Once upon a time there was a Europe. A kind of Europe where we, on the worse side of the Berlin Wall, were badly craving to be. Then around thirty years ago our big dream about joining that Europe seemed to be coming true. Three decades later let's take a quick glance at where Europe is really standing today.
In this Europe it can happen that while Ursula von der Leyen is making a lofty speech in the European Parliament about the future of Europe, one of the internal security commissioners takes out her embroidery ands starts knitting.
Just like in the Hungarian Parliament in 1953, during the Rákosi era. Another telling scene from the same European Parliament was when a representative, in the middle of his lofty speech, proudly announced that he would quote Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. And he did. While he is quoting Lenin, in Germany an AfD politician accused with hate-speech is taken to court, just because he happened to say in one of his speeches that he does everything for Germany.
It's considered hate-speech, because back then an SA chief said the same. In this Europe the best schools in the UK blacklist masterpieces like The Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, saying these works of art are too hetero-normative, too white, whatsoever. Now they swap these books for crappy patchworks written by totally weightless writers just because they are non-binary and LGBTQ people. That's where Europe is standing now. Recollecting myself thirty years ago I have to say that I definitely wasn't craving to be part of this Europe. How about you?
Cover photo: Zsolt Bayer (Photo: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd)
