Today, French and other European dignitaries gathered at the site of Verdun, where an eight month battle between the French and Germans was carried out during World War I, also known as the Great War, or the War to End All Wars. This is Armistice Day, marking the end of that war.
There were no veterans from the Battle of Verdun present because none survive. In fact, there are hardly any veterans from World War I alive anywhere in the world today. There are ten verified veterans from World War I combat, and a handful of others who claim to be veterans but probably are not, or who were in the military during that time but not in the theater of war. (see this).
But I really don't care, and I think we should stop celebrating the end of World War I as well as the end of World War II in western countries until we have come to terms with the realities of Post Great War warfare.
World War I may have been the "Great War" and it lasted four years and certainly took many, many lives (something like 19 million) . The Second Congo War has been running twice as long and over five million people have died because of it, and it is just getting started. There has not been a conflict as deadly and disruptive as this war since World War II. Yet few major international west-based news services have more than one or two reporters in the field watching this war ... for the first year or two of this conflict there were virtually no major corespondents in the area at all ... and the news rooms are still incapable of producing a map of the region that has more than the grossest, kid-toy globe level detail on it.
It is time to put away the dough-boy suits and the wreaths, to drape the WW I and WWII monuments with ivy and grime, and forget those wars happened, if this is what we must do to remember what happened yesterday, what is happening today, and what is going to happen tomorrow, in the Congo.
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Maybe you treat it differently in the States, but in my experience in the UK marking Armistice Day was always about remembering the slain on all sides in wars around the world. When we observed silences it was frequently suggested that we use the time to think about the number of wars going unreported.
Well, if I thought forgetting WWI and II would help us notice what's actually happening now, then I'd agree with you... But since I don't, I don't. The memories of WWI/II are about the only things that occasionally sort-of remind us what war is like. Without that, things would be even worse. Hell, we'd be back to believing that war is a jolly jape where a boy can become a man, just like all those poor bastards did in 1914.
Perhaps it's experienced differently in the US...
Regarding World War II, it should also be noted that the civilian tole in Britain, Europe, Asia and Africa was enormous, and certainly in UK remembrance ceremonies, much is made of that. For instance, the Bevin Boys (second world wartime coalminers), London Transport, and the emergency services also march in the UK remembrance parade.
Also, as Matt Heath comments, there has been a shift towards a more general contemplation of victims of present wars and conflicts. In the UK, there will be no more formal events marking the end of either war, in part because of the dwindling number of veterans, but also seemingly because it was felt that enough time had passed.
Still, it must be noted that Europe has become a relatively stable entity within the last 60 years, and that would seem to be in no small part due to remembrance of the horrors of the world wars. History should be marked and remembered, so that we can at least try to learn the lessons it presents.
Of course, Greg is correct that many conflicts other than those directly involving large numbers of American and British troops have been little noticed by many in the West. Still, to pay adequate attention to all of these things is not beyond us; indeed, contemplation of the past, and the comparisons to be drawn with present conflicts should bring each into greater focus.
Matt, from my experience we mark Armistice Day just as you do, even though the origins are from the experience of the World War I.
It is important to remember the lessons of World War I & II and it would do the world well to pay attention to the many active conflicts in the world, people being what they are, tend to pay attention to things that most affect themselves.
Ouch at the title. (Posting this shortly after 11/11/11:00.) In Canada we also honor Korean war veterans. Plenty of those still around. Don't Texans honor the Alamo? And sure there are no longer any veterans of that campaign.
Should the Jews forget the holocaust?
Many nations honor those who died in wars long ago that helped forge their people into a nation.
Let's not also forget these two wars did a lot for the rights of women and blacks. Lots of blacks wondered why they had risked their lives in WWII and were now coming back to an America that was treating them as second classed citizens. Women largely got the vote after WWI because they did an important job keeping the factories running. And there's that line about would they be able to keep the returning soldiers down on the farm after "they saw gay Paree" (Paris). Arguably WWI helped start a liberalization of social attitudes.
Anyway, American attitudes towards WWI and WWII might be different, but in Canada the motto on Nov 11 is "Lest we forget". I don't think in Canada we're ready to forget the sacrifices of our grandfathers.
