'To the arms, citizens'

“Form your battles…” The Marseillaise, that song of battle and freedom, rarely better exemplified than in the scene in Casablanca when it is sung against the Nazis in Rick's bar, resounds loudly again. Europe is beating the drums of war, preparing for a full-blown conflict with the old excuse of trying to avoid it by arming itself. Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. To arms, citizens! European rearmament is a scattered and divided event, driven by the thundering Jupiter that is Emperor Trump, sitting on his throne of gold and technology, the Nero of the digital age.

I'll confess from the outset that I'm not a great supporter of this warlike zeal (we continue with fragments of warlike anthems) so fragmented and nationalist. There may be good things—so to speak—like the United Kingdom's return to the European front, but it's foolish not to finally propose a common defense policy and a genuine European army linked to what lies behind it, and is sometimes not so obvious: a homegrown, indigenous defense industry with leadership capabilities.

None of this is built in a day, of course. Not even in a decade, nor without major investments and difficulties. But, as is almost always the case, there is a lack of political will to prevent each country on this continent from rearming in its own way.

Right now, with Great Britain's permission, the lion's share will go to the French—with their force de frappe finally vindicated—and the Germans, who will stop exporting cars and instead export howitzers. And yes, I know, I'm making a ridiculous reduction to absurdity, but every time Germany has rearmed in a big way, it's the entire continent that has ended up paying the consequences.

The Marseillaise volunteers who adopted Rouget de Lisle's anthem were fighting, in the War of the First Coalition, against German-speaking Austrian and Prussian troops who sought to end the Revolution, or at least limit it to Paris and part of France. And the lyrics themselves seek to compel the people to rise up in arms against the Teutonic invader. The Marseillaise was almost forgotten, having been banned at various times in history, until the Franco-Prussian War brought it back into the spotlight. Once again, the French people rejected their age-old enemy invader.

In defense, Europe needs to coordinate a common, hierarchical and reasoned response.

After the two world wars, the reconciliation between France and Germany was one of the events that marked the course of these eighty years of peace and prosperity. And we came to believe that progress was inherent to our way of seeing and understanding the world after the bloodshed and massacres of the 20th century.

Now, we have suddenly woken up from this long nap and, still drowsy, we are being urged to pack up and prepare for combat. Each country, despite the common flag of the European Union, is doing so in its own way. We are starting to count broomsticks and mops as defense expenditures, because if there's danger, a Spaniard grabs the first stick at hand just in case. The Italians are already dreaming of a bella bella arms industry, while the Poles are bristling at their borders and even the Icelanders are considering the need for an army—they, who inhabited the largest US aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic...

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Listen, in case anyone is listening: a single command and direction are needed to reposition Europe in a world that is clearly bipolar. The United States is already a systemic rival, let's not fool ourselves any longer, as is the alliance between Russia and China, evident for many reasons (among them, it's not out of the question that Trump is an agent in Putin's service, as crazy as that may seem), so we will have to deal and trade with everyone. Money is money, and business is business.

But if it's about arming Europe, this aging and lazy Europe that believed there would be no more wars on its soil, the urgent need is to coordinate a common, hierarchical, and reasoned response. We should have learned something from the pandemic crisis. And the first thing we must rearm is the awareness of our unity. Because divide and conquer.