So true! Thank you for this, and for everything else besides, Roger Cohen. Je vous embrasse, mon frère.
43
You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race
-George Bernard Shaw
20
Not even a nod to those despairing while their jobs moved to Poland and Romania? Not even a concern for those affected by migrant crime? As long as those who live in comfort ignore the pains of those hurt, the Euro project will not be inclusive, and eventually fail.
75
Roger would have us believe that Charles DeGaulle was the same as Hitler since both were nationalists. The fact is DeGaulle was right about Europe when he spoke of it fifty years ago. It is a horrible, unworkable idea. I wish Roger would just admit that he is well served by the status quo simply because he is wealthy and has no problem with the financial sector.
17
A true European patriot would defend Europe against invasion from the Global South.
13
The American nationalism that Trump peddles is a huge danger to that country. It clearly hasn’t learned the lesson of Pearl Harbour, when the country found that sitting on the sidelines and denying help to allies in Europe would eventually bite them in the backside. The recent discovery and display in Canada of a book prepared for Hitler reinforces the stupidity of this nationalism and its isolationism. It shows that Hitler wasn’t going to stop after invading England. He planned to invade the US and Canada and get rid of the Jews there. America has to realizen it’s not as isolated as it thinks from the dangers of war and invasion, and it can ignore European countries and former allies being invaded by Russia but eventually they will suffer a similar fate. But as the poem says, when that happens there will be no one left to help.
24
Before you lose yourself in uncritical fanhood, you might get a square gander at European history. Europeans invented nationalism, man, and perfected war and genocide.
9
"I am a European patriot because I am a Jew."
Roger Cohen should know better than that. In Europe Jews were treated like unwelcome guests in someone else's house since the time of the Roman Empire. Jews were walled up ghettoes, expelled from one European country after another, massacred, and subjected to forced conversion to Christianity for centuries. The climax of all this abuse by Europeans was the Holocaust. Need I go on? Oh there's been a resurgence of anti-Semitism throughout Europe. Europe is no friend of the Jews that's for sure!!!
22
Sad to read such a piece which announces precisely the chauvinism it purports to condemn. The EU and its corrupt, undemocratic institutions are not Europe.
25
Thank you
9
In this enlightening column, Cohen weaves the general with the particular to warn us of where nationalism is heading.
Roger Cohen writes, "As nationalism equals war, so contempt for the law brings savagery."
Here is where I disagree. Cohen views the law as a bulwark against savagery. Yet, when we turn away from fantasies of ideal laws toward its history, we should not be so sanguine.
We could consider how the law was used to perpetrate the Holocaust. The law didn't prevent it, but facilitated it.
Or the Vietnam Holocaust. The law was part of the modus operandi of government.
Or the killing of Socrates. Or the suicide of Kalief Browder. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kalief-browder-1993-2015
An average person cannot eliminate the law, nor government which creates it, but we can understand its illegitimacy.
Of course, Cohen is no advocate of blind obedience to the law. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/opinion/trump-disobedience.html
However, as history has shown too many times, we can't expect that civil disobedience will solve the barbarism of government.
The law worshipers might want to retreat to fantasy, imagining a variety of ideal laws. Such fantasies are far sweeter than our reality.
5
As François Mitterrand, the former French president, observed in 1995, prejudices must be conquered because the alternative is nationalism — and “nationalism is war.”
And this war of nationalism is why so many of us - when we see the news first thing in the morning - think "What fresh hell is this?"
8
The EU is going down, it’s falling apart and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, what a delusional and ridiculous piece ....
16
Bravo!
11
Thank you!
9
Bravo!
9
Mr Cohen, whose columns are always interesting, confuses patriotism with economic despair
For the left behind, freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose
If you were a French worker in Amien, who saw his job (wages and benefit $ 35 hr) move to Poland (wages and benefit $ 8 hr) your idea of Europe changes.
If you are French farmer , who saw his income dwindle by cheap beef from Romania, and wines from Bulgaria, your view of Europe changes (1/3 of French farms now make less than $ 350 a month)
YES, the free movement of capital and labour that came with Europe was a boom for the elite , but a disaster for those who saw the jobs disappear to low cost Eastern European countries
Econ 101 states that the wages of those exposed to EU competition must fall to the EU average. Enlarging the EU to low (Poland) and ultra low (Romania) wage countries
drove down the wages of workers in the higher wage countries of France and the UK
The left behind are not taking this any longer. Brexit and Gilets jaunes, and yes Trump, are the result
But until journalists and economists see their OWN jobs move to countries where wages are 1/6th they will continue to have a hard time understanding what drives populism in the West
231
@Woof
Nationalism does not solve the economics of cheap labor elsewhere. Nationalism does not get rid of trade or export or import of goods. So how does being a nationalist, or an AntiEuropean solve the economic problem? Will all your French companies have to make their goods in France, and sell them in France?
Peace was a boon for everyone, not just the elite. No global wars was a boon for everyone in the world.
The left behind are left behind by their compatriots: companies in each country decide that the price of labor is too high in their country. Who buys cheap beef, and cheap things, the elite? Refuse to buy cheap things from China, refuse to buy the cheap food, boycott cheap things, instead of destroying what is good for most of the world.
116
@Woof Exactly! I would add when 26 people own more wealth than the bottom 50% of the world's population, when corporations "optimize" (ie don't pay, sometimes anything) their fiscal participation (response to Bob), and the same people/corporations pulling the strings of government, then you will have civil unrest. The Davos crowd is playing with fire. And Roger, go visit a group of gilets jaunes...you'd be surprised to see that they come from all walks of life.
47
@Woof - you are diagnosing depression and prescribing an antibiotic. If Bulgarian wines are as good as French, and cheaper, the French consumer can buy more of those other French products that are better than those from other countries, and of course the Bulgarians will buy more of them too.
24
Thank you for this wake-up call Mr. Cohen. As an American who has lived and worked in Europe for 40 years and seen it morph into what is probably human civilization's finest achievement only to now watch it being torn apart by those who wish to profit from its failure brings more sadness and uncertainty with each passing day. We must not let it happen!
169
@Tim Newlin
I am thinking of the phrase, "You can't fix stupid!"
Instead of reforming and/or repairing fissures & dissatisfactions w/the best idea, after the Marshall Plan, to come out of post-war Europe, stupid Europeans {Boris Johnson&BREXIT] and stupid Americans [think Trump supporters] fall for stupid political ideas.
Brilliant once again, Roger Cohen hits the nail on the head. I couldn't agree more.
23
As an American who has lived in Europe nearly two decades, this is very well said.
BUT...the crisis Europe and the west faces now is political. Europe needs to find better ways of connecting and communicating-- not to knee jerk backwards.
8
I too am a patriot of Europa and America thanks to my ancestry and immigration
Great writing bringing it home Roger
Most importantly where is the classroom curriculum for public school students to embrace Patriotism today?
I don't see it demonstrated in a strong knowledge base of the dangers of Nationalism
Today's 20 yr old has no interest or clue in relationships and continuum's in cycles of historical content for a culture and country
Europeans do not greet refugees and assimilate them and the refugees do what all new immigrants will do
Form familiar ghettos to survive intact
Especially if guest countries resist inculcating citizenship in the greater Europa
Humans are losing their minds across the planet
Sociologists and anthropologists have seen this unraveling pattern in previous times and cultures
The only difference NOW
Humans have stockpiled more nuclear warheads than needed to break our earth ROCK apart in space suddenly and finally
This EXISTENTIAL aspect is like humanity with a newly diagnosed terminal illness
About 20% of us are aware like you Roger
The other 80% produce bomb grade plutonium by disinterest in their country's leadership and vision for a peaceful future on plant earth
4
Attention must be paid to the role of democratic values fostered by NATO and the EU in confronting the Soviet menace lurking on the other side of the iron curtain.
Two thirds of WW2 in Europe was fought between Germany and Russia. In June 1944 Russia was advancing west after having raped Poland. Have no doubt that had not America, Britain, Canada and Poland landed in Normandy that Russia would have stopped at the English Channel.
The creation of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin wall were opposed by NATO and the EU. NATO membership required and still requires a commitment to democratic values. Free elections, civilian control of the military, the rule of law. The EU requires the same. Entrant nations must change to those standards or they will not be admitted to membership.
The prosperity and freedom of Europe was guaranteed by democratic political,social,economic and military institutions.
It is a shame there is not an alternative to the United Nations on each continent which supports and defends democratic transformations. Europe is the most prosperous part of the world with the least inequality, most rule of law.
The refugee crisis shows it isn't perfect but the refugees are not heading to Russia or China for freedom.
Vietnam Vet
10
Mr. Cohen's apt analogy that Patriotism is to Nationalism as Dignity is to Barbarism should be followed by Wisdom is to Confucius as Ignorance is to Trump
11
Time to dust off “Imagined Communities” by Benedict Anderson to remind ourselves of the utterly arbitrary nature and origins of ‘nationalism’.
4
Mr Cohen says that he is vehemently opposed to European nationalism because he is a jew. That is fair enough, but is he also opposed to Israeli nationalism? Or does he make an exception for Israel? It seems hypocritical to oppose nationalism for foreign countries when your own people have a strongly nationalist state, with the tightest border controls in the world and deeply nationalist policies, widely implemented and widely accepted within Israel.
19
This is a very good article graphically depicting the harvest of nationalist mentality.
7
Another reason why we must rid ourselves of this corrupt destructive IUS administration, and put leaders in there who will take Putin down.
