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World leaders gathered in Paris yesterday to honor Armistice Day, the conclusion of WWI. The horrors of modern technology unleashed in that war left the world speechless. It was the war that was supposed to have been so horrific that it was going to be the “war to end all wars”. It was fueled by the rise of sentiments of nationalism, and the armistice only lasted a short time before its embers rekindled the fire of WWII that would dwarf even the horrors of the first.
The US played a crucial role in ending the two wars. In trying to put in systems which would help prevent such future horrors, it spearheaded the League if Natiins after the first war, and an even more robust United Nations after the second. It spearheaded the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to prevent many of the injustices and resentments which led to these wars. This document declared that basic human dignity demanded that governments be responsible for providing basic human needs like food, water, a basic education, and healthcare for its citizens at a bare minimum. It said that people from any nation should be able to seek asylum in any nation.
But memories are fading. And history is not a subject which is taught well in our schools. Those heard-earned lessons are being forgotten. So how ironic it is that the nation which so energetically spearheaded these efforts is now the same one which is out with such a vengeance to gut them all.
In reflecting on the war, French President Macron reflected on the role of rising sentiments of nationalism. The whole idea of nationalism was something that arose contingently out of the European politics of the late 19th century, with the rise of nation states like Germany and Italy, fueled by resentments after the Napoleonic wars.
So it was rather ironic that that the French President would be making this speech reminding the world of the lessons of unbridled nationalism that it had learned so harshly exactly 100 years ago. It was hard not to see it as a direct rebuke of Trumpism and the recent global rise of dangerous sentiments of xenophobia and nationalism:
Is the world heading down the same path and seeing the same sentiments and dark passions which led to such horrors in the last century? Certainly the rhetoric and actions of many world leaders and people we are seeing again today are eerily reminiscent. Our own president is now spearheading this new world movement.
God help us all.
The US played a crucial role in ending the two wars. In trying to put in systems which would help prevent such future horrors, it spearheaded the League if Natiins after the first war, and an even more robust United Nations after the second. It spearheaded the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to prevent many of the injustices and resentments which led to these wars. This document declared that basic human dignity demanded that governments be responsible for providing basic human needs like food, water, a basic education, and healthcare for its citizens at a bare minimum. It said that people from any nation should be able to seek asylum in any nation.
But memories are fading. And history is not a subject which is taught well in our schools. Those heard-earned lessons are being forgotten. So how ironic it is that the nation which so energetically spearheaded these efforts is now the same one which is out with such a vengeance to gut them all.
In reflecting on the war, French President Macron reflected on the role of rising sentiments of nationalism. The whole idea of nationalism was something that arose contingently out of the European politics of the late 19th century, with the rise of nation states like Germany and Italy, fueled by resentments after the Napoleonic wars.
So it was rather ironic that that the French President would be making this speech reminding the world of the lessons of unbridled nationalism that it had learned so harshly exactly 100 years ago. It was hard not to see it as a direct rebuke of Trumpism and the recent global rise of dangerous sentiments of xenophobia and nationalism:
”Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism," he said through a translator. "Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values."
"I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death," he said. "History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again."
-Emmanuel Macron
Is the world heading down the same path and seeing the same sentiments and dark passions which led to such horrors in the last century? Certainly the rhetoric and actions of many world leaders and people we are seeing again today are eerily reminiscent. Our own president is now spearheading this new world movement.
God help us all.
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