Translate

Caesar's EU, Hitler's EU, EU, future Xi's EU – all the same?

I got a comment to my Fare well Brittania! post drawing that line, which got me thinking. A reflection and response.

First, I'm a European, not only by heart but real-life. I was born in westernmost part of Germany (Bundesheimatministerium?...), on the right side of the Rhine, which, naturally, is the left (co-inciding with my political alignment).

Being born on the civilised side of the Rhine goes way back. Background map by tataryn; Roman Empire at the time of Trajan, 117 A.D.

Half of my grandparents were Nazi profiteers (but not in the party as far as we know), the other half suffered the consequences of ordinary people of World War II. Consequence being, I never knew my granddads. They didn't die in the war, but because of it a few years later (one being kept as a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia till 1951, so probably his hands were drained in blood; the other drowned in the Mosel a year ealier intoxicating himself against the chronic pain of the grenade splitters in his body). I'm anti-fascist because of common sense, family history, education, and knowledge. Good people can only be found on one side, never the other. Nazis, fascists and alike came and come only in four versions: stupid, bad, worse, and nigh-evil.

Born very close to two other European countries, France (30 mins) and Luxembourg (just over the hill) – Belgium and the Netherlands are only an hour drive away – I fancy the grass on the other side. Not because it's greener (my birth area is a pretty nice place and hard to top) but because it's different! As a kid, my father made sure we'd travel every little bit of (western) Europe including Yugoslavia (being the only communist country before the Iron Curtain). I've probably been to places in Ireland or Spain, most Irish and Spanish haven't seen. Luckily, my work as a researcher (first stationed in Germany, than Sweden, finally Austria) brought me to different parts of world (only two continents are missing: Australia and Antarctica) and got me in contact with a lot of different people, including not few that were more cosmopolitan and me, too (usually left and liberal, it's a curse knowing and have seen too much). I speak fluently German and English, pretty good French (can't write it, though) and could survive with Swedish; I hold two EU nationalities — I'm an Auslandsdeutscher and utlandssvenk (and, in the future, possibly a third; you don't need it within the EU unless you want to elect the national parliament/head of states).

The comment

This analysis is way too causa proxima and no causa ultima....have to go back 2000 years and God knows how many "EUs" ....Caesar's "EU" to Hitler's "EU" to the coming Xi Jinping's "EU"... to understand Breaksit.

I disagree. Brexit is a child of our time. Or, rather, of a quite short time frame (What UK thinks). Notably, the same factions of British society that elected the Iron Lady into office, who gave up "British independence" (according contemporary interpretation by the political Right) and entered the (then) European Community, was the main group backing Brexit.

More importantly, comparing the EU with the Roman Empire and the Nazi conquest of continental Europe is, to put it plain and simple, bullshit.

The Roman Empire – unification by legions and common wealth

Regarding the Roman Empire, part of my ancestors, the Treviri (those dwelling on the proper side of the Rhine), didn't even bother to raise shield and sword, and were awarded with quick implementation of superior civilisation. Better living and fancy public baths [German Wp/official page in English], for instance. Our Roman legacy (at one point, Augusta Treverorum, Trier, was the third most important city of the Roman Empire, after Rome and Byzanz), UNESCO World Heritage sites, attracts millions of (non-German) visitors to a city, which happens to be the birthplace of Karl Marx and me. Remember Life of Brian: "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

It's funny, but it's also true. Most people in Europe were better off after being conquered by Romans than they were before. Which also is the reason, peoples looking for the greener grass of the other side (of the Rhine, for instance) were the ones who destroyed it. Not the conquered ones in it.

Napoleon's unification of Europe

Let's not forget Napoleon's "EU". Napoleon brought war to most parts of continental Europe but also much needed order to European chaos, especially in central Europe. Many of our current codes of law (in countries of the EU but also South America) are still inspired by the Napoleonic Code, the Code civil [Brittanica]. He also cleaned up the German and Italian microstates, thus, laid the foundation for nation building, which would have dire consequences.