And the Brits must forget Brexit. Obviously they have no sensible solution.
3
One of the beautiful--yes, beautiful--things about international regulatory regimes is that they show how people who are supposedly very different from me are reasonably satisfied with the same arrangements for the importation of bananas, laptops, whatever.
Nothing shows the stupidity of nationalism more than the vast list of international agreements that we live under with great satisfaction.
1
"I am a European patriot and an American patriot."
The continuing delusion of the Internationalist, at home in every Capital where they like to solve the "problems of the human condition." Nice work,if you can get it. And how does one afford such a lavish existence? The trickle down effect of statist corruption to fellow Travelers. Cohen's utopia works for a select few, but ultimately those who suffer from it (the Yellow Vests) take to the streets. International patriotism is the last refuge of (as Bolsonaro puts it) "socialism, the inversions of values, statism, and political correctness." The common man sees nothing but tyranny here. Populism is Commonman in revolt against Eliteman.
17
A brilliant article. Thank you.
7
Thanks for writing this wonderful article!
7
Powerful writing. Thanks.
3
Dear Roger Cohen,
thank you!
Let's work hard that the avoidable disasters of the past do not repeat themselves!
6
"Nationalism, self-pitying and aggressive, seeks to change the present in the name of an illusory past in order to create a future vague in all respects except its glory. Pregnant with violence, manipulating fear, it is an exercise in mass delusion. I hate it with all my being."
A bit of hyperbole, no?
You could as well say, "The desire for freedom, selfish and irresponsible, seeks to abolish all restraints on individual responsibility and communal feeling in favor of the dog-eat-dog, reckless exploitation of others. Pregnant with violence, manipulating fear, it is an exercise in mass delusion. I hate it with all my being."
Or, "The desire for social justice and equality, self-pitying and aggressive, based on envy of the more successful and better off, is seeks to change the present in order to create a future vague in all respects except its glory. Pregnant with violence, manipulating fear, it is an exercise in mass delusion. I hate it with all my being."
None of those feelings are evil in themselves, it is when they are taken to extremes by people who make them the be-all and end-all of political life that problems arise. Extremists of all types should be shunned.
8
Bravo Monsieur Cohen, Merci.
4
Being a french patiot , I'm too an European patriot and above all a freedom patriot concerned to keep the bonds we have with USA and the american people who saved twiceour freedom and shield us during the cold war. I hope democracy and freedom will keep these bonds despite nationalist surgess
12
This magnificent statement is profoundly moving, and Oh so badly needed!
An embarrassingly crude addenda, the old truism (slightly updated): "Nationalism is the last refuge of scoundrels".
10
Well, this is all well and good, but the point of Europe is not nationalism. It is globalism and pan-Europe totalitarianism of the EU. The EU wants to cram unlimited illegals into countries that do not want them. They want to cram insane regulation down the throats of all countries. They want to replace national entities with international entities, and remove the sovereignty of individual nations with the EU international entity. The globalist elites are attempting to hoodwink everyone with this fiction of nationalism. The real issue is the globalist elites and their need to subjugate the middle class.
19
Roger, your rich life experience informs your wisdom. Thank you.
6
Try walking around European inner cities with a yamuka/kippah and see how 2019 Western Europe treats you.
17
In the late sixties and early seventies, I had the good fortune to live and work in Switzerland, and travel extensively throughout Europe. I visited Hitler’s HQ in Berchtesgaden, and travelled from West to East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie. Even with the war having been over for more than twenty years, the rubble in the latter contrasted with the gleaming progress in the western part of the city. I was still warned not to speak German in the Netherlands, the feelings from the war still running high some two decades on.
I thought about these and other such memories of the effects of nationalism as I just read that Canadian archives have acquired a book owned by Hitler that details plans for the “Holocaust in North America”. The book was evidently retrieved by American soldiers from Berchtesgaden. Despite traditional reluctance to obtain books by Hitler, and stipulations against displaying them, Canada is justifying doing so because of the recent rise in xenophobia, and diminishing knowledge and denial of the Holocaust.
When asked to explain Hitler’s rise to power, and the subsequent atrocities he unleashed on Europe in the name of nationalism, I have sometimes heard Germans say, “We looked away”. With the recent rise of racism, and a US President who proudly declares himself a nationalist, on the eve of International Holocaust Day, let us, pray, not look away.
206
Thank you, Roger, for this much needed timely column that is a plea to sanity and survival. We are in a terrible grip of nationalism now across the whole world and one result, I fear, will be that Europe finally will be "Judenrein." With anti-Semitism on the rise and revisionist history of the Holocaust in full swing, confidence of a recovery of sanity is waning and those who can are getting out. The sorry state of world affairs has the US, once the best hope, now in the grip of an anti-immigrant President and his base who hate and despise anything not 100% "white" and are totally oblivious that what has made America great in the past century and a half has been constant immigration - we got the best and brightest as well as the huddled masses yearning to be free, who made astounding contributions to this country's science, industry, arts and humanities and its diversity. And let's not forget cuisine!
I too was once a refugee but as a kid still had it better than my parents who directly suffered under the Nazis. At 81 I don't get much comfort from reading the daily news. Thanks, Roger, for a column, that can lift the mood of despair. From your pen to God's ear, but maybe a few humans should be listening as well!
8
The refutation of this eloquent piece lies not in the "nationalism" of Mr. Orban but in the anarchic cry of les gilets jaunes. The globalist ideal of no borders, exemplified by the EU, is shown to be a lie by common people. People want to eat every day. The trickle-down notions of the elite globalists, where they take the majority, and leave the crumbs for the masses, have been noticed, in Italy, Scotland, France. The results of unlimited movement is pressure on the original residents. Why are their interests considered irrelevant in this paen to patriotic not nationalistic views? I have no idea. I support les gilets jaunes, and that means I oppose the globalist nonsense peddled here with such ardor and grace.
17
The E.U. has received the Nobel prize of peace in 2012.
Most people don’t know this.
It’s symbolic for the phenomenon that many Europeans have an incomplete understanding of the blessings this organization has bestowed on Europe.
No other supranational organization in human history has achieved so much in so little time: peace and prosperity, dignity and freedom.
The nations who either abandon the E.U. as a partner or threaten to leave will harm their people and risk a bright future for the generations to follow.
Without doubt nationalism was the Black Death of the 20th century.
I thought until recently we have found a cure.
We have seen parents refusing to vaccinate their children out of an irrational contempt and a sense of false safety.
Maybe the same weird cognitive break down is at work for people to expose themselves to nationalistic pestilence.
6
Mr. Cohen speaks cogently to all lovers of freedom and patriotism. Faux populists like our President Trump, Hungary's Orban, and all the other authoritarian and would-authoritarians are just the errand boys for the ongoing concentration of economic power by multinational Corporatism in a world where just 400 families control 70% of its assets.
Nationalism is the symptom. Expanding and unregulated Corporate power is the disease.
6
What is the arch of the future for the continued consolidation of nations? Once regions are united then those regions unite into a single government for the world. A planetary government where war is just a legend. It is a hippy dream of these so-called patriots.
The EU is an Athenian League for a new kinder-gentler German-Franco Empire. Under the innocent guise of an economic union the true reason is unveiled as a power grab for a political union. Greece has suffered for 10 years and continues to suffer under German-Franco control. It's not a happy place for all.
Give us your national sovereignty and we will give you peace and stability. In the distant future they will come knocking on the US's door and make that demand. I kindly say no.
7
"Nationalism, self-pitying and aggressive, seeks to change the present in the name of an illusory past in order to create a future vague in all respects except its glory."
Well said.
As for Tito's Yugoslavia, I was ignorant of the pent-up long-time animosity between Serbs and Croats in particular, and was therefore quite stunned when the brutality began.
1
So eloquent and deeply effecting. You mention Willy Brandt falling to his knees in Warsaw. “I did what people do when words fail them” I invite all people to view it on youtube. Every time I view it hairs on my neck stand up, a shiver runs through my soul. Tears burn. Where is such greatness in men leading our world today? Where are men on their knees falling in the face of such vicious crimes committed against humanity?
As an American Jewess I do Holocaust research in this country. My work is remembrance, my work is never forgetting a single soul. My work is intimate and personal. The past is NOT past. It breathes every moment and speaks of the horrors daily because we are living in very dangerous times once more. In my work I have access to footage and research that is out of reach to many. It is stunning in its horrors in a world gone totally mad.
Right now I’m involved in the work of Abraham Sutzkever. Does anyone know him? I’m sure several do but as one of the greatest Yiddish poets many more have never even heard his name. He was a partisan fighter in Vilna, who among many others, risked his life daily to save innocent Jews marching to their deaths. That is only part of his amazing story. He risked his life daily to save sacred books, texts, letters, other treasures from destruction which is now at YIVO in NYC.
Willy Brandt, Abraham Sutzkever. What grace and humanity, humble and fully amazing. Where are such men today?
I am a European patriot.
8
I am European. Point. For me there is little difference between "patriot" and "nationalist". Just think why they have "patriot" missiles. But I understand there is a point to be made against "nationalism". What word could we use ? Multi-nationalist ? Polyculturalist ? or just Positive
2
I highly recommend reading or rereading George Orwell's 1984. The timing is off, but otherwise the description of the world could be of the future that's in store for us if today's nationalist oligarchies continue to be dominant. Orwell must be spinning is his grave that there is a "reality" television show called Big Brother. It's something that even in his amazing prescience that he couldn't have foreseen.
