Historically, it can be said that the concept of patriotism is of European origin, This concept was born in the late eighteenth century, synonymous with the emergence of European nationalist thought, Here, patriotism and nationalism were combined as if they were one value, In the Arab world, patriotism imposed itself in the last hundred years as a framework for the cohesion of the individual with a geographical, popular, and social component called the homeland, That is, what is called the nation-state came with the patriotism necessary to maintain and protect the homeland!

Although the concept of “patriotism” is neither Arab nor Eastern, its verbal usage is at its peak in the Arab world, It’s similar to democracy, which Arabs have excelled at discussing and emphasizing its necessity, while simultaneously excelling at avoiding and even fighting its implementation, In Europe, one rarely speaks of patriotism, nationalism, or treason, Anyone who speaks of patriotism in the Arab style makes a fool of themselves, because discussing someone’s patriotism is always linked to discussing someone else’s lack of patriotism, In Europe, there is no such thing as someone who is not patriotic, The exaggerated use of the word “patriotism” is accompanied by an exaggerated use of the word “treason,” which is not commonly used in societies outside the Arab world,In the Arab world, however, these terms are used hundreds of thousands of times daily,Anyone with a different opinion is labeled a traitor, just like that, with such simplicity and spontaneity, In reality, the practical meaning of these terms has deviated from their true meaning, and in the context of a general bankruptcy of values, they have become mere tools for praising or accusing someone of treason, His satire, the word “patriotism” has turned into a gateway through which the word “treason” enters, which has also gone bankrupt and is no longer used except for insults, slander, and defamation.

  The content, meanings, and standards of patriotism differ from one country to another, and within the same country from one group to another, The meaning of this term differs at the level of individual and collective consciousness, and the disparity is most pronounced between democracies and dictatorships, and between sheikhdoms and republics. In the sheikhdom, this expression is diminished to take on a jurisprudential form, in which the concept of patriotism does not take root in its modern form known in Europe, Jurisprudentially, there is the Islamic nation and there is no homeland, even though Islamic groups live in specific homelands geographically and popularly and are recognized globally, These people feel their belonging to a “nation” more than their belonging to a “homeland.”

In the democratic West, the concept of patriotism is related to the land and what is on it, as the goal of patriotic practice is the prosperity, flourishing and progress of the group that lives on this land called a homeland, In the individualistic dictatorial East, the concept of “patriotism” has been distorted to suit the authoritarian “person” and his goals and whims, Here, the person abolished the ownership of the land by those on it, and he became the owner of the land and what is on it. Therefore, the authoritarian person centered every “interest” around himself, his selves and his whims, and consequently, patriotism had to be “disciplined and trained” to serve the interests of the dictator and be in harmony with them.

 Distortion and falsification are rampant in the Middle East, and the most significant distortion has been the transformation of the concept of patriotism in the influential consciousness of indigenous peoples, It has become a concept that indirectly produces national division and destroys national unity, This is because the frequent use of the term “patriot” to define one citizen is coupled with the frequent use of the term “treason” to define another, Hence the “harvest” of national division resulting from this usage: as much as one speaks of patriots, one also speaks of traitors,This was the catastrophe that destroyed mutual trust between segments of society, eradicated equality, and encouraged dictatorships, Indeed, it became a necessity for those dictatorships, which rely on exclusion, polarization, and individualism, A dictatorship cannot logically justify its existence except by affirming the treason of one group and the patriotism of another, The “patriotic” group represented by the dictator is the one that monopolizes power and spoils because it is patriotic! The other group is the treacherous one, which enjoys… The dictator treats her with some tolerance, or with mild imprisonment and reduced torture in the best cases, or even with death under torture, meaning he tries to discipline and train her to become “patriotic” and join his flock!

With every problem that the countries of this region face, and with every failure of the authority to manage the affairs of the country, talk of conspiracy is repeated, which classifies people into two categories: the patriotic category and the treacherous conspiratorial category,This classification eliminates the possibility of dialogue and the possibility of interaction between the categories, This elimination was a basic goal of any dictatorial authority, because the dictatorial authority does not like talking and exchanging ideas because it has no ideas.

  Then comes the violence, the cleaver, and the whip, which rain down on the necks of people under chants, songs, and slogans that glorify the leader and sing praises to the homeland. Then comes the intelligence men to distribute certificates of patriotism to people. Whoever is not patriotic according to the intelligence assessment is subject to arrest and torture. After that, the machine of mediation and bribery is set in motion to release the victim, all in the name and in the name and in the name of its opposite, which is treason.

All of this serves the interests of the dictatorship, which divides to conquer, sowing sectarian, ethnic, and affiliation divisions, and splitting people into patriots and traitors. The production of national slogans reaches its peak, while the application of these slogans reaches its lowest point, Theorists of patriotism multiply, along with their lessons and sermons on tolerance and serving the homeland, reminding others that were it not for the kindness and tolerance of the dictator and the theorists of patriotism, all traitors would be dead, They “remained tolerant”! The Iranian Basij, for example, with the protesters, killing between 50,000 and 100,000 protesters in just three days a few months ago…