Two narratives, two ways of life, two truths
It’s been exactly 40 years since the British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood released their single “Two Tribes”, warning of the possibility of a great war between the West and the East, although the borders of the West and the East were much different back then. Today, there are ideological wars even in the Western countries, while the great conflict between the “New West” and the “New East” seems more certain than ever.
TWO GERMANYS
Germany was perhaps the most successful story of the post-WWII and post-Cold War eras – the Marshall Plan made West Germany prosperous and the Germans learned to be grateful by not going to war anymore, but working for peace. The same happened in the East in the GDR but with worse economic results and greater social equality. When unification took place, under “Mutti Merkel”, Germany decided to be 1) the quiet but steadfast leader of the EU, 2) part of the West, i.e. NATO, and non-aggressive, 3) reliant on Russian energy sources, which enabled rapid and large growth thanks to which millions of Europeans and people from other countries wanted to immigrate and be part of that new Germany, and 4) produce a huge quantity of products, which in the meantime became synonymous with top quality, and export them to China. Today, NATO is forcing them not to be so peaceful and to be ready for war, Germany’s access to Russian energy sources has been prevented by the sanctions they introduced themselves, but also by the diversion on Nord Stream I and II, while the Americans no longer like China, which is not perceived as a “friendly and cheap global factory”, but has emerged as a new giant that wants to redefine the world. Hence, the Americans decided to impose light sanctions on China and force their allies to move away from it. Although it was too late to stop China, that didn’t mean much to the Germans, who were suddenly impoverished and faced with either stagnation or weak development and strikes which paralyzed the country.
But that’s not a problem here – the problem is that Germany has been “one” since the fall of the Berlin Wall (except for “Ostalgie” in the eastern part, which was more of a folklore type and good for movies like “Goodbye Lenin”). Now, we can see the formation of “two Germanys” taking place. In Serbia, we have long been accustomed to “First Serbia” and “Second Serbia”, but to have a “first Germany”, in which the Greens are now somewhat suicidally making an energy transition and sanctioning Russia and China, and a “second Germany” in which the AfD and Sara Wagenknecht they openly take the other side and use the justified anger of citizens – that is new. As a result of all that, the government organizes protests against the opposition, which we haven’t seen since the rally in support of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia, instead of solving the problem citizens face, while the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is being banned. Germans today unwaveringly believe in two different truths and this gap should somehow be healed and not deepened because when Germany coughs, the rest of Europe falls into bed with a fever. Extremism of any kind is quickly punished as we live in a causal universe.
The traditionally cool German head is much needed now and it seems that there are fewer and fewer of them. The figurative heat in German society is growing and emotions are starting to overwhelm good arguments and common sense
The traditionally cool German head is much needed now and it seems that there are fewer and fewer of them. This internal ideological conflict is nowhere near as harmless as Poland’s division into conservative and liberal, or the Brexit referendum (not that Brexit was harmless, but Great Britain was a peripheral country of the EU, while Germany is in the heart of Europe). It is time to simmer down passions and calm down the two narratives – one in which there is green energy, the transition from Russian gas, insistence on Western values and sanctions against Russia and China and the other which favours the rapprochement with Russia and China, returning to Russian energy sources, aversion to immigration (Germans are very “linear” here, unlike the British who did not like Eastern Europeans too much and preferred Commonwealth citizens as immigrants). Another narrative is not even in sight.
TWO WORLDS WITH RUSSIA PLAYING THE MAIN ROLE IN BOTH
In one of these worlds, that is the Global West, Russia is the main villain and its president is the “New Hitler”, with the coin “Putler” often encountered on social networks. In the second world, in the “Global South”, Putin is the “leader of the Free World” and a fighter against the “Evil Empire”. Let’s note that in this part of the world, phrases like “The Free World”, which the West used to describe itself in the Cold War, and “Empire of the Evil”, which it applied to the USSR, are used only in the completely opposite context and that is perfectly intentional. On social networks, you can see thousands of citizens of the “Global South” passionately commenting on any news in an anti-Western way and no, they are not bots, while the phrase “propaganda” is meaningless here. Simply, there is a point of view that Putin wanted to return Ukraine to the time before the Euromaidan in 72 hours with “minimal action” which he failed to do and that he then started a massive reshaping of the world, imposing himself, together with other forces that are dissatisfied with the current order, as the leader the “Global South”. Three countries of the Sahel (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso) have already separated from ECOWAS and their citizens carry Russian flags on the streets as a symbol of resistance to the West and hope for a better future, far from it. I very vividly remember how we carried American flags during protest marches in 1996 and 1997. Now, that scene is unimaginable in Serbia, but we see it spreading in Africa.
Maybe Putin initially wanted to be integrated into Europe, with Ukraine on his side, but now it seems that Russia has set itself a much bigger and more confrontational goal – not only to be the leader of Eurasia but with the other “rebels”, become the leader of “Euraso-Africa”, the triple continent of the future, as Asia is not the continent of the future – it is already the continent of the present and a leader in many things. Africa is the continent of the future and it seems that the politics of non-Western countries, which absolutely do not care about democracy or the free market, have a better foothold in Africa. Since the 2007 Munich Conference, the West seems to have created an inadvertent and unplanned great enemy that has fallen into the arms of not-so-hidden Dragon, to paraphrase the name of the hit movie.
TWO AMERICAS
Ideological wars have already become exhausting and social networks make them even more unbearable. Every little thing causes discord and everyone watches and listens only to the news that suits them, creating their own bubbles and echo chambers. The real conversation between dissenters is diminishing. The strongest polarization is happening in the USA, where now, in 2024, everything revolves around the two candidates who, barring some miracle, will be on the ballot in November – Trump and Biden. Behind them are cohorts and legions of people who think it’s the end of the world or the end of America if the other side wins. Some believe that Trump was robbed of victory in the 2020 election and that the storming of the Capitol was equal to the storming of the Bastille or at least the expulsion of British rule from the 13 colonies. Others believe that Trump deserved life in prison. Those in between are very few and it was on these people that American democracy and discussion, dialogue, checks and balances and everything else was based.
There are more wars, while quarrels and censorship are driving people off social networks. We can expect to see only a greater escalation which is something we don’t need. We don’t need to fight for a dream. We need a fight for reason, now more than ever
It’s not new that Texas and several other southern states are sort of rebelling on the southern borders with Mexico, due to illegal immigration that has reached record levels. Someone interestingly compared the situation to the creation of the Confederacy, because all the states that supported the Texas governor were from the former CSA. It is an understatement to say how dangerous this is for America, but also the rest of the world. At the same time, opinions are rife that the choice between autocracy and democracy is as important as the choice between war and peace in the Taiwan Strait. Anyone with common sense can see that the choice between war and peace is a priority. As Darko Rundek would say, “time in us is changing and everyone is ready to fight for the dream again” and that is dangerous, because that line of thought leads to bombs falling and “the streets filled with holes.”
EPILOGUE
Therefore, let’s re-learn how to listen to dissenters again. Let’s discuss, respecting other people’s opinions. Let’s not ban other opinions, because if we resort to cancelling and de-platforming someone, that person only becomes more offended and stubborn and people start developing conspiracy theories about such person being intentionally removed (or them, if it’s a party) because they were “righteous and discovered the conspiracy of the system”. Eight years ago, I wrote about the danger of echo chambers. Today, I can only say that the situation is getting worse. People take offence at every little thing, they demand the banning of everything and anything, and there are more wars, while quarrels and censorship are driving people off social networks. We can expect to see only a greater escalation which is something we don’t need. We don’t need to fight for a dream. We need a fight for reason, now more than ever.