Dunc, in the US 'Veterans Day', as it called, is for remembering all past and present service-people, whether living or dead. So it's not solely about the two world wars. This year has been a little different simply because of the 90th anniversary of the first.
I don't agree with Greg's piece. There's no rational reason why forgetting the world wars would allow the events in the Congo to seep into the national conscience.
Furthermore I could make the argument that the principle cause of the first world war was a continuation of the European policy of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. An example that should be remembered as we consider what, if anything, we can do about the situation in the Congo.
What an incredible load of crap!
You don't have to forget past wars in order to pay attention to present wars. Moreover, today is Veterans' Day, not Armistice Day any longer. Its purpose is to commemorate those killed in all wars of the U.S., to me a most worthy purpose for a holiday indeed.
What a pile of shit.
Matt, Dunc, I think you can see your answer about how it's celebrated in the U.S. I'm glad Joel has the experience that he does, but for most of us, Veterans Day comes across as very much about the wars the U.S. has fought in. If there weren't/aren't Americans there, it didn't happen.
Foxtrot Oscar Alpha Delta
All this flurry to defend the dominant culture and its holiday, and not a single word about the 5.4 million dead in the Congo and nearby areas. Shame on each of you.
I don't expect a post like this to go without controversy. Those of you who have commented that the modern day celebrations commemorate all veterans and all wars are making a good, and valid point. (I quickly note that it is still armistice day in Britain and France and I also note that the current BBC coverage is all about WWI and nothing else.)
I do not object to commemorating these other wars and almost everything everyone above is saying is meritorious and valid. But everyone is missing the point. I am trying to bring attention to something that you should be paying attention to. SO take your hands off your damn lily white privileged asses and think about what you are saying and doing.
OK, for your sinds, it is now quiz time. Can anyone here tell me why this war has been going on in the Congo? What is the main impetus for this conflict having started, what is the main impetus for the funding of this war, what is the main objective of most of the big players in this war?
What the hell do you want us to say? Yes, it's appalling. It's equally appalling that it's so underreported. I keep screaming at the TV news whenever it's mentioned, because the sum total of the analysis presented is that it's down to "clashes" between "government forces" and "rebels".
I am paying attention. That doesn't change the fact that what you proposed in flat-out fucking stupid. There is not some fixed quantity of concern which can either be directed to Conflict A or Conflict B. It's not a zero-sum game.
Short version: coltan. Happy? That's why I never buy a new mobile phone...
Long version: far too long for a blog comment. I have to admit that I have great difficulty keeping track of all the involved parties and their juxtapositions at any given moment. Not least because, as you rightly say, the reporting of this conflict is lousy.
However, the fact that I completely agree with you on that does not detract from the fact that the core idea of this post (that we should forget about WWI/II so that we can pay attention to the Second Congo War) is fucking retarded.
Like I said in my first comment, if putting aside etc, etc, would actually divert attention to the 2ndCW, then I'd be all for it. But it won't, so I'm not.
You best shot at the present time would be to point out that the 2ndCW is, in many important ways, a continuation of the policies which led to WWI in the first place.
@Greg: Your comment is better than than the original post. Honestly, reading the OP my thought was that you were using the Congo almost as prop, just as an example of "something bad happening now" which we should think about before history. The "boo to armistice commemorations" came out much more strongly than the "think about the Congo" part.
You have encouraged me to find out more about the situation in the DRC and for that I thank you. I have to confess that my knowledge was at about the level of "There are atrocities happening. it's to do with mineral resources and maybe an ethnic component". This was indeed shamefully little knowledge.
I can't tell you the answer to those questions. You know why? Because I spend all my time commemorating the dead of WWI so I plumb don't have any time left to think about any other wars. I agree that in order to educate people about the horror of war, we should deliberately try to forget the dead of wars past.
Remember when the Bush administration covered up Picasso's Guernica before making its case for the Iraq war before the Security Council? They had the right idea. How could people consider the brutality of an Iraq invasion if they were being distracted by the brutal images of the Nazi bombing of Guernica? Only in an environment sanitized of consequences from earlier conflicts can people objectively weight the potential consequences of ongoing and future conflicts.