3
"We must now fight for the idea of Europe or see it perish beneath the waves of populism.”
Okay. But what does Cohen suggest "we" do? I live in California and have no idea how to fight for the idea of Europe nor do I really want to. It's something Europeans should do for themselves if by "fight" Cohen means actually doing something.
5
Mr. Cohen, I agree with you ...
and yet nationalism was also a liberating force in the twentieth century. Please read Benedict Anderson’s book, “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism,” which describes how the many residents of so many islands in Indonesia began to think and write of their archipelago as a unified nation. The writers imagined an independent Indonesia, where villagers from Java, Bali, Sumatra, etc. who spoke many different languages, would adopt a common language based on Malay. It was this act of forging an “imagined community” larger than a village that ultimately enabled Indonesians to resist and throw off the repressive, greedy, grabby, cruel Dutch colonial regime.
Of course, then Indonesia fell into the hands of a dictator, Suharto, who ruled for more than 30 years. But he gained power with help from the (anti-Communist, anti-Sukarno) CIA.
History is complicated if you look beyond Europe and consider the anti-colonial resistance movements of the twentieth century.
1
I am a European. Point. Patriot and nationalist are the same to me. They have called missiles 'patriots', so we need another word. I would prefer "European humanist" as someone wrote in the comments. Many European families have a mixed identities. English married to Dutch living in Estland, French to Belgian living in England, Polish to German living in Belgium, .... The statue of Leonel Moura beautifully conveys this
5
A heart wrenching truth. So many do not understand the importance of Europe and the need for all of us to help each other maintain our freedoms.
7
Agree in principle that Europe, embodying liberal values of universal freedom and dignity, is a historical triumph. But it's the details that need to work. Citizens in member countries need to feel that their voice is heard in the decisions that affect their lives. The job descriptions of Brussels bureaucrats are not designed to do this. While younger, better educated, Europeans revel in the freedom of expanded vocational and locational possibilities, most citizens are exposed to changes in their societies that they are not comfortable with. The infra-union open borders policy has pluses and minuses. Meanwhile, the Euro has been a disaster. Leaders need to use their HEADS as much as their HEARTS, and design better policies.
11
I had the good fortune to be introduced to 20th Century European history almost 60 years ago as a high school sophomore. My professor was a master teacher whose very words would transport an adolescent boy back in time. Fast forward to today and Mr. Cohen’s article. I simply want to thank you Mr. Cohen as your article sheds light on the very dangers the world faces today now that Nationalism is once again in vogue.
7
But it was nationalism on the part of the Allies that defeated the Axis powers. It cuts both ways. If you neuter the patriotic feelings of a nation will they fight to defend themselves and their way of life? In any case one cannot re-engineer human nature. That’s the stuff of authoritarians. Essays like this are the musings of an older person who wishes to quell the passions of the young. Not going to happen.
12
The governments of Western democracies are bankrupted; politics is forcing global Finance Ministries to commit bond fraud, and Central Banks to print money. They didn't get that way because of Nationalism or Populism.
A lot more of the US government would be shutdown, if the Treasury had to fund political-values from its revenues; along with much of Europe's. Except for some budget conscious Eastern European countries, and Russia; anchored in christian-values.
2
This was a great piece to read before work. Hat tip to Mr. Cohen, I reminded me to have a bit more gratitude for being alive and free.
7
Mr. Cohen, Another beautifully written piece in elegant defiance of words losing their meaning. So many beautiful phrases and thoughts.
Again you for remind us of "the fragility of freedom." As with your writings on Mandela you remind us where to cast our eyes.
Nobility in extremis and forgiveness will be required to transcend Nationalism.
Yes, "Dangerous words achieve banality." And Celan’s phrase, “the thousand darknesses of murderous speech.”
I agree "Humanity never quite grows out of the buffoon’s attractions: the scapegoats he offers; the fast money; the rush of violence; the throb of nation and flag; the adrenaline of the mob; the glorious future that will, he insists, avenge past humiliations."
But you also wrote, "He who touches one human being touches all humanity. I have been murmuring his name: He broke the cycle of conflict by placing the future above the past, humanity above vengeance."
May we place the future above the past.
10
What a clear and moving message, to which we all can respond. Reinforces argument from principle with personal testimony. The best of journalism! GH
6
Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for this beautiful and timely piece.
12
@EStone
I concur 100%.
Having spent 2/3 of my adult life in Bavaria, I have enjoyed the best 50 plus years in European history.
Now is the time to confront nationalism there and everywhere in the West.
4
What a moving tribute to the idea of a deeply humane civilization, now under attack, or at least abandoned, by its former friends. Cohen's patriotism reflects his personal involvement with the lands and peoples that comprise that civilization, both in Europe and America. The nationalism of those here and abroad who have abandoned that idea stems from an insularity which encourages them to blame other members of the Western community for their own shortcomings.
America, in the early history of the republic, experienced a similar tension between patriots and narrow nationalists. People who had lived their lives in isolated colonies found it difficult to develop a sense of community in the face of the British challenge. When Thomas Jefferson spoke of his country, he meant Virginia, not the US. George Washington, because of his experience of commanding an army which included troops from all parts of the new country and which required him to travel widely, developed a deeper sense of loyalty to the republic than was common in the first generation.
While love of country grew over the years, in 1861 regional nationalism remained strong enough to lead to secession and civil war. Robert E. Lee famously said he could not draw his sword against his home state of Virginia, so he decided to draw it against the U.S. Such a notion would never have occurred to Washington. Nationalism is easier than patriotism, because the latter requires a broader sense of community.
20
Alongside your compelling story and aspirations, and the compelling story and aspirations of many like-minded Europeans are the set of broken rules called the EU and the Euro. We need to differentiate between wanting to change a couple of (huge) legal contracts and wanting to destroy European unity and progress. Germany has shown time after time, even up to now, that it will not offer the kind of financial support to problem areas that is needed for a properly functioning Euro. In the EU, issues arise whereby one group of countries compels another to do things and provides little support for the implementation and consequences.
One should be permitted the mindset of European patriotism such as yours alongside deep criticism of the legal frameworks of two contracts given lofty names.
I believe a large majority of the Brexiteers love Europe and would work for European progress if allowed to express it by the media and those in power who conflate the concept of Europe with a legal contract bearing the same name.
3
@WJL I really would love some references to support your claims. Germany is the problem for the Euro, when it in fact is the southern trio of Spain, Italy and Greece that has dragged down the entire EU? Where did you pull that idea from?
2
Perhaps this time European patriots can help save Britain and America from suicide. Like the author I am from more than one country and my countries, the UK and the US are frighteningly oblivious to the dangers of their actions; as he says the seem to "know little" and in the case of the US president "as little as nothing".
13
I am a European patriot by default of birth and because America grows stranger to me everyday.
I am also an American citizen who didn't vote for the person now sitting in the White House because it was clearly evident what he would do to this country -- namely, run it into ruin like he's done to so many of his businesses and rule over it like a someone not accountable to anyone else besides himself.
I'm all to familiar with something like this coming from Germany where we also had to contend with such a character.
But I never thought that I wold see something similar to that here in America.
And that is why I am an American patriot, because I believe in this country, its people and all those truths we hold to be self-evident.
And we can't return back to that soon enough.
21
By the same token, I am an American patriot, delighting in the Declaration of Independence because it meant self-determination. I delight in the European Union because it means joint action in the interests of all. I benefit from colonialism so have part of the responsibility for atoning for it. I am involved in humankind.
10
Citizens of a sovereign democratic state have every right to demand that political bodies they never ceded authority to do not become their foreign overlords.
5
Great piece, thank you, Roger!
8
@Senad Pecanin
Here, here! I am a citizen of the USA and of the World.
1
@Senad Pecanin
Hello Senad "Dani" Pecanin. Pozdrav od bivse sugradjanke.
I truly admire Mr. Cohen's eloquent defense of what he calls "Eurpean patriotism". I would rather call it European humanism and liberalism. It is difficult to apply the concept of patriotism -- from Latin patria -- to a continent without a common language, no common legal, military, and financial structure.
The greatest achievements of the European culture in different fields have been shifting from one country to another over the centuries. But no one, from Charlemagne through Lenin to Hitler, was successful in unifying Europe. The European Union is an artificial construct of two major achievents: freedom of trade and movement, and common currency. They worked for nearly two decades, and they they last. They are better than nothing ...
7
There are ways to preserve peaceful integration and protect workers. Do people posting that the EU is passe really think that the LePen style of nationalism will bring greater prosperity? Good Lord. How is Russia doing? Want to live there? There is no viable nationalism that sets aside integration. The EU is the greatest experiment. Let's get off our backsides and stop complaining at the television, and make this experiment better. Agree that inward migration needs to be dealt with; people need to believe that there is a clear plan and a way to reduce immigration. Okay, but why blame the EU for global problems? The US under Trump has been a disgrace and an embarrassment. Praying that mendacious and manipulative Putin will be shown the door and Trump indicted for treason soon.
11
If only that manifesto hasn’t been written by BHL. I am with the signatories on the question of Europe and opposition to nationalism, but it would do better without Levy injecting his narcissistic bombast into the document.
5
All very well said and very true but Cohen needs to explain again why these principles do not apply to Israel and its oppression of the Palestinians.
5
"Europe, it declares, “has been abandoned by the two great allies who in the previous century twice saved it from suicide; one across the Channel and the other across the Atlantic. "
You have to be kidding. Many say it was the Soviet Union who prevented the suicide in WW2.
