Believe obey fight

Do you ever have a sense of déjà vu with regards to information on the Russian-Ukrainian war? A kind of sweet, fake aftertaste when you hear certain slogans? Like that we have to defend Europe from a bloodthirsty tyrant? Or that you have to be on the "right" side of history? Or that citizens have to sacrifice their immediate well-being and their contingent tranquility to defend higher principles and "brother" peoples? Or that we are part of the "family" of liberal democracies while "they" are a rogue state? If the answer is yes (and there is no doubt that the answer is yes) there is a very specific reason.

All the above statements are typical "nationalist" rhetorical expressions. Where by "nationalist" we mean a bellicose and Manichean (and therefore negative and reprehensible) declination of the term "nation". Now, what is the main propaganda device underlying the process of European unification? The resolute repudiation of all "nationalisms" and, with it, of all underlying nations. By virtue of a childish "syllogism" – and therefore tremendously effective – according to which: 1) sovereign nations are the cause of nationalism; 2) nationalism is the cause of wars; 3) ergo, it is enough to eliminate nations to eliminate the risk of conflicts and find oneself in the Eden of universal peace.

The peoples of Europe have believed both in one lie (that is: the nation necessarily tends to give birth to aggressive "nationalism") and in the other (that is: by eradicating the homelands we would have eradicated also pernicious patriotism). Today, we wake up from an almost secular lethargy and we realize that in reality not much has changed. By becoming “European”, we have simply transitioned from many small nations to one larger nation. With the huge difference that the former really were, the latter is purely artificial and invented.

For the rest, this great "European nation" is not very different from the previous ones. It again has an external enemy that threatens freedom at its borders and the world good. In summary, we have renounced the exclusive rights and powers of self-government of our community and our territory (to devolve them to a much more nourished self-styled "community" and to a much larger territory) with the promise of incinerating nationalist impulses early on, "Patriotic", identity. And now we find ourselves in the midst of the same emotional and irrational storm of catchy phrases, of rhetorical pistolotti, of calls to arms of first-rate nationalisms.

Of course, some details are different: we no longer have to give gold to the homeland, but conditioners; the irredent lands are no longer Trento and Trieste, but Donetsk and Lugansk, the monsters to fear and hate are no longer the perfidious Albion or the demo-pluto-Jewish Masonic powers, but the very stinking Russians. However, the aftertaste in the mouth does not change: it is always a "nationalist" emphasis. That is, of the eternal weapon of manipulation of all regimes, since the world began: replacing the truth of the facts, the complexity of interests and the intertwining of responsibilities with a “fantastic”, monolithic and indisputable story. Where we are the good ones who defend the "values", the others are the bad guys who attack the good ones. Perhaps for this reason only a motto born a hundred years ago can summarize what today, more than ever, our "commanders" (and their "singers") want from us: do not think, do not reflect, do not doubt. Just believe, obey, fight.

Francesco Carraro

www.francescocarraro.com

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The article Believe, obey, fight comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/credere-obbedire-combattere/ on Sat, 18 Jun 2022 08:18:23 +0000.