Greg said,
(I quickly note that it is still armistice day in Britain and France and I also note that the current BBC coverage is all about WWI and nothing else.)
Actually, we have Rememberance Sunday, which is the main day of commemoration and is on the Sunday closest to the 11th. This is explicitly for the commemoration of all those who have fallen in war. This has been the case since World War II.
The 11th is a relatively low key affair and is known as Rememberance Day as well as Armistice Day. WWI gets a bit most of focus on this day given the date, but the overall period is for the rememberance of all war dead.
I quickly note that it is still armistice day in Britain and France and I also note that the current BBC coverage is all about WWI and nothing else.
On Armistice day the only thing that happenms in the UK is that there is a minute silence at 11 o'clock (participation entirely optional, and possibly largely missed by the majority of the population. Remembrance Sunday on the other hand does still concentrate largely on WWII, but is also a commemoration of the dead in all conflicts. WWI has simply featured large because it is the aniversary of the end of the war.
The war in the DRC has actually recieved large amounts of coverage in the UK, not least of all by Newsnight on the BBC.
I do not object to commemorating these other wars and almost everything everyone above is saying is meritorious and valid.
Well, for a moment there you seemed to be presenting some kind of binary choice...
But everyone is missing the point. I am trying to bring attention to something that you should be paying attention to.
Greg Laden lives behind my eyes and looks deep into my soul... He knows my secret shame...
SO take your hands off your damn lily white privileged asses and think about what you are saying and doing.
Greg, don't project your white, middleclass angst onto me. I care, even if I don't have a blog to get angry about it on.
Seriously: I think you've reacted badly in this case. Just because people aren't gnashing ang wailing, doesn't mean they don't care. It also doesn't mean they are ignorant, and it certainly doesn't mean that they haven't taken on board your message and gone away to educate themselves if they didn't already know about the Congolese wars.
I only commented on the controversial content in your original post because the disgrace of the international reaction to the situation in the DRC (as in Darfur or Somalia) is self-evident. I don't see why I should have to agree with that on a blog to make it any more true.
As others have said, of course death on a massive scale in Africa should not be ignored. Of course the media should report it in detail. Of course the Western countries should do something. Of course white Westerners have treated the suffering of whites as more important than the suffering of darker-skinned people. But, as others have also said, that has nothing to do with remembering those who served and those who died in other wars.
I'll chalk this one up to hyperbole. That's the only way it makes sense, or allows me to value anything else you say, Greg.
Dunc, there is, however, only a certain amount of concern - and more importantly, action that adresses concern- that people are WILLING to give out.
We had a 3 hour assembly today at might high school, 3 hours of sentimental hoey, poems and wreaths! No mention by name of the second congo war - I didn't even know there was a "second congo war" per se.
3 hours would have been enough time to give some serious lectures about CURRENT wars, what the reasons for them are, a bit about what's going on, and WHAT WE CAN DO.
If you did that, you'd have an extra 2500 high school students with ideas in their heads about what they can do to help, rather than flander's feild echoing in their heads for the umteenth time.
Anon, if you only have limited reserves of humanity, then you are poor indeed. I can see no reason at all why this should be the case.
It is not wrong to spend three hours out of the nearly 9000 in a year remembering the all too recent World Wars which cost more than 60 million lives. I grew up surrounded by veterans of the First- and Second- World Wars, so I am very aware of their suffering. Also, keep in mind that there are still millions of people with living memories of losing loved ones - soldiers and civilian - in WWII. We're not dealing with distantly historical conflicts here.
It is wrong if the cost of remembrance is to forget that conflict persists, and that people are still dying in bloody conflict around the world every day. I think that is the point that Greg wanted to make, but he seems to have slightly lost the plot whilst doing so.
The real disgrace of the DRC is not that blog readers are ignorant of it, but that the international community - who very much do know of it - are doing so little about it. The UN peacekeeping mandate is weak, and the peacekeeping force lacks any real representation by the military mights of the West.
