In Orwell’s (1961) discussion of nationalism, the nationalistic individual emerges as person caught in a strange condition in which they are simultaneously absorbed with their own being and in denial of that absorption, as they project their subjectivity onto a nation or an ‘ism’. Equally, Buber (1997, p. 184) ascribed nationalism as a condition in which an individual, devoid of faith in what is beyond them, incapable of belief in ‘even in his own substance’, clings ‘to his faith in his expanded ego, his nation, as being the highest authority within his reach’. The nationalist, fuelled by this ‘expanded ego’ and by their capability to fix others within frameworks it generates, are entirely unable to recognise others as unique individuals, living lives that intersect with, but are ultimately distinct from, their own. Attending to the condition of nationalism, this paper addresses hostility towards immigrants and refugees. It is the central contention of this paper that nationalistic hostility to refugees might be countered in educational spaces where young people are given space and time to think critically about issues of global power and justice. Taking its lead from Levinas (1969; 2011), this paper contends that this kind of thinking - the process that Arendt (1971) identified as an unending internal dialogue - owes it perpetual inconclusiveness to the other person who, welcomed in their exteriority, eludes all final words. But, of course, the uniqueness of the other person can always be suppressed. Hence, in the UK, David Cameron, when he was Prime Minister, spoke of a ‘swarm’ of refugees (cited in BBC News, 2015), while a newspaper columnist, in the UK’s biggest selling paper, evoked the image of a ‘cockroach’ to describe human beings fleeing for their lives from places that were once their homes (Hopkins, 2015). Far from being a technical endeavour, then, creating opportunities for young people to think globally involves including them in an education that is first ethical. Such an education might prepare children for the welcoming of otherness (Levinas, 1969).

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