Can we afford the "luxury" of pacifism in wartime?

(To David Rossi)
26/02/22

"A pacifist is someone who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat it last": these are the words spoken in 1954 by Winston Churchill in commenting on the policy of appeasement with Hitler and, later, on the movements of beautiful souls who would have liked Europe unarmed in the face of the Soviet threat.

Today, while I was walking in the center of my beloved Prato1, between Palazzo Pretorio and Corso Mazzoni, I found myself witnessing a surreal scene ...

I state that a demonstration "for peace" organized by the Committee April 25, which he was participating in - I checked: with regular invitation - also a delegation of about twenty Ukrainian citizens, representing a parish.

They sat down in a corner, hoisted a Ukrainian flag together with one of those so-called "of peace" and - let's not forget it: they were a group of parishioners - they recited a short prayer, aloud to each other ended with a refrain of their national anthem, which includes, among others, the lilting words "Ukrajiny Slav".

At that point, the old ladies were confronted by a beefy young man, I presume an exponent of the "peaceful" even if he did not even identify himself as a staff, who and told them - in a not really "peaceful" tone - not to use " nationalist slogans ". Someone, among the more educated present, pointed out to that vociferous individual that the offending words mean "glory to Ukraine" - a patriotic expression such as "Vive la France", "Long Live the Queen", "May Poland be Poland ".

Shall we call the Italians fascists because for them victory is a "slave of Rome" or the French because they want the "impure blood" of the invading enemies to wet their fields? Perhaps the so-called Cancel Culture now wants to censor national anthems?

After the hymns, flags could not be missing. Here, therefore, a second individual, with a more placid behavior, who approached the small Ukrainian group and, instead of offering words of solidarity to those women, who certainly have children among the fighters, the reservists and perhaps the dead, complained about the presence of the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine.

Refraining from telling him where I would have liked that flag to be placed that he did not want to see, at that point the Tuscan spirit prevailed and I had to tell him mine: I asked him if for him the dead are real and concrete people, if they have a homeland : "Damn, your name is 'April 25 Committee': at least, you should have the Italian flag in front of your eyes", banner of that country which on 25 April 1945, having the honor of entering with the allies in Milan, was recognized as the victorious co-belligerent of the Free World and, as a consequence, "You should respect the flags of the war victims"be it Afghan, Rwandan, Greek or Polish, just to name a few. Instead, no: silence.

And to think that they made people cheer and venerate on the asphalt of the beautiful Tuscan square, that emblem of theirs with all the colors that for this reason does not represent any and that has no history, rather that it really wants to erase all of history. It was very close that the Ukrainian flag was removed by the “denoantri” pacifists: neither more nor less the gesture that the Kremlin wants to make; this in front of the population and the Italian authorities.

We even heard the second "gentleman" stress that these witnesses and victims of the first war of aggression in Europe after the Second World War had to behave "well" because they were only guests of their association ...

No, my boy: you and your companions were there because of THEIR suffering.

Ultimately, we were faced with more or less wealthy young people from rich countries angry at the poor old men of an attacked country. I was ashamed and indignant together.

What to say ... Wishing the Ukrainians that their tenacity and their efforts are truly rewarded and the song of freedom resound throughout Ukraine, as written in their anthem, I conclude with a revolutionary cry that will certainly attract protests, if there they are ideological fools who end up in the service of bullies: Glory to Italy!

1 In Tuscany