Seventy years ago, the most devastating war in human history came to an end, at a cost of over fifty million lives. Even though the war affected a good portion of humanity, it is mostly the Atlanticist’s version of the war that dominated global narrative. The USSR {Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, which then included, amongst other countries, all of the Stans (Uzbekistan, etc.), Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic countries, etc.} lost over 25 million people, to say nothing about the other countries of Eastern Europe. The US and Britain also lost about a million combatants between themselves, without including casualties from other western allied partners.
The Indian subcontinent contributed over 2 million soldiers to the war effort. The Chinese, some argue, have even lost more people than the USSR, if one includes the Asian war theater as part and parcel of the WWII misfortune. Like many things in the prevailing world order that are heavily tainted by the potently effective and profusely spread kaleidoscopic writings of dominant interests; the history of WWII was and is still portrayed, mainly, as a heroic struggle between the evils of fascism, Nazism & communism (continental Europe, including Russia) on one hand and the ever-heroic good doers of the major Atlanticists, namely the Anglos and their larger offshoots! But the facts on the ground are quite different. In this regard, suffice is to observe the multitude of American/British movies (Hollywood, et al.) that continue to spew out various delusions and misconceptions about the devastating war of the past century.
Be that as it may, one can reasonably argue that the WWII actually started when the Japanese Imperialists provoked the ’Mukden Incident’ back in 1931; after all, it was not long after this Manchurian invasion the Japanese joined the Axis power consortium. Based on this rather extended and openly violent phase of the world system, one can also contend that it was the Ethiopian patriots (Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the first being ADWA) who initiated a determined resistance against the ongoing widespread European aggression, as it pertained to our continent, of course. Of course, this aggression was pursued under various nomenclatures. Colonialism preceded the ascendance of fascism/Nazism in WWII, while apartheid and neocolonialism proceeded the war!
We believe it is important to bring back or retain individual as well as institutional memories of atrocious events like WWII, Vietnam, Iraq, etc. so that humanity is compelled to restrain itself from repeating the same old mistakes time and again. We admit, this is easily said than done; nonetheless, the attempt must be braved. To this end, we believe what the Russians are trying to do is commendable. While the powerful states of the West are trying to alter the narrative of WWII to fulfill another of their selfish and temporal craving, namely the Ukrainian trophy, the Russians are attempting to personalize/internalize the war and its whole tragic episode by incorporating it in the lives of the living. Russians who lost family members during the war were encouraged to parade all over the country, with portraits on their hands of their closest martyrs, to commemorate the ending of the terrible war. Here is how one of the organizers of the ‘Immortal Movement’ that took place all across Russia (on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War) put it; ‘the main aim of the movement is to immortalize family memory. The idea of the ‘Immortal Regiment’ is to bring people together and reminisce about the sad nature of wars.’
Unfortunately, the gross failure of the ‘League of Nations’ to quell down various belligerences between member states, which ultimately led to WWII is being lost on all and sundry. Following the same path, (more or less), the UN also seems to be destined to the same pathetic fate. Wars are being waged by the so-called the ‘willing’, etc. in spite of all international norms and laws. The powerful have taken it on their own to dictate the very terms of violent engagements. It might well be that empires can not be maintained without resorting to continuous violence, but unlike those days of trench wars, the consequences of modern all-out wars can be unimaginably devastating!
Accepting inevitable changes in the working of our fast disintegrating world system is by far a better proposition than blindly resisting it via wars of one kind or another. We believe humanity is better off adjusting to a mode of life that is more peaceful, more egalitarian, more democratic, more compassionate, more sustainable, etc. than engaging in Neanderthal masochist hubris! Given the rather prolonged history of humanity’ s collective existence, our wishful thinking might well be a tad too optimistic. As the German writer put it most honestly:
This was first published in May 2015
