Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

‘As one may wander, what’s wrong with being a nationalist? Is it dreadful to be proud of one’s country, language, race, culture? ‘
The writer confuses nationalism with patriotism; the former is an ideological movement advocating political change towards a putative ‘just’ state order, while the latter, represents a collectivised or individual conviction of romantcism towards atavistic state/societal symbols. When Horace wrote in ‘Odes’; ‘Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori’ was he gripped with a highly politicised sense of nationalism and awareness of the nation? Or was it patriotism? The latter I would contend. Finally, can nationalism be temporal in a multi-ethnic society whose politics is stained by power hunger?

As for the ‘Nationalist’s’ comments above. Clearly an obstinate form of discursive delusion has enveloped your retort.

I have seen most developed countries, USA and others use nationalism in business, war and in other things. I heard, that Japanese came out of their post 2nd WW destruction because of Nationalism. Even to date, Japanese feel they are working for their country.

On the other hand, Sri Lankans don’t feel nationalist at all. They fell only the allegiance to their political ideology. So, every cheat, bribe and waste time and resources, and steal. No one is feeling and working for their country. They want everything but they do not give anything for their country.

For example see this writer who wrote this article. He does not get any feeling to write something for the development of his country. Instead he writes an article to promote his political ideology.

Nationalism is bad when people do as Tamils did. they killed thousands of Sinhala innocent people for the sake of Tamil. Sinhala people never did that.

One other dangerous thing is People who are writing use the pen to earn money the wrong way. This article is a result of that.

You say “Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, even though a novice in practicing democratic politics, has understood the Sinhalese nationalist forces behind Sri Lankan politics.

In the first instance did the guy understand “Nationalism” ? If so, he would have been a Tamil nationalist. He was never one. He was an outright puppet of a Tamil genocidal regime.

The place he should be is Hague. Time will show the truth.