If you, Greg, or anybody wants to do something, then writing to your government representative would be a start. Also, be sure to support the humanitarian relief efforts of the NGOs by giving anything you can to the various charities working in the region.
Note also, that Greg has offered little but concern and angst in this post, so it really could have been much more constructive. In effect, he is simply replacing one kind of remembrance with another (even though that appears not have been his intention). Personally, I would respectfully suggest that he follows this post with another, more constructive, reply.
Greg, here every parish, town and city has a war memorial that lists the dead of both wars. (This village had 100 houses in 1914, and 24 men from the village were killed in WW2. Two families lost two sons each. 10 died in WW2 - the wounded are not listed.) Every family in Britain lost a friends or relatives in the first world war. You had 3000 miles of Atlantic separating you from European aggressors, and thousands of miles of Pacific before the Japanese could get to your shores: we had 21 miles of English Channel.
Your attitude is like telling the USA to forget your Independence Day (which I would dream of denigrating with a word like 'stupid'): those two wars guaranteed the freedoms not just Britain of western Europe. We could have sued for peace with Hitler, but we didn't. It would have been wrong to let that kind of tyranny establish a permanent rule in Europe: how many more would have gone into the concentration camps had Hitler not been forced into a war?
I prefer the words of another American, one who was there and knew what he was talking about: 'On 8 August 1940, the RAF Fighter Command took off to save everything, and betwen then and the end of September they saved it all.' (USAF General Hap Arnold.)
Errata line 3: 24 were killed in WW1. The typos were because I was finding hard to be polite and restrained.
Do you suggest we simply forget about a very large, very influential and very real part of our history. WW2 is still important in both the european culture and society, and is only now beginning to fade a little.
Why don't Americans simply put that civil war and that revolution behind them? Who cares about the 4th of july anyway, you could use that time thinking about current conflicts. What kind of an insane claim is that?
Of course you don't forget the revolution, because it means something. It's a statement for freedom and equality and your way of life, in the exact same way as WW2 is for us europeans.
Forgetting about WW2 would mean abandoning everything our parents and/or grandparent fought for and gave their lives for. I don't know about you, but I value things like freedom of choice and equality for people of all races or religions. Because I value those things, I think it's important to remember what "we" had to do to get them.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
OK, OK, OK, I care about your wars. I care about the dead and the families of the dead from WW I and WWII, Korea and Viet Nam and Iraq. I have my own connections: I have immediate family and/or close friends who fought in each of the above mentioned as do many of you. I also have a friend who fought in Biafra and a friend in Afghanistan, and relatives by marriage who died in the camps.
I also have dozens of friends and acquaintances (including people I loved and people who were not so friendly acquaintances!) who have died in the Congo in the last ten years, and I grow increasingly weary of this war being on the international back burner. This is a conflict of the same scale of these other conflict, and it is utterly unreported for weeks at a time in the US and generally poorly reported globally.
Can you imagine a conflict in Western Europe over which more than five million people have died being only mentioned now and then?
On a day in which major things are happening in the Congo, my BBC news feed (and BBC is better than most) shows the following in order:
World Recalls the End of WW I
UN Cuts Food Rations in Zimbabwe
Cameroon Rebels Release Hostages
Detained Chen in Tiwan Hospital
Germans seek "Nazi" Guard Changes
UN Warns over Gaza Food BLockade
Congo Troops Looting Vilages
Two stories are about the old wars trump the Congo right now. I'm sure all these stories are important. I understand timeliness. But really, do you understand why this might be a little frustrating? Do you understand why obsession with ancient wars along side lower degrees of attention to modern events involving life and death on a grand scale is just a little obscene?
My post was indeed hyperbole (could that have been more obvious?) .... My post was intended hyperbole designed to get people to think about the 5.4 million dead AND COUNTING AS WE SPEAK in the Congo. Obviously, that was an utter failure. I completely fucked it up. All I did was to get everybody farther away from the topic and more rather than less defensive about their own ritual.
I will be more careful in the future about upsetting your sensibilities, but over time I want you to come part way in this direction and to take more note of these events.