Any American claiming the US was one of two great allies who "saved" Europe would be laughed at in any cafe or tavern in Europe.
And a South African soldier? Shame. Shame. Shame.
2
@Jp
Yes shame on the Euros. The Soviets would have been crushed if not for massive American military aid.
1
A French working person can no longer afford to eat at a Parisian bistro, once the domain of the working class. A Paris native I know in L.A. told me just last weekend that she was mugged in the Marais during her last visit. Right-wing nationalism is scary, but can we agree that it did not erupt in a vacuum?
112
@Blair: you report one anecdote (being mugged in the Marais), a personal painful tragedy. It does not however have any meaning for what you might allege, a rising crime rate. Indeed crime rates all over Europe hover at historic lows.
Please refrain from general statements such as working class people can’t afford a Parisian bistro. It’s also hardly true. There are plenty of affordable cafes, bistros and restaurants in Paris. What point do you want to make? That many people are priced out from living in Paris? They definitely are, but because of gentrification and rising rents, not because of unaffordable bistros.
56
So beautifully written as always. You brought me to tears.
7
@FV
Do they still teach this beautiful writing in US schools?
I so appreciate the melifluous nature of your script and the reason and heart with which it was written. Now I understand why I feel so at home when I go to Spain or Portugal or France. So civilized .
5
According to the brilliant social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, some people are born with a basic instinctive hardware that lends itself towards cultural openness, while others feel naturally more comfortable maintaining boundaries that protect their tribal identities. Meaning those who feel instinctively opposed to any type of fence along the Mexican border don’t necessarily feel this way out of virtue, and those who would strongly like to see more robust protection aren’t necessarily driven by horrible racism.
Haidt, a lifelong Democrat, also believes both personality types have been absolutely necessary for the survival of our species.
I believe that as a society, we need to forge a compromise that respects both sensibilities. Perhaps we could modernize our ports of entry and Visa system to speed up the legal movement of goods and tourists from Latin America while building a “smart” barrier that discourages entry without legal permission.
7
@Cass
And could we have a new global "Marshall Plan" for Latin, Central and parts of South America, (and for Africa and the war-torn Middle East) so that people weren't compelled to flee? Also could we stop spending so bloody much on the US military and use it to rebuild our infrastructure, our people?
The "war" should be against gross inequality and to end the destruction of a global sustainable and diverse environments. The plutocrats and greedy corporations must be reined in.
6
@Cass
My yard is fenced off with respect for both my own privacy and that of my neighbors. Personal space is created by fences. But, there is a mutual respect about it, not hostility. Will the fence deter the occasional burglar? Maybe, but that's not the primary reason for it.
The prototypes for "the wall," every last one of them, are disgusting. They scream "we hate you, we don't respect you, and we don't want your kind here." I believe that is the mindset that will destroy our species. I'm never going to respect that sensibility, and people who feel that way will never be happy with a "smart barrier" because that doesn't send a harsh enough message.
Smart barriers are all we need. I want our borders respected, I want our immigration laws respected, but I don't want "in your face" protection. We're not at war with Mexico. In fact, it seems that we've mutually benefited for many years by our trade agreement with them. It's just unbelievable to me that Trump is abusing an ally for political purposes. This necessity for a 'big, beautiful wall' is a myth, like the 'birther movement,' that he uses to rouse the latent intolerance of his racist base. This is not a 'good fences make good neighbors' scenario. This is just hate.
It is in our interests as a civilized species that we work with our neighbors to create reasonable borders we maintain together.
@OPgodmother
The problem with Latin America is not poverty, but corruption. And there is no way for the United States to fix corruption in Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador that has roots going back 500 years.
4
You are performing a valuable service by warning us where things like Trump can lead. Thank you, Mr. Cohen. I always admire your work.
5
Great column with which I agree completely. If the British go through with Brexit they will be making a big mistake and five to ten years from now everyone in Britain will look back and see that it was a terrible mistake.
5
Two global movements have triggered the xenophobia and white nationalism of both European nations and America - the rise of China as a global power and the dramatic (and perhaps dangerous) influence of a chaotic Islamic world.
Both are shaking up the stability of the post World War II and post Cold War world we in the "west" have become accustomed to. Unease is the result and European nations, particularly those with imperialist pasts, and America are retreating to where they feel safe.
Britain votes for Brexit, not to rid itself of Europe, but to return to its racist imperialist comfort zone. Donald Trump feeds on the colonialist founding of America stirring up latent fears that white Americans have of blacks, Asians, and immigrants.
The ground under the "west" - the foundation of Roger Cohen's European patriotism - is rumbling but no one knows where the fault lines are of an impending earthquake.
What is needed now is a truly global leader to reassure white nationalists of a safe place in the world despite China's rise and despite turmoil in the Islamic world.
What is not needed is Donald Trump who has sold his soul to Vladimir Putin whose ultimate goal is the instability of the west and the vacuum and chaos that would result.
3
As an american and francophile. I find this column to be excellent. We are living through another period of great threat. The turning away from humanism and democracy is cleverly led by Vladimir Putin and his sycophantic followers, such as President Trump, in the United States and elsewhere. Hopefully, great leaders such as Nancy Pelosi will put an end to this.
7
The biggest difference between Nationalism and Patriotism, especially in the Consequences and Damages : unchecked Testosterone Poisoning. Go ahead, TRY to prove me wrong.
I’ll wait. And wait. And sip Wine.
7
Mr. Cohen, that was an admirable exercise in optimism! Sadly, watching western civilization these days, I am reminded of what happened in my colony of white mice when their numbers passed a certain point. They turned to cannibalism. Grim. Sad. Trumpian
1
I am a bit uncomfortable with the word patriotism (maybe just because there is not a proper word for it in Japanese). Since you feel like saying Patriotism is to nationalism as dignity is to barbarism to clarify your point, I guess there are some who use both interchangeably. Trump is, as usual, just defiant.
Do we need a common enemy to get united? As many SF stories suggest, do we need a space invader to work for a common good for earthlings? I thought the US was the best hope we had; not patriotism, but freedom, human rights, etc. it embodies. They are fictions needless to say; but we are not supposed to say that, which is an unspoken convention the US has imposed on us. Now debunked thanks to a unconventional defiant president, the US is just one of us.
7
@Aki
So sad what you say. Stings, but don't give up hope on the USA, it is our melting pot that gives us relentless optimism. My highly respected boss is from Tokyo.
1
I read Mr Cohen's words from his ancestors and it reached out to me.
I am a black man and as far as I can go back to my historical roots are the words of a few early black people who slipped the noose of slavery but not the vast ignorance that exemplifies most of Mother Africa. We had so very few while most others had so many.
I am one of a very few myself, having lived in Europe, America and even much of Central America and now across Asia. I live in the omnipresent shadow of President Xi and I recognize how long that shadow is. I was in Europe before the EU came into existence though it was on the edge of the tongue of many.
I can only pray that Asia can come to grips with the emerging authoritarian China and the world danger that it poses, not just to Asia. I recognize and appreciate the conflicts between my people and Mr Cohen's, the oppressed wants no oppressor nor have any love for past oppressors. I am a lucky person in that, of the 2 greatest persons of influence on me, neither was of African extract; 1 was a very southern white Judge and city mayor and the other was a transplanted Jew from New York who was a very powerful judge in Southern California. The two built and cultivated a spark that I became.
I loved Europe so Brexit tears me apart. I care more for the history of the UK than for the present UK. I feel that the Brits are chasing their folly but it is their right.
I hope for a good Brexit solution.
103
A thoughtful piece, indeed. But Mr Cohen has apparently never lived in Scotland - and certainly not during the Independence Referendum campaign.
Scottish Nationalism is unlike the type that has led to war and unrest the world over. It is welcoming and inclusive - may top campaigners in 2014 were of English and even Asian birth/descent. If you wish to contribute to Scottish life, economy, society and culture, come on in. We need the numbers and we're chuffed that other folk want to come stay here. Not surprisingly, 62% of Scots voted to remain in the EU. We like to look outward.
Trouble is, the sclerotic dead-hand of Westminster prevents Scotland (and most of the rest of the UK) from coping with 21st-century challenges, let alone flourish. It is not an anti-English thing. It's a pro-Scottish thing. If you live here and do your best to fit in and contribute to Scottish life, then you are welcome to consider yourself a Scot. We have always been a mongrel nation.
We want to have a modern, vibrant and extroverted government - not a London-centric Hogwarts full of sneering classists and self-serving Old Etonians like Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson. And don't even get me started on the House of Lords. An abomination in ermine. Give us a Scandinavian model and we'll be happy on so many levels. Time to ditch the myths of Empire and enter the modern world - that's what inspires Scottish Nationalists.
So please do not tarnish us ScotNats with the evil versions elsewhere.
17
I'd like to add to this excellent discussion the idea that winds of nationalism are always stronger at times of resource (income, natural resources) instability. The internet, artificial intelligence, robotics, greater skewing of income distributions and global warming have increased instability. "Solutions" leveraging real or perceived raw power (building walls, exiting challenging relationships like the EU, accepting murder of journalists) float to the surface faster in this type of environment.
To respond to the challenge of today, we need newly formulated, stronger versions of the ideas that led to the successes of our democratic institutions. The EU, the US, and other democratic institutions must draw in the best minds into formulating policies that work. Shine a brighter light for democracy I say, and the winds of nationalism will be held at bay.