Departements of the first French Republic, which replaced noble fiefdoms of Medivial Ages. Named after rivers and other natural features (hence, Departement Forêt, lit. forest, for what used to be Luxembourg) and including some later lost, like the Departement Sarre around the former Roman city of the Treveri. Background map by BrightRaven

The darkest time: Nazi horror sweeping Europe

German nationalism and militarisation, the rise of Prussia culminating in the declaration of the first actual German Empire (the Holy Roman one was it just by name) in the ashes of shattered French dominance 1871, is also a consequence of the Napoleonic re-organisation. Without a unified, homogenised Germany, there would have been no war of 1870/1871, WW I or WW II (at least not in the same form). Or, the Nazi terror.

In stark contrast to Romans and Napoleon, the Nazis solely brought sorrow, misery and unfathomable evil to Europe. While roaming the world, I noticed that non-Germans (including well-educated ones) have too little idea what my ancestors actually did, except for the survivors of concentration camps and their families.  There is nothing comparable to it. What sets apart the Nazi horror from anything else in human history is that we did not only commit genocide (quite common in human history) but we planned, organised, and optimised it! Any comparison of anything to Nazi Germany, the holocaust or the many "little" horrors in its wake, minimises unduly the Nazi horror.

Knowing about the darkest bits, makes the EU shine in bright light

While ignored by too many in the World, at least up to 1990s, all (western) Germans were taught what we did in school. Even those that were kids or born decades later (like me): the Nazi horror was and should still be part of our German soul, it's our Erbsünde as a people. Not rarely, in soul-shattering detail. One reason, Germans have been astonishingly pro-EU since the beginning, it that we know better (or should). This was the only tiny little positive spark from that darkest period: because of the horror, we incited across all of Europe, Germany was (against the will of not a few) turned from a warmongering nationalist industrious chimera into a nice little apatriotic but still industrious kitten. One lesson of the greatest disaster in European history was that we need to work together in peace for mutual benefit, why the European democracies founded the EC which would become the EU. It's a lesson learnt. Well, on the continent, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

You probably can't blame the English (or unwitting young continentals) for lacking the European-unification-is-without-alternative sentiment because the abysmal horror never really touched their soil, just a bit of bombing and rocketing (ironically, a technology which brought the Americans to the moon before the Soviets, why they made sure in the last days of the WW II, the UK wouldn't be able to get their hands on Nazi Wernher v. Braun and try him for the V2 attacks on London).

History has a lot in common with matryoshkas. You can always peel layer for layer and dig deeper.

The EU hasn't forced anyone into joining

By all its flaws (see e.g. my European-Not-Really-A-Union posts focussing on odd aspects), the European Union is not (and has never been) an alien occupying force. In contrast, it has been most beneficial to its member states. Typically more useful to their industries, commerce and upper 1% than for the rest (an example: I have four social security numbers; why?) but still: Everyone, especially in my generation – grown-up with the threat of nuclear annihilation and smuggling coffee and cigarettes across the Luxembourgian-German border – has to be blind, or stupid, to not realise that. The EU could be much better than it is (especially these days, with nationalist-fascist governments of Hungary and Poland blocking needed EU legislation and evolution), but there is no viable alternative to European unification. Anything else would be worse. My grand-grand-mother told us of live during the first and second world war (she was "lucky" to live through both) and I experienced the 1980s first hand, I don't want to experience them again! (The permanent reminders in current politics, Trumpydumpty, for instance, are fully sufficient.)

European-Not-A-Union: the Happiness divide. Happiness scores from World Happiness Report 2018 (more here, methodology, and here, original post)

No one has to be forced into the EU. Every member country wanted (and those not yet in, still want) to become part of it. Ironically, the UK, are more of a forced union. The Scottish nobility and parliament only signed the Act of Union (dedicated UK parliament page) because they were bankrupt after the Darién scheme. Now, Scotland is removed from the EU against its documented will, same for Northern Ireland (referendum results in full at BBC). As always in the history of the "United" Kingdom, mighty, populous England decides, the rest of Her Majesty's dominion stays put. Northern Ireland is a forcibly colonised, occupied country, too (Wikipedia's History of Ireland is pretty comprehensive). There wouldn't be any unionist protestants in Northern Ireland if not for the near 800 years of, originally Norman (viking Frenchies) becoming "English" conquest and colonisation of the island.