I'll tell you a secret that I have not told anyone. I'm not the kind of guy who easily keeps his mouth shut (I mean, really, you knew that, right?). Having my second family, my second home, my second culture, my second place, wiped out has brought me to a place where I really can't talk about it. I've been chiding myself since I started blogging for not touching on the Congo (very much.. I have a little). Why can't I write about this? It should be a major topic on this blog. Maybe I have to yell and scream about it for a while then I can do that constructively.
Expect more.
I think it's worth noting that Armistice Day (which is what I still call it, even tho I'm a Yank) marked the ending of the war that broke nearly 100 years of relative peace throughout the world (the American Civil War being a major exception). The post-Napoleonic pax has never been recovered, and it's worthwhile to mark when we ventured through the 19th century romantic notions of bravery and glory in combat to our current understanding of the inescapable horrors of war. The Great War was the end of an entire romantic mindset about war.
Conflicts in Africa are directly related to the Great War, and perhaps even more so to WWII. The rapid decolonization following WWII was executed so poorly that many African countries became severely destabilized--and in cases such as Somalia, barely consist of governments at all. The power vacuums were a second, tragic insult delivered to Africa by the waning European powers.
Good luck with that. I'll certainly read it.
It easy to see why the Western press reports a wreath laying at Verdun with more fervor than it reports villages in Africa being sacked by rebels. White people honor the death of their own, and care little about those of African ancestry even in their own lands.
@ SteveF
we have Rememberance Sunday, which is the main day of commemoration and is --- for the commemoration of all those who have fallen in war. This has been the case since World War II.
The 11th is a relatively low key affair...
I think Professor Laden's point remains true here. The Queen of England few to France, BBC reports it as a major story, if that is "low key" then what will happen on Rememberance?
Alcari quotes: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
I think the point of this post is that quite a few of us are remembering it and repeating it anyway.
I know what it's like to be paralyzed on the matter of writing about something personal and painful that one nevertheless knows needs to be written about. (Forces one into convolutions like that one, e.g.) Mine is on a much smaller scale; it's hard to imagine being able to write or talk about yours, Greg, without engaging in barehanded destruction and mayhem simultaneously. Never mind "being civil."
If you can manage it, you have a platform here and maybe, just maybe, it'll do some good. I wish you the best. I'll certainly be reading.
mooreman:
I think Professor Laden's point remains true here. The Queen of England few to France, BBC reports it as a major story, if that is "low key" then what will happen on Rememberance?
The Queen (of the UK, not England as an aside) does lots of things (none of them overly useful, but that's another story). Hopping on a plane is no big deal. I'm not sure she did go anywhere today; Prince Charles was in France. I didn't see her in France.
The 11th is still a significant enough event (hence BBC coverage) but Rememberance Sunday is a much bigger occasion (and also involves the Queen)
We should remember war but use this poem by Wilfred Owen to do so...it starts, Dulce et decourm est pro patria mori...
It is also know as "The Old Lie"
********************Fuck War!****************************
Of course you can write about it - I, for one, would very much like to read the thoughts of someone better informed about the conflict than myself. You just don't need to denigrate the sufferings of others and the historical roots of the conflict in question to do so.
The problem is that we aren't remembering it clearly enough. Ask a dozen people what led to WWI (heck, ask a hundred) and I'll bet that not one will refer to tensions between the various imperialist European powers over the resources of the Congo.
Second lead story on the BBC's main news page today? Congo.
Okay, this post hints at the context for your ire. I now understand more, and appreciate your reasons. Thanks.
I hope you can find a way to share your experiences, because, if there has been a lack of news reporting from the DRC, then even worse is that the stories of real people have been largely absent. It is massively important that the victims of such events are given a voice.
For more information on the failing of the international community, people should seek out the Amnesty International website.
then even worse is that the stories of real people have been largely absent. It is massively important that the victims of such events are given a voice.
indeed
I completely fucked it up. All I did was to get everybody farther away from the topic and more rather than less defensive about their own ritual.