1
Among your finest columns. Brilliant and moving.
7
Great column. I had tears in my eyes by the end. Thank you, Roger.
11
@Lil' Roundtop
Me too.
Tears
These welcome, sober, well chosen words are particularly relevant to America at this time, as well as Europe. In finding ways to defend the dignity of citizens, we defend our own freedoms.
18
Beautifully, beautifully written, Mr. Cohen. I am deeply moved by your writing, and in full agreement.
21
This is an excellent plea for preserving Western Civilization when it is being threatened by hordes of uneducated tribalistic nationalists. I speak seven European languages and feel at home everywhere. I am now a citizen of Ireland and Canada. I left the USA fifty-one years precisely because the war in Vietnam made it obvious to me how dangerous nationalism can be.
15
Europe is a continent. There is no nation called "Europe" the same as there is no nation called "Asia" or "Africa". It's not hard to see why Poles, Italians, Spaniards, Germans, French and Irish may not see eye-to-eye on important political, social, and economic issues. EU prosperity covered up the inherent conflicts for a while but now that the affluence is receding, major fault lines are becoming apparent again. I'm not even sure a country as large and diverse as the United States will exist in fifty years given the rifts we see developing.
10
Wow, thank you, an eloquent expression of how many of us feel deeply
6
One of the wisest and hard-learned columns I've ever read. The Szymborska quote succinctly expresses the single most important lesson of history that is never remembered but must never be forgotten. May this column be widely shared and be a beacon to guide us and all generations who follow. Bravo and thank you, Mr. Cohen.
15
My son is American and British, he was born in New York but raised and educated in France. He feels European. He speaks multiple languages and felt betrayed by the Brexit yes vote. He voted to remain while pursuing higher education in the UK. He has been astonished by some of the overt racism and Xenophobia he has observed in the UK. He was not raised in this spirit.
My late father worked in Europe in post war redevelopment with US State department. My father was a veteran of WWII. He dedicated his life to bringing about unity and cooperation through greater understanding. He spoke 9 languages, and had a PhD in Political Science. During the war my father witnessed first hand the horrors of nationalism and fascism, facilitated by many small minds and petty tyrants. The Eu is worth protecting.
Today our collective challenge is to continue to strive fearlessly for unity and greater understanding, to help our neighbors inform themselves and join cooperative living on planet earth where there is no place for self-serving autocrats, dictators, war lords, or gangsters.
24
What a beautiful article - a tribute to ideals of which we need to hear more!
I find it so sad that the UK continues it’s retreat from the wider world with its retreat from the EU.
6
@Ranger Rob
Sir the U.S. is also retreating from the world stage in this time of America First.
I agree that some of the lopsided deals that were made post WW 2 need revisions as the world changed the rational behind the deals did not. But the need to protect and encourage folk to make progress is not by bashing them over the head but to educate them on what happened in the not so distant past.
I consider myself a citizen of the World then a citizen of the United States. I remember the horrors of war brought to us on TV and the stories of WW 2 by those Veterans that could talk about what they saw.
As a country we found out the hard way what Isolationism has to offer and it's not good.
Now we see this push to what is called Nationalism and it's not a healthy way forward.
That's a shame.
3
Great piece, Mr Cohen. Nationalism does lead to war, and history, particularly European history, proves it. And let no one suppose that nationalism wouldn't quickly lead to actual conflict. Not long ago, former Tory leader Michael Howard expressed a willingness to go to war with Spain to protect Gibralter from Spanish rule. His declaration came as Britain had begun negotiations to withdraw from the EU, even before things got too sticky. What will happen when things really get contentious? Is Britain going to sink French fishing boats in order to protect its fishing industry? Preposterous? Not as preposterous as undermining an international order that has led to the longest period of peace in Europe since the Roman Empire.
13
I compare this to our "wall" debate. I conclude that it is about cultural purity, or maybe stability. Young (loosely) Europeans , have the opportunity to travel within and savor the cultural riches of the diverse meaning of Europe. But maybe only the well-to-do Europeans, the optimistic, outward-looking, educated Europeans. Those toiling for a bit better than subsistence may be wary of Europeanization and globalization of their towns and cities. How far up the ladder does that sentiment flow.
In the US it seems at least 30% who view the stable culture of their towns vulnerable to global and immigrant influence and it is those who are economically frightened or feel insecure about their livelihood that carry that banner. Tax relief for the wealthy is not the solution, but our leaders should put their shoulder to the wheel and find a solution.
8
Well done, Mr. Cohen. For those who support European nationalism, please try to see the recent movie "They Shall Not Grow Old" recounting in ethnographic detail the horrors of the First World War.
8
I am sorry but this is the classic delusion. The EU isn't ending nationalism, but replacing it on a larger scale; the flag, the anthem, a common border and a single currency? If that isn't proto-nationalism i don't know what is. Add in talk of tax harmonisation and now an army and i am proud to have voted to 'leave' the whole corrupt, undemocratic edifice.
9
@Adam I challenge your notion that the EU facilitates nationalism. The EU is more an idea than a super-state. It has facilitated unprecedented peace and prosperity for close to two generations. Symbols, like flags and anthems, enable common identity. Borders, properly constructed and administered, ensure a well-managed movement of people and goods. A common currency facilitates commerce over long distance and among different producers. So what would you replace Europe with? An amorphous construct without commonality? Or perhaps global socialist communes. The EU is far from perfect, but it is a darn sight better than current alternatives.
41
@Adam Much less corruption in the EU government than in your anglo saxon billion pounds and dollars fiscal fraud organized from Ireland through London and all the fiscal paradises to circuit the money of big US corporations and Greek maritime companies .
Thank you, Mr. Cohen. Thank you so much. I am German and I am a European patriot because the place where my father was born is now Polish - for good reason - but I can just travel there and if I'd like to I could live there. I've seen the Berlin wall fall and I still conceive it to be a miracle to travel through Europe without border checks. I'm a European patriot because I could do my PhD in England and my son can live and study in Italy now - and to him that's absolutely natural, he can't understand why I think that's so wonderful. I can see all the problems in Europe, politically and socially. It's horrible to see then UK leaving the EU and to see Italy and Hungary plotting against the rule of law and the freedom of the press. It's sad to watch the Polish government to through away the independence of the courts. But I'm still hoping. Hoping not to lose the achievements of the last decades, hoping not to lose peace in Europe to nationalist movements resurging all over in the Western world - sadly enough being in power in the US.
60
Patriotism is the last bastion of a charlatan, the old saying goes. Nothing is written of NATOs relentless move east to Russia's border. Going so far as to back a coup by right wing nationalists with the heavy taint of Neo Nazis in Ukraine. This patriotism was behind 2008 banking melt down that crushed weaker countries with debt then forced draconian austerity on them to pay off bankers. What we have is mass of confusion and unease about the future. And an effort to demonize a country because that is what western journalists do. Cohen is getting exercised and only telling part of the story of why right wing nationalists are on the verge of changing the politics of Europe. Europe became very affluent, and bankers along with complicit politicians killed the golden goose. Merkle was the face of Germany Inc as they bullied the EU to impose policies that favored their continued growth to the resentment of a growing number of EU citizens including those in Germany. Brexit and Trump are terrible examples of how this right wing xenophobia can go seriously wrong. The life style super power has run aground and a new era is upon us.
8
Each time I go to Washington DC, I try to walk by the plaque on the side of the Willard Hotel honoring Jean Monnet, one of the founders of the European Union.
Monnet was a close adviser to FDR in WWII and spent time at the Willard in order to be close to the White House. His job Was to encourage Roosevelt to build war production for Europe but his long term vision was to build a post war unity.
This is a beautifully written piece by Roger Cohen. It’s good to know that Monnet’s and others from that era are not forgotten as they inspired the E.U.
29
I am a European patriot too, because as a former Yugoslav citizen, I unfortunately saw from the first hand what nationalism does, how it stars with words and ends up in genocide. This former refugee knows more about nationalism than ever wished for.
I am a European patriot, because I hate nationalism and borders, and love multiculturalism. I saw decent people turning into unrecognisable creatures, as they isolated themselves from the “other” and connected themselves to irrational ideas of past historical “glory”and “greatness” of their nation.
I am a convinced European patriot because I now live in Germany, in a town near French-German border, enjoy privilege of taking a day trip to Strasbourg, without having my passport checked, witness exchange between German and French students, hear French spoken on the street of my town, so I see that Europe works. I see that hatred and hostility between France and Germany is not historical inevitability, and the wounds can heal. But we all must work on that to stay that way.
Some of my work colleagues live in France and work in Germany, some of my friends are French married to Portuguese, some are Germans married to French, so supranational Europe is not an experiment, but reality.
Thank you Mr. Cohen for a wonderful article.
122
Yes, it is freedom we must all embrace. Or, more precisely, liberty: democracy, free enterprise, human rights, and rule of law. We must never fall blind to the temptations and ravages of nationalism and socialism, and we are getting dangerously close here in America.
7
Europe has learnt much about the evil in human beings as well as the good. It continues to do so as it grows into an ancient civilization, giving place to China, an even more ancient civilization. The wheel turns and we must make room for a new period in history. How the US, in its short period of glory, will manage this is still up for debate.
