More frequently than desired, a holiday stroll starts around midday. Like every other year the dilemma of enjoying the morning freshness after a short sleep or having a nice long rest followed by a walk in the oven hot midday of a French summer get’s solved by my natural laziness. So we were, few days ago, squinting in the midday sun of Saint Nazaire. Actually not bad at all, since the water front is lined with shadowy trees, and the sun gave an extra dimension of color, and perhaps drama, to the monument build to north American airmen that, towards the end of World War I, transported english troops to the continent, contributing with the liberation of France.
The monument in itself is worth the sunny walk. From a pilar in the water an eagle transport a soldier, that carries the recognizable english helmet, and a Saint Michael sword. On the shore, two massive flags frame the pilar and a bronze legend. The breeze and the light make from the whole a chilling reminder. It wasn’t that long ago, after all, that this continent was pierced by the horrors of chemical warfare in the trenches, of the infamy of the gas in the destruction camps. It is hard to bring that horror to reality today, it all seems so far away, so unreal. Even at the face of the populist and xenophobic right wing populism, Eurostat reports that the percentage of European citizens having negative feelings towards foreigners decreases. And the thought of a European country invading another is more a deranged nightmare than a possibility.
Also, the idea of North American troops coming to the support of a European country seems a possibility from the far past.
Perhaps that is what made me stop and take a longer look at the French and north American flags together, reminders of a long association. The realization that even that association, crucial to develop the world as we know it today, is as fragile as any other human enterprise, and at the mercy of populists leaders and oppressed populations.
I realize that it is a long time since I don’t write about current politics. Somehow it does seems appropriated to restart this old habit of mine with reminding myself that nothing is granted, that in the uncertain times we live, citizen participation is more important than ever. The barbarian is not at the gate anymore, but our own populists.
