Commentary
Why march for Europe under the banner of peace
It is clear that the ongoing race for new arms will both never be able to rise to the level of the 6,000 nuclear warheads that Russia possesses, and will only have the effect of taking away the €800 billion set aside for it from health, education and livelihoods.
One can agree with the critical arguments put forward in il manifesto on the march for Europe called by Michele Serra on March 15, and yet decide to participate anyway.
Why? To ensure that the heavily-armed Europe wanted by the von der Leyens and the Macrons won’t be able to present itself as the only Europe in existence.
And to show that there is another idea of Europe: the one certainly held by the majority of Europeans, which sees Europe as the place of constitutional democracies, of separations of powers, of “unity in diversity” according to the maxim adopted in 2000 by the Union: that is, a Europe of equality and, above all, of peaceful coexistence.
It is right to take part in the march, also for many other important reasons: because Europe – not only ours, but also that of the von der Leyens and the Macrons – is being attacked today by all the reactionaries and fascists in the West, who want to destroy its remaining democratic identity; because it is right to pursue any alliance against the fascists, who are on the rise all over the world; because nowadays, demonstrating in defense of the European Union, even with all its very serious limitations, means demonstrating against Trump, against Musk, against Milei, against Meloni and against all the forms of sovereignism and autocratic and parafascist drift taking place throughout the West; because Europe, thanks to the extraordinary peaceful coexistence it has achieved among 27 countries with 23 different languages, with a past of wars and clashing imperialisms, has shown that integration among different people is possible, including for the whole of humanity; because, therefore, we see in the European Union an exemplary stage in the process of the unification of humankind, as pursued by the Costituente Terra (Constituency Earth) initiative, on the basis of the two values that – like the UN, which is just as much under attack – the EU placed at the core of its foundation: peace and equality.
We are well aware that for many years now, Europe has been reneging itself, denying and violating these two constituent values: peace, with its senseless bellicose policy and absurd race for more arms, and equality, with its inhumane policies against migrants and racism fueled by the reappearance in Europe of the figure of the person who is illegal and clandestine for the sole reason that they exist.
But it is precisely for this reason – to defend these two values and, together with them, the values of the rule of law, separations of powers, limits and constraints to the savage powers of the new masters of the world – that it is necessary today to demonstrate in defense of Europe, born with those values to which we want it to return and anchor itself.
It is only the other Europe, opposed to the one defined by the unwise choice for ever more weapons, that would be able today to emancipate itself from subalternity to the United States and promote an autonomous peace initiative towards Russia, not based on rearmament as until now but on disarmament and mutual security guarantees, with a view to a progressive return of Russia to its European home.
Trump's obscene blackmail, along with the failure of three years of European policies, demonstrated something that is an absolute truism: that the guarantee of security doesn’t come from rearmament, which signals hostility, distrust and an aggressive attitude towards Russia, classified from the start as an enemy, but from the readiness for progressive disarmament, which has the opposite effect, attesting to the will for peace and appealing to the similar will and identical interest of the other side.
It is clear that the ongoing race for new arms – a race that has continued uninterrupted for more than 20 years – will both never be able to rise to the level of the 6,000 nuclear warheads that Russia possesses, and will only have the effect of taking away the €800 billion set aside for it from health, education and livelihoods.
Thus, marching for Europe also means marching in support of the welfare state that has been achieved in the name of equality in Europe alone, and which Trump and right-wingers around the world now want to destroy.
It means countering the threatening and hostile display of arms and the demolition of the welfare state pursued by the neoliberal policies of our governments with the beneficent and civilized face of the Europe of peace, equality and the guarantee of people's rights and dignity.
The first of those two Europes is destined to fall apart, not only because it is more exposed to the threat of war, but also because of the inevitable conflict between opposing sovereignisms and the loss of popular support.
Only if Europe chooses the second version of itself, funding European institutions to guarantee social rights below the level of the national ones and promoting global and total disarmament that would make all wars impossible, will it be destined not only to survive and become popular among European citizens, but also to stand as a model of civilization for the rest of the world and to attest that an Earth Federation is actually possible, as necessary and urgent as it is.
But this second face of Europe cannot remain hidden, covered, absent, unexpressed. It must be manifested and displayed with the flags of peace. To send the message that this is what the prestige and political authority of Europe depends on, certainly not on an illusory military power.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/perche-manifestare-per-leuropa-con-le-bandiere-della-pace on 2025-03-11