Whether one likes it or not. The EU is the only attempt to unify Europe without armies (Romans, Napoleon) or insane ideologies (Nazis). Entering it makes (still) a lot of sense, especially with China emerging as capitalist but autocratic world superpower trying to undermine it. Leaving it, is just stupid.

14 comments:

  1. good to see you are still awake.....is the world a better place because you are happier?.....I recall the words of the psychopath colleague who recruited me to Chile only to empty my brain and pockets and leave me eventually homeless...."nobody forced you"
    ...also the words of a department chair who said he would "not force me" to make a suicidal decision, rather just made my life miserable for not doing so....there ARE forces besides legions and stormtroopers and rockets....I have no stake at all in Brexit...I eat out of the trash in Santiago Chile and will do so until I expire...I judge Brexit NOT for UK behavior, but for the EU response...nobody "forced" UK to join...but politically hostile towards their leaving....that is a "force"....as I have learned in life....so....I think EU should have looked at it as not losing a member, but GAINING a powerful nonmember ALLY. ....that is how TRUE FRIENDS behave..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funfact: many miserable South Americans are happier as they should be. Which is reflected by much of the governments, who put you into the misery. And how you treat the few that don't because they don't deliver fast enough. Chile being a proof of point.

      And the EU did a lot to ease UK's exit. But you cannot expect getting a better deal than you had (and Britain had the best of all member states) for leaving a union. That is like divorcing so your partner pays all your bills and a monthly allowance while you live in the flat she/he pays for.

      Delete
    2. I have a very different view of South America...based on empirical study...not simulations...I was as "progressive" as they come when I agreed to move here in 2000..
      very naive....but now well educated because, unlike intellectual elites, I am neck-deep in the ecosystem.....

      Delete
    3. This sounds like an interesting story. Have you ever thought about commercialising it? Starting with a blog.

      Blogger's service is (at the moment) free-of-charge and you can have Google, the all-knowing, putting ads on the pages. To make good money with it, however, they say you need 10,000+ visits a month.

      Delete
  2. .....so...¿do I not get a copy of splitstree 32 bit?....fine, it's just a 62 X 1721 alignment, do I can do the calculations by hand....after I troll McDs trash for breakfast..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You only have to click on the link, I provided. You obviously have internet access while nothing else. Here it is again, enjoy.

      Delete
    2. tx...but the link to 32 bit is broken and no reply from Huson...I need to find someone with the installer still on their IBM PS2

      Delete
    3. There is the original server at the University of Bielefeld (SplitsTree 3) but it says "temporally unavailable", which might mean dead as a dodo.

      https://bibiserv.cebitec.uni-bielefeld.de/download/tools/splitstree.html

      Since SplitsTree wasn't widely used before ~2015, it may be very difficult to find the old 32-bit version. Being non-existant could be a reason the link is dead (all the other three work)

      Delete
    4. hmmmm....I guess I can wait till somebody throws out a 64 bit...or Huson compiles an android version, which actually is a good idea..

      Delete
    5. Happiness Index New Year.....Huson did repost the itty-bitty version of 4, I can see why no longer supported, the fast things work on my manual typewriter, but the slow too slow. I was able to do a fast thing and get it into my ms. in time for show-and-tell...https://ecoevorxiv.org/ak68m.....I made a significant discovery in this work, I was morally obliged to report it, but I am keeping it low profile....discretely mentioned in the abstract and intro and the discussion buried at the end of Section 5 of the Discussion. But you did not hear it from me.

      Delete
  3. for some reason the overture to Tannhauser in my head

    ReplyDelete
  4. it occurred to me to do a splits analysis of coauthorship patterns

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has nothing to do with this post, but, in general is a fun idea.

      Take some much co-authoring big-shots as characters and a selected group as taxa and code it absence/presence.

      Delete
    2. I found something along the lines....https://ecoevorxiv.org/dpef4/....and it IS not so off-topic....if you look at the Figs....I only need to do a network for coauthors and see if the Rhine runs through it or the English Channel

      Delete

Enter your comment ...