5
Mr. Cohen, you need not worry that the current backlashes to globalized capitalism that try to preserve national identies and culture are the same social movements that were behind the two world wars and even the balkanization of Tito's Yugoslavia. This is an unfounded fear - or maybe a political scare tactic. The countries leading the challenge to homogenization and top-down control from the EU and globalization, in general, are the smaller and more peripheral countries, like Hungary, Austria, Portugal, Poland, Denmark,etc.. The United Colors of Beneton spirit that Mr. Cohen seems to fall for would probably be less attractive to british capitalists, like Mr. Cohen, if esperonto, rather than english, was that common laguage behind this endeavor or if he came from a smaller and less powerful country than England. Likewise, the countries that have been most supportive of the EU are the biggest ones that politically and economically dominate it - in a manner similar to what led to the world wars. The idea that self-preservation instincts of under-represented countries that feel steamrolled by the processs will lead to a third world war and that we need corporate globalism to prevent this from happening is nonsense, IMO.
Also, how can Mr. Cohen be a European patriot, an American patriot and, presumably, a Jewish "patriot"? Sounds like he would even consider himself a world patriot. It's absurd.
20
Mr Cohen, you wrote a very powerful piece. I grew up in Europe and have lived in many countries around the world since. I was taught early that patriotism is the good way to love your country, and nationalism the bad one (Nationalsozialismus indeniably contains the rotten concept of nationalism). It is good that as many people as possible should be reminded of the difference between the 2 concepts. There is a huge danger for the stability of the world and the future of the human civilization when nationalism becomes again a popular ideology. Nationalism is all about building walls and looking down at those who are different (before applying more coercive measures). Patriotism is inclusive. It is the same as loving your family. Nothing in it implies that you should hate people outside your own family. Thank you again Roger, for stressing that essential difference. I wish everybody could come to their senses and make the right choice.
37
I, too, am a European patriot. But I can see that neo-liberalism is tearing at the fabric of a united Europe. Socialism for the wealthy and corporations, austerity for the many, is making room for demagogues who preach that nationalism will end their troubles, and I am worried.
71
I have spent about half my adult life in Europe.
I see one fundamental problem with the notion of a Federal Europe, which is what many EU supporters envision in the long term.
The French are not German. The Germans are not Italian. The Italians are not English... There are VERY large cultural differences (yes, as well as similarities) between these groups and the identification with them is fundamental to people's self-identities.
2000+ years of history differentiate the Swede from the Swiss. Language, myths & legends, food, physical appearance...
Cooperation between European countries has been a huge boon to peace and prosperity, and the EU has supported that. But as it moves towards a United States of Europe, there will be more and more resistance on the part of all its various ethnic populations, who are not prepared to give up their original identities.
The USA was really a rather small and homogeneous group of people when it was the 13 eastern seaboard colonies, almost entirely British with some Germans. Coming together as a federation was much simpler than trying to create a European Federation stretching from Portugal to Sweden to Romania.
36
@J Jencks, the only problem with your thesis is that many of those European counties didn't exist at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Even France bore little resemblance to the nation of the twenty first century. The reason why that nation exists is because an identity was and continues to be forced on people from Paris.
The United Kingdom is another example. Patriotism in 'Britain' is largely bogus. Both Scotland and Wales have strong national identities in their own right. In both cases the government in London has tried to extinguish those identities.
Nations are manufactured and culture history is used to support the central power of those nations.
7
@J Jencks
The European Union has a principle in place, the principle of subsidiarity, according to which governance should take place at the level where it is actually needed. Perhaps its application will, eventually and provided we survive as a species, make it possible to have the United States of Europe... or of Earth.
The name does not matter. What matters is that a globalized economy calls fo globalized governance, and globalized politics.
7
I like Europe, notwithstanding the many faults currently evident there. The very first shares of stock I purchased when I began investing as a kid were over there. Fifty years later, I am still doing it and never have regretted it for a day.
3
I am the son of a Dutch immigrant. My father, an American soldier, met my mother during WWII in Holland. They married right after the war and my mother was 23 when she emigrated to the US. Their war time experiences formed them. I do lots of travelling and never feel more at home than when I am with Europeans criticizing AmeriKa. I too am a European.
8
Another perspective -
Western Europe has endured a period of unprecedented peace (1945 - present) because the economic elite realized, after the disaster of 2 world wars, that they could make more money by cooperating with each other than by feeding the war machine.
So organizations were put into place to formalize that, eventually resulting in the EU in its present form, as well as the IMF and World Bank.
The "little people", i.e. the vast majority, were rarely interested in more than basic food security and roofs over their heads, except when they were being riled up by the elite, because the elite had decided it was time for another war.
For the most part, in the last 70+ years, the elite have done a fairly good job at making sure some, a small piece but enough, of the new wealth has trickled down to the rest of us to give us food, shelter, entertainment and gradually improving standards of living.
So long as the elite don't lose control of their greed and keep providing us with some bread and entertainment, we can continue looking forward to peace.
The problem - we little people are becoming more educated and consequently more demanding. For example, we worry when we see Bayer merge with Monsanto and watch the new conglomerate try to pay off the EU administrators. Another example, there was a fair amount of pro-fracking advocacy among the EU technocrats until citizens all over Europe loudly resisted. The "leaders" had the sense to back down.
9
I am a pessimist for the very same reasons Mr. Cohen is a patriot. This litany of human hatred and tragedy does not tell me that the European or American project was successful. It tells me it cannot ever deliver the peace Mr. Cohen wants. These projects of the West have been exposed as corrupt. The men of Davos and the bankers in New York, London, and Frankfurt have all ruined it. They have shifted, briefly, away from using armies to loot and pillage to using their tools of finance. The media and technology companies sow discord and conflict for run and profit. The Merchants of Death have simply moved their little wars to the middle east for a bit. But they will be back... they always come back. Good luck.
15
Prospects for the European Union today?
Put this thought experiment to yourself: Imagine the best people in the European Union, the people you consider the most noble, the most self-sacrificing, those most willing to keep Europe together, prevent it from descending to right wing populism or otherwise fragmenting. Now ask yourself if any of those noble people are poor. Ask yourself if the cream of these people do not first pay themselves for all the good they do, and pay themselves a quite large amount, and now ask why. Why is it if they believe so much in the correctness of their course they first pay themselves astronomical amounts of money, work to distance themselves as much as possible from their constituency, even as they say they not only work, but successfully so, for the good of all.
The answer is simple: There has never been a society in history in which the elite has been so sure of the correctness of its course that it did not first pay itself outrageous amounts of money to pad itself against the possible fall of its very decisions; furthermore, there has never been a society that has been comfortable with admitting a person into the elite who did not "go along with the game" of accumulating wealth. The European Union, and you can throw in all nobility of intention everywhere else as well, is hardly an improvement over nobility at any time in human history. The rule is first think of yourself, then perhaps help the rest, and always be prepared to get out at end.
17
“Nationalism, self-pitying and aggressive, seeks to change the present in the name of an illusory past in order to create a future vague in all respects except its glory.”
Nice.
“Patriotism is to nationalism as dignity is to barbarism. As nationalism equals war, so contempt for the law brings savagery.
I think I get it.
Brexiteers (nationalists); Remainers (patriots).
Republicans (nationalists); Democrats (patriots).
But what common transnational culture is going to sustain salvific European patriotism against the corrosive divisiveness of local nationalisms? The desire for regional autonomy remains powerful, as evinced in Spain and Greece recently.
How do these political axioms help us understand Venezuela? Or does the example of Venezuela give rise to a new set of axioms?
Well done, Mr. Cohen.
1
An eloquent and urgent piece by Roger Cohen, whose sentiments we ignore at our peril.
However, may I ask that when sending a picture to European schoolrooms of Willy Brandt kneeling in the Warsaw ghetto, we also include pictures of Jean Monnet and Konrad Adenauer who were the earliest dedicated architects of the European Union. Their indefatigable efforts to promote peace on an international scale after the horrors of WW 2, make them two of the closest examples of secular saints for modern times that I can think of.
33
Wow, Roger. A beautiful column. We missed you when you were on leave.
It seems to me that the nationalists are fighting a losing battle. Jet planes, the transnational global economy and now the internet are powerful connecting forces that trump nationalist rhetoric.
But I think you'd agree that those left behind by the advances of technology and unregulated capitalism have their own story to tell, and we should all be listening.
18
Dear Mr Cohen,
I have shared this hope for, I think, as long as you have. Surrounded overwhelmingly by skeptics here in France, I still hold this hope.
Macron, notwithstanding his current unpopularity, is courageously confronting proponents of nationalism with both firmness and courtesy. The French have yet to appreciate his value.
44
@Jeremy Macron has put the European idea in danger on the contrary. He is comforting populist and anti democratic forces by enforcing a liberal economy program and ignoring the misery of 2/3 of the French population. His method of legifering by short circuiting the Assemblee Nationale is itself anti European .
2
@Jeremy Balderdash. Macron is only the president since we didn't want Le Pen. His "firmness" has been to send out the CRS and other police forces with their batons, flash balls, tear gas and clubs. His "courtesy"?? He and his government still haven't come up with a plan to address the anger of of the people with the corruption that has been the 5th Republic. Haven't you been paying attention?
5
Very worthy idealism.
The attractive "idea" of Europe, however, stands no chance of endurance and development without one currently absent component: democracy.
The current European Parliament does not answer that need and if the idea of Europe is to flourish (sadly now, sans Britain) it must adopt a truly democratic pan-national structure that engages its population. Without that, collapse will follow sooner or later.
The obstacle to this democratic development remains the strong administrative structures of the Union built to foster supra-national coalescence.
