SUPPORT this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/c/thinkinggg 

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Nationalism, for many people, is a bad word. They associate it with xenophobia, a sense of superiority, and exclusion. Many believe that nationalism inevitably leads to fascism or Nazism.

In this episode, I want to challenge these views. Yes, nationalism can lead to dangerous practices, but it can also be something very different — because its roots are different. It grew out of the 19th-century discourse of democracy and republics, in opposition to tyranny and despotism. In this sense, nationalism has been much closer to liberalism and socialism than many people think. Like them, it can be moderate or radical.

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This is a podcast “Thinking in Dark Times”. My name is Volodymyr Yermolenko. I am a Ukrainian philosopher, president of PEN Ukraine, and chief editor of UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine. 

I am staying in Ukraine with my family during the war, continuing to teach at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and doing volunteer work to support Ukrainian resistance. 

The goal of this podcast is to see the light through and despite the current darkness. 

This podcast is not about Ukraine, but it is thinking from Ukraine and shaped by the Ukrainian experience. 

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You can support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/thinkinggg 

Please also check out our website, UkraineWorld.org, and our other podcast, Explaining Ukraine.

This episode is produced in partnership with Politeia, a Ukrainian NGO dedicated to preparing a new generation of change-makers.