔ Indirect Question / Embedded Questions

  ➔ Integrating a direct question into another sentence by changing the structure.

• You may think that your nation is hundreds and hundreds of years old.

  ➔ Object Clause (that-clause)

  ➔ A clause that functions as the direct object of the verb 'think'.

• The group that was most important to you would have been your kith and your kin.

  ➔ Relative Clause & Modal Perfect (would have been)

  ➔ Used to describe a hypothetical situation or a past possibility/conclusion.

• And that that history usually contains stories of suffering.

  ➔ Adverb of frequency (usually)

  ➔ Positioned before the main verb to indicate how often the action happens.

• The nation is a social construction.

  ➔ Passive Voice (implied by noun phrase definition)

  ➔ This structure is used to define an abstract concept by linking it to a noun.

• The debt we owe is to the future.

  ➔ Reduced Relative Clause

  ➔ The relative pronoun 'that' or 'which' is omitted after 'debt'.