Thus, although the European "Union" is only a youthful political edifice it already requires a sweeping revolution to bring it closer to its people. Without such a revolution, death awaits, but there are no pan-European leaders or potential leaders who could lead such a movement. So dissatisfaction, decay and collapse creep closer.
Perhaps that is the truly European lesson.
7
Thanks for the reading. Current situation has nothing to do with wars. People are tired of low salaries at the expense of $$ speculations, banking and a EU parliament imposing a German-French bank agenda. People of EU are GOOD, real GOOD. The system must be reformed for a much better EU.
14
I appreciate the point that the rise of populists is borne upon the despair of those who've been globalized downward. No one actually voted for globalization: Implemented by a nefarious ideology called "neoliberalism", a code word for pauperization.
We are saddled now with the urgency of a course correction, as much as can be achieved by democratic means. I don't begrudge any nation for lifting it's population out of poverty, as the Chinese. They didn't "take" our factory jobs. Trump needs to be understood as the product of delusional politics, aka populism, an aspect of nationalism . Rather than romanticizing the act of voting as an optional exercise in freedom, it needs to be promoted among the non-deluded as a requirement of survival.
This article did mention the word "schoolroom" twice. The America of two nations that manifested in 1860 seems to be still with us. As the election season of 2020 starts up, maybe calls for unity or "bringing us together" should be met with laughter.
3
as a child and teenager I rooted in France, Austria and Germany.
Later as a young man in London and New York.
It is all home and family to me.
18
Having read Timothy Snyder's sharply-drawn contrast between nationalism and patriotism, I doubted I would find one that was in any way its equal.
Your personalizing of that contrast and making it even more stark with several unforgettable lines---"Patriotism is to nationalism as dignity is to barbarism"; "Nationalism, self-pitying and aggressive, seeks to change the present in the name of an illusory past in order to create a future vague in all respects except its glory" (cf. MAGA)---ended my doubts.
A stunning column. Indeed, one of the most effective and moving columns I have read in quite a long while.
Thank you.
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@Rusty Inman
Thank you for your reply Rusty. Yes a stunning column. I had goosebumps when I read it both Roger's column and your commentary.
10
Why is it always and only men who fund and start wars while almost two thirds of the casualties are non combatants.
It appears the citizenry of every nation which engages in a war fund their own deaths.
Not a good investment.
6
We can only hope that Juncker and Tusk, the autocratic, bureaucratic leaders of the EU are replaced by more enlightened people who will be able to inspire Europe to remain united. Juncker and Tusk alienated every country and helped the rise in Nationalism. The next leaders must listen and save this wonderful ideal of a united Europe free from war. It is indeed very sad that UK is leaving the Union but so many people are angry all over the world and this is one of the consequences of that anger.
7
a former californian, I cast my lot with the belgians to become european. initially I enjoyed the belgian lack of overt patriotism. very little flag draping providing little refuge for the scoundrels who are always plentiful. but as we see regionalism/identity/etc. becoming the new fault line amping 'nationalism', we need new words to describe being a 'patriot' to an ideal of a better vision of ourselves. europe is a mess, but there is no other place on the planet I would choose to live at the moment. but I fear for our future. thank you Mr.Cohen
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The United States arose while incorporating the ideals of the European Enlightenment. The model for our institutions stems from these roots. Many of the immigrants to the United States came from Europe. The United States is an extension of European civilization and in particular Western European Civilization. Certainly European civilization is diverse; however, given that so many Europeans became Americans there is a good chance that the diverse ethnic groups within Europe can become Europeans.
9
Where is the EU we have rightly come to depend on in the face of those In Poland, Hungary, Italy, yes, and even the UK, who would seek to destroy it?
10
Beautiful, moving, and true. As someone who has also lived in Europe, and has relatives still there, the European Union is one of the great achievements of the 20th century, right up there with the WW I&II victories and the defeat of communism. As Jerry Brown said in a recent interview on Vice, we need to be "Planetary Realists." There are no hiding places on earth anymore. What happens locally has effects globally. "No man is an island" has more meaning today than any time in the past. America First is as delusional and threatening as Deutschland über Alles. We must love our planet as much as we love our country or we will lose both.
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@Old Farmer
Oh for my Mother's words to quell our clamor over disputes of greed "Now Share"
17
Roger Cohen speaks truth in our time. The causes of nationalist in both the US and Europe are the movements of tens of millions of refugees from their destroyed countries to the Western democracies. How to fix it?
The US saved post-war Europe with the Marshall Plan. Now, the world needs a "global marshall plan" to reconstruct those once livable countries, to make them livable again. This is already happening on a small scale in Syria: refugees who fled to Lebanon are now returning. It may cost one trillion and take ten years, but it is worth it.
Start with the worst case first: Yemen, then Iraq, Syria, Libya, Gaza, Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon, ...
It is in the economic and strategic interests of both the US and Europe to do this, and both the left and right in both regions would like the results.
Who would be the new Mr. Marshall? How about Obama?
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@John
YES! Full agreement here. However, I fear Afghanistan may be beyond help. Unless the flow of arms to the Taliban can be staunched...? Because I wonder very much where they get their weapons from.
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@John
I respect Roger Cohen's consistent idealism, but not utopian comments like this one.
The Marshall Plan worked because the scoundrels were defeated and their regimes destroyed, and because both winners and losers in Western Europe feared Communism. It was a unique moment of enlightened self-interest, bought at an awe inspiring price in lives sacrificed at the altar of democracy.
Syria? Gaza? Yemen? Afghanistan? Those are theocratic police states. Don't waste your breath about a Marshall Plan before they are liberated from the kleptocrats who run them.
Obama? Get serious. He encouraged the Arab Spring, but didn't have enough nerve to back it up with one airstrike in Syria, sending a clear message to all the scoundrels that they are quite safe from America.
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@John
Unfortunately, Obama is too busy making money and being a celebrity to take on this task.
9
Thank you for a thought-provoking essay. I especially appreciated the link to the opinion piece in The Guardian by a group of European intellectuals warning of the terrible danger to world peace from nationalism and tribalism.
The dilemma in averting the danger is how to deal with the human toll of people in higher wage countries losing their livelihoods to people in lower wage countries. The losses are painful and seemingly insoluble. But someone, somehow is going to have to find a way to alleviate the pain if we want to avoid the even greater toll of authoritarianism and war.
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@AML - not insoluble at all - just tax the immense profits that accrue to capitalists who shift the jobs overseas, and invest in infrastructure, education and research.
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@AML. The dilemma is the fact that our earth cannot support its entire population in our western life-style. the resources will run out before the poorest half get out of absolute poverty. We in the west will have to share some of the resources we have monopolized in the last 100 years, and that's not great news for the poor in any part of the world, including those of the developed nations. The world's "rich" including most of the population in the developed economies is not going to give up their privileges easily. This nationalism is the first sign of that. In fact, they will fight tooth and nail not to. And meanwhile climat change goes on...
27
Half way through the article, this German had to go to the bathroom to wash off the tears. Beautiful. Thank you.
16
Here in the U.S. it seems to be important to some of us to cling to the notion that the French secretly hate the Germans and vice-versa, that Italians hate the Greeks and vice-versa and so on. While that's briefly true in time of war ("Demonize the enemy!") and lingers at the bottom of the nationalistic soul during times of peace, to most people those accidental distinctions really don't matter all that much.
Think about it, if you can stand to do so. Is there any culture, or society, or nation which has no bakers? What do you think bakers from all societies talk about when they get together?
8
I am also a European patriot, an American patriot, and in the final analysis, a planet Earth patriot.
8
Mr. Cohen is the last true Eurocrat, which he somehow mistakes with being a European patriot (whatever that may be). I add the "whatever that may be" because there is no such thing as a "European," thus there is no such thing as a "European patriot." Europe now, as it has always been, is made up of diverse people who hold dear allegiances to region and country over the remote and deliberately opaque entity that is the European Union. And in my view, this is a good thing, not bad. A con game of a sort was played on these diverse European peoples, be they from France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, or other countries of Europe. They were assured that by joining the new-fangled European Union (remember it's only 26 years old) they would be assured well-being, prosperity, and security. Instead, in the 10 years following the world financial crisis, they have seen economic stagnation, unending austerity directed by the EU, and several waves of mass migration either sanctioned or ignored by the EU apparatus. The main thing to remember here is this: in spite of claims made by EU cheerleaders like Cohen, the EU is not Europe. Europe is much older, deeper, more complex, and richer than anything the EU could ever dream of. Europe, a peaceful and much more democratic Europe, will far outlast the EU.
27
@Lotzapappa
On what basis do you make this claim of a "peaceful and much more democratic Europe"? Such a fact-free, optimistic assertion is by no means self-evident.
13
@Lotzapappa The EU that is being built by Europeans is a work in progress. Those that are building the EU continue to be from their localities which are part of the countries of their origin. People take pride in their language and its local dialects, food, crafts, and idiosyncrasies. The EU does not seek to erase national and cultural identity but rather to celebrate the distinctness of its diverse makeup.
The EU has expanded its size and the numbers of distinct cultures and languages of the diverse people that make up the EU. The affairs of the EU are conducted in the languages of the peoples that make up the union. The anthem of the EU is the Ode to Joy from Beethoven, a German composer. Juncker is from Luxembourg, a former prime minister. He is no autocrat and neither is Tusk, who is a Pole who is committed to the idea of a Europe committed to the rule of law and democratic governance by nations that pool their sovereignty.
