Sorry, President Macron, but Globalism - Not Trump's Nationalism - Is a Betrayal of Patriotism
Trump Derangement Syndrome is progressing, not only among the American leftists, but apparently also to the neoliberal Euro-Swamp.
During a ceremony over the weekend honoring the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice, French President Emmanuel Macron said “patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. In saying ‘our interests first and who cares about the others,’ we erase what a nation has that’s most precious, what makes it live, what is most important: its moral values.”
Macron was not just reflecting on the causes of WWI, when the rivalry between European countries brought a war to the continent, but also aiming to rebuke the nationalist approach of modern political leaders such as President Donald Trump.
Macron’s speech was almost certainly a response to Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy,” Trump told the U.N. “America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.”
Just like American leftists, the European neoliberal establishment fails to comprehend the deep reasons for the rising popularity of the right-wing parties and leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Instead of reflecting on the shortcomings of the globalism they have been promoting for the last couple of decades, these elites demonize anyone who promotes an alternative approach that shifts the focus of foreign policy from supranational management of the world politics, economy and finances to the defense of the national interests by sovereign nation-states.
The labels that neoliberal media outlets have created for those who oppose globalism are well-known: “Nazis,” “fascists,” “Islamophobes” and “populists” are the most commonly used. The definition of a “populist” has been grossly misused in the verbal efforts to smear the opposition instead of engaging into a meaningful and productive dialogue.
The conceptual meaning that leftists put into the word “populist” is equal to “demagogue.” But Marcon is not as brave to say it out loud. Meanwhile, the opposition of populism is elitism, and this is exactly the philosophical basis of the neoliberalists’ view of globalism.
Globalism did not benefit America any longer and started to undermine its progress, and it also weakened the security and stability of the European Union. As the result, both American and European “populists” began to reject it.
In this sense, populists are what truly democratic leaders must be. It is also significant that by putting a negative meaning into the word that implies speaking on behalf of people, the leftists show their disregard to ordinary people, assuming that they are not capable of adequate cognition and, God forbid, decision-making.
Hence, most of them are “deplorable,” “ignorant electorate” and “low-information voters.” The leftists’ frustration with the “red wave” on both sides of the pond exposes their true nature that is rooted in elitism, when the source of power is not the people, but them alone.
In this specific case, Macron is a highly significant and symbolic figure of globalism. He believes that the old Europe, with its traditionalist nations, borders and even elections, is outdated. He strives to transition more power to the EU bureaucracy in order to make Europe more interconnected and centralized.
Among Macron’s propositions are the establishment of the new European departments (including those that would decide on a common immigration policy), a formation of the common EU treasury and refusal to financially support those countries that “oppose the rule of law” and which he calls “illiberal democracies,” referring to the countries with conservative governments, such as Hungary, which elected traditionalist conservative Viktor Orban and his party for the third time in a row.
The reinforced EU must be governed mostly by French and German elites, as the ambitious French leader proclaimed in his Sorbonne speech in September 2017. This position is deeply undemocratic, since it aims to silence the voices of the conservative part of Europe.
In addition, an unelected, appointed bureaucracy would accumulate the real power without any regard to people’s actual stance. At the same time, a truly developed democracy creates and promotes a mechanism that protects the rights of minorities while suppressing the effect of a “groupthink.”
Meanwhile, Macron insists on the opposite — a creation of a mediator class of professionals who would develop a unilateral policy for the whole of Europe.
As Andrey Movchan, a director of economic studies of Moscow Carnegie Center notes: “At first, these mediators will propose different programs and then, bargaining between themselves, they will conduct a real policy. To achieve its goals, a mediator class could juggle any values as it sees fit. It may recognize a democratic choice of Kosovo with tears of joy. It may indifferently watch how Catalonian ambitions are being suppressed. It may agitate with exaltation for acceptance of the poor refugees from the war-ravaged countries. It may use cold-blooded tactics to destroy these countries, turning them into a scorched earth. It may decisively condemn arrests of activist somewhere in Moscow. It may as easily sanction a use of clubs, tear gas and water cannons in their own capitals. It may turn on a formula ‘voice of people is a voice of God,’ and it may turn it off, because ‘referendum is a totalitarian tool.’”
Also, Macron believes that Europe can no longer rely on NATO for defense and needs to create its own military forces while reaching out to Russia to develop a “strategic partnership” despite differences with the Kremlin over Ukraine, Syria and other issues, such as Moscow’s hostile cyber-activity and Salisbury incident.
All pretty words about the deepening cooperation and boosting of pan-European sovereignty only aim to disarm the European nation states and to strip them off of their military sovereignty in favor of a globalized Europe governed from Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
Get your records straight, Mr. Macron. Your Napoleonic plan to power-grab the whole of Europe has nothing to do with patriotism, democracy or moral values, while leaders like Trump try to preserve a national sovereignty from the supranational neoliberal elites by the means of healthy pragmatism and protectionism.
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