Nation State is a term that is divided from 2 words, namely "Nation" is an area that contains history, culture and religion, while "State" is a system that regulates the nation within it, which we often call the state. So it can be concluded that a nation state is a political concept that contains history, culture, religion that is collected and regulated by the state through law (self rule) and laws or it can also be interpreted as a place of nationhood.
The emergence of the nation state is actually inseparable from the intellectual dialectic that wants to break away from a single hegemony, namely the hegemony of the church, so that it causes turmoil and the formation of sovereignty based on territorial and ownership that has been spread, which we can see and feel to this day.
The nation state is inseparable from the movement of nationalism or love of nation so that many produce texts and words such as protecting sovereignty, maintaining sovereignty and defending sovereignty, but the reality is not only texts and words, but also practices that we can see in terms of defence such as: soldiers, warships, warplanes and also cyber power, even many countries are increasing the defence budget as an effort to move towards concrete nationalism. So that the old history does not repeat itself, namely colonialism.
Seeing that of course nationalism is like death and life or can refer to Indonesia's tagline "NKRI Harga Mati" since the concept, the state will tend to do the same thing with different texts and words, however, the meaning is the same as what is done by Israel against Palestine, Russia against Ukraine and other wars between countries that we have seen as history.
With the system of sovereignty or ownership that is often inspired as a form of love for the homeland by protecting and defending it, of course this kind of thing is a positive construction in the mindset of the state, but the attitude of cynicism with other countries, causing competition, selfishness, and aggression, "Seeing that pre-historic times also did the same thing and the pattern was not much different during the time of hunting collectors, with the tradition of communal chaos with one another here and there in the form of defence as well, it seems that if we face today is another form of modern with different vehicles. Sovereignty, which we often interpret as the art of rights of all exclusive countries, with a form of nationalism that always shines on all countries. Seeing that many countries have the same meaning in each country, there is a mutual cynicism towards each other so that the concept of sovereignty can be perpetuated as the author has described above (increasing the defence budget).
Seeing such a reality, of course the world is in a state of extreme anarchy and potential chaos with each other, although if we refer to the theory of realism, namely balancing of power, perhaps active war can be minimized. But it feels like we have returned to traditional IR, ‘wolves can eat other wolves’, often institutions and laws are increasingly not moving towards a country's behavior when it comes to sovereignty which has become sacred since they have known sovereignty, moreover countries with great power have authority over All of this is not appropriate when it also perpetuates non-compliance with International Humanitarian Law and International Institutions which are produced by liberalism itself and cannot be separated from Human Rights which are also discussed. So there needs to be awareness or re-agreement on how the essence of International Institutions and International Humanitarian Law is presented. Like Israel and Palestine, the issue has not ended for almost a century. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israeli territory, resulting in the deaths of 1,139 people. Seeing this incident, Israel responded with a genocidal Hamas attack, causing the death of 37,877 people since the attack. The Ministry of Health in Gaza added that around 86,377 other people were injured in the attack. On the Palestinian side, under the pretext that Israel is attacking again, this is a form of nationalism that is always predicted and the emergence of texts (self-defense) from the Israeli side because of the boomerang events in the past, namely the Halocaust, apart from the Halocaust, how will justice be for the Palestinians for more than half a century? ? , even though the ICJ and ICC and even the strong arguments given by South Africa at the international court and the global solidarity carried out by students and even all people in the world, but, these warnings and enlightenments are ignored, they still remain firm in their beliefs.
The talk of Israeli leaders about Palestine and what they want to do in Gaza is surprising, especially if we consider that some of these leaders also constantly talk about the horrors of the Holocaust. Indeed, their rhetoric has led the leading Israeli-born Holocaust expert, Omar Bartov, to conclude that Israel is living through a "time of genocide." Holocaust and other genocide researchers have issued similar warnings. In particular, Israeli leaders commonly refer to Palestinians as "human animals", "human animals", and "terrible non-human animals". As Israeli President Isaac Herzog explained, its leaders have all Palestinians in mind, not just Hamas: the entire nation, he said, is responsible. Not surprisingly, as the New York Times reported, calls for the “levelling,” “elimination” or “extermination” of Gaza are part of normal Israeli discourse. A retired IDF general, who said that “Gaza is a place where no one can live,” also noted that “a major epidemic in the southern part of the Gaza Strip brings victory closer.” In addition, Israeli ministers proposed dropping nuclear weapons on Gaza. These statements were not made by individual extremists, but by elite members of the Israeli government. And it was also narrated by former United States presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, writing the words 'finish them' on Israeli missiles. Haley wrote that while on the Israel-Lebanon border. "Destroy them is what former Ambassador Nikki Haley wrote," said Dannon in his upload on X on Tuesday (29/5), as quoted by AFP. And this was strengthened when Israeli missiles hit and targeted hospitals, even though hospitals are the first aid for sustainable life for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian people are also starving.
With the Hamas attacks, Netanyahu continues to claim to be hunting and has a strong ambition to punish Hamas, however, many Palestinian children and people have been sacrificed indiscriminately. And it is very surprising that the attack on Rafah on May 7 2024 was carried out blindly, under the pretext that Rafah was the last stronghold for Hamas, which in fact Rafah is the last place of refuge to live for the Palestinian people. It is wrong if the rulers think that peace will be achieved following defeat. one of the camps in a war, the rulers who position violence as a tool to achieve power forget that the end of a war is not peace. It is violence that will destroy humans. 'History' is a tool to liberate humans and not a tool to bind humans, a tool to make new agreements, not to perpetuate old conflicts. 'History' is not to remember the past, but to be free from it. Likewise, democratic countries like the US promote the concept of human rights but always veto Palestine at the UN so that it does not become a member of the UN. Of course, the question again is what is the essence of human rights according to the US? to the point that Palestinian human rights are different from Ukrainian human rights. Are human rights just a commodity to achieve hidden interests?
This kind of reality requires an awareness, what is the urgency of human life, because humans are not statistical numbers that can only be seen and calculated, but, humans are lives with meaning, need to be explored and understood, that is the essence of human life so that it can be achieved. understand what a human is and that is the essence of Human Rights which must be viewed universally, Sovereignty which we often view as an exclusive art of rights from all countries, must be seen and understood. This concept is an art of controlling love which is oriented towards non-excessiveness, so that you can see Whatever corner, wisdom will emerge subconsciously in managing desires. Desire is for the progress of civilization, without desire there will never be progress, so it is necessary to differentiate between bad and good desires, and that is where the art of controlling desire is needed.
Borrowing the words of an Austrian Psychiatrist and Neurologist who survived the Halocaust victims, "We must be idealists in a way, because then we become true realists, the truth" (Victor Frankl)
Looking at the explanation that the author describes above with the existence of texts, conversations, and nationalist movements, it will never be separated from mutual cynicism, aggressiveness, competitiveness, and selfish, So the response to this reality is the need for full and full awareness to apply the legal basis of salus populi suprema lex esto (Safety of the people is the highest law) and re-present the role of International Institutions or International Humanitarian Law and And listen to global solidarity, that is fair to transcend bad desires and State Sovereignty. Applicable to all countries without exception. Stop Genocide! Stop colonialisme! Stop imperialisme! Now!
Robbi Herfandi, Undergraduate Student of International Relations, Universitas Andalas
Reference
https://mearsheimer.substack.com/p/death-and-destruction-in-gaza
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