Have you any guess as to why French media wouldn't speak up high about the Congo wars? Maybe that's more convenient to say "these are old ethnical issues and we should let Africans solve them the way they always do since they obviously will never be able to do otherwise" than "Hohum, maybe we're deep into all this shit, as early as independance day (for Congo-Zaire), and we may even still be deeper into this shit because, ya know, if we're not then the Chinese, the Yankees or the Russians will take over the gold, uranium and copper mines"... Obviously I would prefer to ear about choice #2, but I think I feel better when I don't ear anything at all than when I ear the revolting option #1...
---
As to WW1, France is still trying to deal with issues that have been ignored over these 90 years. The very fact that innocent soldiers were randomly chosen and shot, "as an example" like it is said now, to prevent mutiny. Not to say that even when soldiers were turning toward open disobedience, they can of course absolutely not be considered guilty to any sane people, given the bushry WW1 was (and whatever war it is). Furthermore, remembrance is a perfect occasion to educate about wars in general, and this is important given that WW1 was planned (it was family planning and educational manipulation as well, just for "the next war") by the state. So even as dusty as it seems by now, there's still a good deal of work to have the state acknowledge its own absurd murders (though when it will do so, it will obviously have to do it for the ever growing list of "technical" prejudices it made to innocent people). And with regard to France, it is easy to link it up to the modern wars in Congo, even if "undirectly"...
Gosh, fuck all wars of any kind!
Laurent: Right. But it is actually Belgium that was the colonizer for Zaire/Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. And the US put the Mobutu regime in power and kept it propped up for years, with Zaire effectively acting as a colony in many of the usual ways. (In those days, cobalt was the main mineral of interest).
Dunc said: "the only things that occasionally sort-of remind us what war is like"
And someone up there asked if the Jews should forget the Holocaust--in context to war. No, I don't think "the Jews" forgot it, which is why this headline, which Greg pointed out, exists: "UN Warns over Gaza Food BLockade." I remember when I finally started reading Chinese news in order to hear headlines like that, because American news outlets routinely blockade and censor stories like that.
"One Jewish fingernail"...Give the world a little Holocaust at a time, and always blame the "white" people or in the case of Hutu's and Tutsi's, blame Anglican and Protestant colonialism; that way no one can ever say that their own "race"s genocide(white Russian christians, Pol Pot's victims, Tutsi's) was bigger than the Holocaust--which has generated more money and power for holocaustics and their friends in the International banking community than any other event in history, including WW1&2. Gotta love those Pharisees...
But it is actually Belgium that was the colonizer for Zaire/Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
Sure, but France helped a lot in placing Mobutu at the head of the state too... Just like it had strong and strange political connections with Rwanda and Burundi.
And the US put the Mobutu regime in power and kept it propped up for years
Hum, US? France? Both? Who probably organized the murder of Patrice Lumumba? The US? But where did Mobutu died? In France!
In Africa, peace is inversely correlated with richness deep in the soil...
Just my personal views on why it's justified to still celebrate the end of WWI. Two main reasons :
- It's a reminder of an old and, yes, perhaps better time, when you could assign a precise date to the end of a given war.
- More seriously, WWI is somehow unique. WWII is unique because it holds a record for atrocities directed on civilians, from the total destructions of non-militarized cities (from Coventry to Dresden to Hiroshima) to, of course, the Holocaust. But WWI holds another record: mix the old style tactics of gathering a bunch of guys and putting them under enemy fire, and revolutionary new weaponry (flamethrowers... poison gas... airplanes... explosives morepowerful than ever...) and you get an unprecedented level of slaughtering among the soldiers. Never has the phrase "cannon fodder" rung so true.
For decades, WWI was shrouded in heroic myths. The truth can now be said, although there have been voices telling it for ages. It wasn't about democracy vs. tyranny. It was just about a handful of aspiring superpowers dividing the world between them and fighting for supremacy. Their weapons: millions of young lives horribly sacrificed.
So I say: let's not forget that old war. Let's rememeber it, once a year. Let's remember its atrocity, let it be a lesson for today, for how far "continuing politics by other means" can bring us. And let's ceremonially spit on those who brought us there, and on all those, writers, philosophers, priests and others, who talked about duty, and glory, and led others to the slaughter.