Nations survive not just because groups of people are distinct but because the people are prepared to sacrifice to defend their distinctness and their way of life. Nationalism celebrates the distinctness of a group that has achieved sovereignty and is prepared to defend that sovereignty against outside force. EU member states pool their sovereignty thru the EU framework for mutual advantage and security. When a nation makes claims that its rights take precedence over others, that is ultranationalism, which is destructive, and gives rise to wars.
4
@Lotzapappa Please allow a european of the french variety to contradict you : there is such a « thing » as a european, me for example.
And I'm not the only one! Maybe you should come and visit us. I'm sure you'll meet million of them of all kinds : german, polish, italian...even english ones! And you'll find out that a great number of them feel so lucky to live in the EU that you could call it european patriotism.
9
Dear Roger,
I was quite moved by your article. I think the American experiment of the last 250 years and the experiment of a united Europe over the last 60-odd years rising from the ashes of WWII are the most influential events in modern Western Civilization. As a European immigrant to the New World, who has lived in the US for about 25 years, I have to tell you that the longer I live in the US, the more I feel like a European. It's odd. So, I too, am "a European patriot and an American patriot". Thank you for your inspiring insights.
21
When I was growing up, every man I knew fought in WWII. Every relative, every neighbor. An entire generation was sent overseas to fight to rid the world of fascism and the nationalism that powered it.
I fully well understood what WWII was. It wasn't an abstract notion or image from a movie set. I was surrounded by the real deal.
I learned how the world reconfigured itself after the war. As a boy, I marveled at how the planet went through such unbelievable carnage, and how the threat had been eliminated. Europe was finally at peace, a real and lasting peace.
What were once mortal enemies were now allies and trading partners. Humanity had finally learned its lesson and the great battlefield that was Europe was finally put to rest.
Donald Trump and these modern day nationalists are doing everything they can to undo all that created the lasting peace. As a boy, never in my mind did I consider that any leader, especially a US president would tamper with such a solution that brought peace to Europe.
Trump and the nationalists understand none of this. They are playing with fire, real fire. The kind of fire that starts wars and gets people killed.
The WWII vets that I knew growing up would be appalled at how Trump is trying to blow up all of the alliances that their sacrifice laid the groundwork to create. Nearly 100 million people perished in that war, about 3% of the entire planet. Nationalism disgraces them all.
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@Bruce Rozenblit
I agree, with the caveat that I suspect Trump & co have a good idea of what they're doing. Their motivation is something one can only speculate on.
(P.S:! I always read yr comments with interest and enjoyment. An article in NYT is never complete for me until I've seen your take on it, and Christine McM. :-))
24
This is very moving. I, too, am a Jew;I who was born in the US and spent some of my early years in the Italy you describe. The message should be clear to everyone. But I wonder how much a Trumpist supporter in, say, Nebraska who cares little about his or her fellow Americans who happen to be immigrants or people of color will care about Italians or Germans. In a world where it is so easy to be aware of others, some people get more and more tribal and parochial.
24
"Nationalism, self-pitying and aggressive, seeks to change the present in the name of an illusory past in order to create a future vague in all respects except its glory. Pregnant with violence, manipulating fear, it is an exercise in mass delusion. I hate it with all my being."
Roger Cohen has applied his usual eloquence to a subject I never dreamed would arise in my lifetime.
I'm just from one place, not the several you claim, but my mindset was shaped by my dad's service on a naval destroyer in two theaters of ugly war.
As a baby boomer, films and books about that time, and the intervening years, have taught me the ravages of war. Which is why it never ceases to amaze me that Donald Trump, also baby boomer, has no sense of world history or he wouldn't be such an ardent believer in nationalism.
Or maybe he would. It takes a special brand of nasty to lash out against freedom, insist America is no longer great, embrace autocrats, and convince supporters to accept a new version of reality--but this man seems to have been born with it.
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@ChristineMcM
Thanks Ms. McM for another perceptive view.
6
Any ideology taken to extremes can result in violence and tragedy, that is no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
The desire for economic justice and social equality taken to extremes can lead to Stalin, Mao, the Khmer Rouge, or to Venezuela, but in moderation it is Scandinavia.
Likewise the desire for a national home and identity can be taken to ugly extremes, but that is no reason to demonize any such feelings.
The key is the degree, not the desire itself.
10
@AG sounds like you discerning between patriotism and nationalism
This is beautiful, and apt for this moment in time.
24
I understand the motivation for forming a "European Union" after experiencing the wars that you mention. If we bind as one it should eliminate war between us because we are one. But in a larger context there are two problems; You now have the potential for a new " European" nationalism ( not fully seen yet) -- and more importantly -- individual liberties can be sacrificed by a centralization of government. With regards to the latter, we can already see that less powerful EU member states cannot act individually in the political arena and must accede to " big brother." Not to mention a new wave of violence and low level war anyway from new entrants ( immigrants) into the EU that don't want to bind with anyone and just attack and destroy.
Like you, Roger, I am an American patriot and a European patriot. Thank you for your article.
11
Beautifully written, passionate and clear.
Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
34
America has not so much abandoned its once generous leadership toward Europe as it has lost its way in the world entirely, our moral and ethical compass is currently broken. We have for decades been brainwashed into our current mindless, self absorbed consumerism as a preferred economic model with delusions of self righteousness, self importance and hubristic entitlement as to our perceived superpower status in the world. We started along this dark path in a voraciously exploitative way around the time Reagan came into the Oval Office, and it has been a steady downhill slide since. Now we are starting to be confronted with the results of our behavior. So if the adage that "Americans do the right thing after trying everything else" is really true, it is already too late for the US, and we may end as a cautionary tale in the history books as to how a country can rise and fall in a mere quarter of a millenium.
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@GMR: "We started along this dark path in a voraciously exploitative way around the time Reagan came into the Oval Office, and it has been a steady downhill slide since."
Sorry, Reagan was spot on about the Soviets.
"America has not so much abandoned its once generous leadership toward Europe"
Leadership towards Europe. I guess that's the closest you could come to saying leadership of Europe.
5
@GMR, actually the downward slide began in 1956 when the US hid E Pluribus Unum behind In G-- We Trust.
Except that they didn't put in the hyphens and, thereby, violated the commandment against using the Divine Name vainly.
Just as Europe began to seek unity, the US began to pull itself apart.
4
@GMR the rot started long before Reagan, it goes back at least to Nixon and may essentially be part of this country's "moral" fiber, Calvinism, etc.
7
I hear your plea Mr. Cohen and second it. I would go a little step further in that the idea of ''union'' needs to be a global one.
I would submit that the greatest fallacy of man has been to draw lings on a piece of paper (especially in the name of divinity) and then fight over them. We are all brothers and sisters if you go back far enough and all have the same red fluid coursing through our veins.
It is not enough to amass only 500 million people over 28 countries into a common consensus of ideas and security. We must go further than that.
Our world is collapsing due to continuous strife, disparity and ultimately climate change due to our own hand. If we are to have any chance at all at surviving as a species, then we must come together in the billions.
We must come together for peace, prosperity and the idea that we are all connected - across religions, traditions, skin color, and a multitude of other things. It is only a select few that are rich and powerful that hold way over us. That has to change.
Unity is the only solution.
68
No doubt about it. Yes, right now, the nations of Europe will hopefully stay on the path of unity, peace and happiness within an evolving European Union. But thinking ahead to the survival and happiness of the human species on Earth, the same thing needs to evolve for all nations on the planet. Whatever form that takes, it is the only way forward if we are to reach the year 3000, not to mention the year 30,000. Otherwise we will surely have long since self-destructed in wars among nations. I think it was Carl Sagan who posited that the chances of intelligent species reaching this stage of evolution on any given planet were maybe 5% at best. Let's go for it.
20
@FunkyIrishman "Unity is the only solution" but it requires a cause, my hope is that we can rise above greed and find that cause in saving our planet.
2
@FunkyIrishman
Absolutely.
But can the impulse towards "This is us" compete with the impulse towards "I me mine"?
The story of human civilization is not promising in this regard; it's going to take a real shift in mindset. And probably a universal basic income.
3
A reader finds it difficult to enlarge upon the majesty of your prose, Mr. Cohen, burning truths like swords just out of the smith’s forge.
Freedom is mankind’s most precious gift, more enduring, I think, than faith, because faith can be distorted and used as the eternal weapon in the autocrat’s cruel arsenal, wielded but with a single purpose in mind: the enslavement of others. The field is being sewn in Poland and Hungary and Italy, all countries that once sent its sons to die in wars so that their sons would not shoulder the crushing yoke of another’s whims.
We see the ground for this in America, once an orchard of fruit and grain and spreading bounty as the earth yielded itself to a higher need. The harvest of nationalism under Donald Trump will not be gathered, even after his exit—voluntary or forced—unless those of us here who cherish freedom make the final leap of faith—that freedom for one but denied to another is no freedom at all, but enslavement of the worst sort. It would be me making the last choice of a soul unmoored from anything like goodness and decency and morality.
It would be the lip of the abyss, a pit where freedom cannot live and which has been abandoned by God.
26
@Red Sox, '04, '07, '13, ‘18,
Your prose is better than your history. Italy and Hungary
fought with Germany in WWII and Hungary also fought with Germany and Austria in WWI. They only changed sides when the Allies started winning.
17
@Rolf I understand the netherlands were also guilty of changing sides as well..Grandfather saw american or german flags draped outside of the same window/office/building depending on the ebb and flow of combat forces victories or losses. .
7