Internationalism without the halo

"Gazing briefly at the Eurovision song contest this week I could not rid my mind of a quite different image, that of NATO's multilateral force headquarters in Kabul", Simon Jenkins writes. "There was the same belief that, simply by being international, a so-called community of nations was forged. For Eurovision and NATO, read the Olympics and Burma, read the Moscow cup final and Darfur. Read the European parliament, Fifa, the World Bank, the Organisation of African Unity. I was brought up to regard 'international' as synonymous with saintly. It was a concept to supplant the rude nationalism of the 20th century in a worldwide concord of peace. ... Today the word 'international' suggests tailored suits, tax-free salaries, white Land Cruisers and Geneva. The Eurovision contest is run by the European Broadcasting Union with 400 staff in Switzerland, with no risk of oversight or reform. It takes after the International Olympics Committee, which now charges its host taxpayers $20-30bn for two weeks of extravaganza in the name of bogus world brotherhood. ... Until internationalism can acquire a more robust accountability, there will be more Burmas and more Iraqs. The superpower and the nation state will reassert global sovereignty. International must stop flying first class."

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