Last October I visited Ypres (or Ieper) in Belgium. In the First World War it was utterly destroyed. Today, standing amongst the war graves at Passchendaele, you can see the spires of the rebuilt churches in Ypres, just six miles away. Over that small space of land, over those fields, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost. And actually, what was it really for?
Back in those days the international world was defined by bi-lateral treaties between one country and another. So when Austria declared war on Serbia, after the shooting of Archduke Ferdinand, Germany immediately came in on the side of its ally Austria. Russia then came in on the side of Serbia, because they had their own treaty. France had a treaty with Russia so they then declared war on Germany. And Britain got involved because they had a treaty with France. In no time at all the whole of Europe was at war.
Of course, that is a rather simplified take on how it happened and overlooks the simmering tensions between the great colonial powers as they sought the resources to sustain la belle epoque. But thirty years later they were at it again, with more bi-lateral treaties seeking but failing to secure the peace.
Fortunately the architects of post-war Europe in the 1940s onwards saw things rather differently. No more bi-lateral treaties. Instead they went for one treaty that bound everyone to everyone else. Differences between one country and another would be resolved by everyone, because it was in everyone’s interest to make sure they were resolved. Sometimes that would mean a fudge or a less-than-perfect compromise. But it was better than fighting, and destroying, and killing. Today we know it as the European Union.
So what on earth are we doing, here in 2017, trying to leave the EU and that treaty that binds us all together. And in the US, that man (I can’t bear to write his name) is ripping up multilateral agreements in favour of bi-lateral agreements. We are forgetting our history and being encouraged to pursue what we are told is our own best interest. The best interest of a few maybe, but ultimately it’s you, me and our children who will suffer should war once again ravage our homelands. Co-operation and compromise is so much better than war.