Europe
seems awash with historical hang-ups. And they are important ones. They
may define the continent’s future as much as the outcome of Germany’s
current political convulsions, or the state of Italy’s banks, or whether
Brexit Britain manages to cobble a transition deal. Large crowds of
Greek people recently protested against the use of the name Macedonia by the neighbouring former Yugoslav republic.
In Paris, there is intense debate about whether the writer Charles Maurras,
a leading intellectual figure of French early 20th-century
ultranationalism and antisemitism and a prominent supporter of the Vichy
regime, should be listed among the names to be
officially “commemorated” this year (he was born in 1868). Poland’s new
law aimed at curtailing any discussion of the role some Poles played in the Holocaust led to a spat with Israel and the US. In Germany, where the far-right AfD holds 94 seats in the Bundestag, a local Berlin politician (of Palestinian family background) last month called for newly arrived migrants to be sent on mandatory visits to concentration camp memorials to assist their “integration courses”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/13/europe-future-past
"... It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings."....I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)