The article expresses profound dismay at the ongoing violence and political hypocrisy in global conflicts, particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine. It criticizes Western governments for their complicity in state terrorism and erosion of democratic values, drawing parallels to historical totalitarian regimes. The author warns of escalating tensions with Russia and laments the collapse of humanitarian ideals, calling for genuine opposition to war and authoritarianism.
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by Elena Basile
“…limbs hanging lifeless as parents hold them before the cameras, screaming, crying, begging desperately… I didn’t know before. Now I know… this is what our ruling class has decided is normal…” Tim Foley, British writer. A hauntingly beautiful text I cannot fully transcribe.
We are appalled by yet another massacre of innocents in Rafah. We are appalled by the state terrorism rampant in the Middle East using Hamas terrorism as an alibi. We are appalled by Israeli and Atlantic terrorism that struck Slovakian Prime Minister Fico, 200 dead in Moscow, and hundreds of civilian casualties in Tehran. We are appalled that our liberal civilization, our defense of human rights and humanitarian policies, is giving way to something else—hybrid and violent, defended by the moderate, democratic ruling classes we trusted. Like the boiled frog method, they lull us to sleep, distract us, and few are aware of the path we’re on. In the 1930s, few realized what was happening to Germany. We swallow everything. The agonizing children and Biden’s lies, who, if he wanted, could stop the war this instant. Of course, he would have to give up his political career, distancing himself from Netanyahu. We swallow this sickening farce: the West weeping for Rafah while remaining complicit with Israel. We swallow the massacre of Ukrainians sold out by their ruling classes to Anglo-American interests. We swallow the escalation leading us toward open conflict with a nuclear power.
If our weapons hit Russian territory and a coalition of European states like Sweden, Poland, and France send regular troops to fight against Russia, Moscow will have no hesitation in widening the conflict. In Europe, liberals, democrats, false socialists, right-wing moderates, and the far-right have embraced the most nauseating militarist rhetoric and have defended NATO’s destabilizing policy on Europe’s eastern border, encircling Russia, attempting regime change, eroding Moscow’s power with sanctions, an illegal economic war, and the seizure of Russian funds against international law. Exaggerated subjectivism led us to Nietzsche, nihilism, and Nazi ideology. But the truth exists. Russia has so far responded to Western actions: the coup in Maidan, economic war, punitive expeditions in Donbass, Western rejection of mediation proposals in December 2021, the West’s cancellation of the mediation reached by Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Turkey in March 2022. Russia responds with the annexation of Crimea, the invasion of Ukraine, and military escalation. Moscow reacts to NATO’s destabilization and strategic attack.
If there are history books in the future, these truths and our responsibilities will be acknowledged. In Gaza, it is evident that the West’s hands are stained with blood. Yet, US policies in the Middle East and Russia follow similar logic. The monsters in Gaza wave their macabre flags. In Ukraine, they disguise themselves. Facing the collapse of humanitarian and democratic values, while authoritarianism has already hit the free West, the far-right advances, legitimized by the same ruling classes that pretend to fight it.
The Franco-German axis is on its last legs in Polish Europe, though some former ambassador entertains us with old catechism: the opportunities for Italian diplomacy to become the balance point between divergent Franco-German interests. The German recession and Berlin and Paris’s kowtowing to the US is blatant. De Gaulle and Mitterrand would turn in their graves. Merkel, a pragmatic chancellor with domestic visions, appears a great statesman compared to Scholz. Poland counts more than Germany for the Anglo-Americans who decide the West’s fate. It’s hard to imagine a role for the Atlantic Italy, incapable of autonomous policy in the Mediterranean. Knowing the Italian nature, not inclined to new warlike adventures after fascism, Crosetto and Tajani do everything to reassure public opinion. Yet, in a direct conflict, we will be the first involved.
Macron’s visit to Berlin is pathetic. The butcher of liberalism thunders against right-wing authoritarianism. We are left with a faint light in the darkness: that the true forces opposing wars and the degeneration of the free world gather the support of that 60% who no longer vote. To the resigned, we must shout “Indignez-vous,” as Hessel well knew.
Il Fatto Quotidiano, May 30, 2024
