By Itxu Díaz
Friday, March 27, 2020
On November 28th, 2019, the European Union officially and
solemnly declared the “climate emergency,” in a ceremony presided over by the
would-be 17-year-old prophet Greta Thunberg. Today, almost four months later,
in the midst of a real emergency, the only thing that remains official
and solemn in that declaration is its ridiculousness. That, and the
no-holds-barred death match between the Union’s partners to seize containers of
respirators and face masks destined for other countries in order to save their
own. “The European Union either gets this health crisis right, or it will be
dead,” I heard the former president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani,
say the day before yesterday. At the moment, the European Union seems to be
MIA, along with the “climate emergency.” Each day that passes, the hope of
finding it alive diminishes.
A month ago, while the coronavirus was invading the Old
Continent, we Europeans were busy with much more important matters than ‘a
little flu.’ In early March, Spain’s Communist government was focused on
passing its aberrant “sexual freedom law.” With a name like that, you might
think that we Spaniards have been procreating by pollination for 2000 years.
Meanwhile, the Swiss press, strangely enough, seemed intent on overthrowing the
Spanish monarchy, as if we hadn’t had enough of church-burning and coldblooded
murder at the hands of the Second Republic. And a few days earlier, on March
2nd, the big issue in Switzerland was a referendum to pass a law banning any
comments or attitudes against gay-friendly policies. It brings to mind the
warning that Gómez Dávila, Colombian intellectual, gave us towards the end of
the 20th century: “Despite what they teach us today, easy sex isn’t the
solution to all our problems.”
In Sweden, Germany, and half of Europe, the front-page
news on March 7th was another issue: (again) Greta Thunberg’s statements about
the need to impose measures that reward women over men. It was around those
days that the Dutch government announced a bill that would allow the euthanasia
of any elderly person “tired of living.” It comes as no surprise that the
Netherlands doesn’t seem too concerned about this coronavirus business. The
last we heard from Holland is that the official channels are telling people:
“Don’t bring weak patients and old people to hospital.” Looks like they’re only
interested in saving the lives of young people. I guess they’re more photogenic
and look better on postcards of tulip fields.
Also during the first week of March, almost the entire
European press devoted rivers of ink to discussing whether two transgender
athletes should compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as men or women. One of
Europe’s many progressive newspapers began this momentous debate thus: “Well
into the 21st century, there is still much to be done on issues like racism,
sexism and religion. And even on sexual identity.” These are classic phrases
for an unserious mind; they never fail. If you want to know if someone is a
charlatan, just listen out for the expressions, “Well into the 21st century”
and, “There is still much to be done.”
In Germany, at the beginning of March, the controversy
that dominated the nation was whether to erect a huge statue of Lenin in a
small North Rhineland town. Interesting. Perhaps it was to scare the virus off.
But Scotland is definitely my favorite. As the pandemic began to spread
dramatically, the main debate in Scotland was the imperative need for a new
government law to provide free tampons and sanitary pads. The issue went beyond
Scotland and was the subject of some very intellectually dense op-eds in the
broader European press. It was clear that the festival of incompetence and
unicorn politics was to go on right up until the last minute before cataclysm.
Everyone wanted to drag out that last drink on the Titanic.
Nobody wanted to go to sleep. Neither did the U.N. On March 10, with 118,100
diagnosed and 4,262 dead from coronavirus in Europe, the U.N. held a press
conference . . . to commit to the political and economic fight against the
climate emergency! Yes, it would appear that the plan is to leave the pangolins
a beautiful and temperate planet. Thus, secretary-general Antonio Guterres trumpeted
a report at us, saying that climate change acceleration will trigger heat and
dengue deaths in Africa, and cause drought and flash floods in countries such
as Spain, without explaining how it’s possible to die from thirst and drown at
the same time. Of course, we can’t really expect any explanations from an
ex-president of the Socialist International who praises the policies of the
Cuban regime and now hints that China’s response to the coronavirus is the
example to follow. Someone should make it clear to him, however, that China
will be the example to follow in a health crisis when it ceases to be a
Communist dictatorship, and when the Chinese end their unfortunate preference
for meat from exotic jungle animals slaughtered in front of them at wet markets.
In the midst of this festival of frivolity, harsh reality
landed in Europe. In just ten days, we discovered that neither the tampon
issue, nor the participation of transsexuals in the Olympic Games, nor the
climate emergency were real problems, nor emergencies, nor anything of the
sort. They were just fictitious problems, the pastimes of a generation
that hadn’t known tragedy.
The reactions of politicians in Europe reflect the
bewilderment of those who were living in the Matrix and have just been
awakened. Most governments in Europe have moved from denial to chaos. But
probably the most vile reaction has been that of the Social Communist
government in Spain, which encouraged Spaniards to participate massively in the
March 8 feminist rallies, the next day hiding reports that the coronavirus was
already out of control in the country — something they may well have to answer
for in court. Vice President Carmen Calvo said at the time that to attend the
demonstrations was a moral obligation for all Spaniards: “what is at stake is
the life” of many people. She was referring to violence against women, I think.
It goes to show that Sanchez’s government only tells the truth by accident.
Yes, many people’s lives were at stake, as we have unfortunately found out. Now
Calvo is recovering from coronavirus, as are most of the members of government
who took part in the demonstrations. Of course, the Spanish do not seem to be
worried about the government’s taking a few days holiday: It’s worse when
they’re actually on the job. The government is currently returning 650,000
defective coronavirus tests bought a few days ago. The president appeared on TV
to show them off last Saturday, saying: “These are approved tests and that is
very important, very important.” They don’t work. They weren’t from an approved
Chinese supplier. Spain has been ripped off. A joke going around here in Spain
says: “I took the government’s coronavirus test and… it’s a girl!”
Something similar happened in France, where president
Emmanuel Macron closed bars and discos but refused to suspend the March 15
elections. Even so, until a few days ago, Germany and France both boasted about
their good crisis management. However, the truth is that lying does not solve
the problem: We now know that neither Germany nor France is counting the deaths
from coronavirus that occur outside of hospitals, and that the Germans don’t
call it “death from coronavirus” if the patient had a previous illness.
At some point between March 8 and March 15, all European
countries unilaterally closed their borders. For 20 days, as nations took the
lead, the European Union ceased to exist. Even today, it is discussing possible economic measures, without
any decision being made. The main obstacle to an economic agreement is that the
countries that have been frugal for years, in particular the Netherlands and
Germany, refuse to bail out the more wasteful Mediterranean countries with
their money again. And that’s understandable. However, for those who are now on
their own, namely the United Kingdom, things aren’t looking any better. The UK
will pay a heavy price for its experimental immune policy. Prime Minister Boris
Johnson’s infection looks like writing on the wall. To survive in a globalized
world, you have to do more than just antagonize everyone else all the time.
Europe, whose nations had staked everything on an
all-powerful state that could protect its citizens from all evil, has been
cruelly disappointed. The future is uncertain. But what is certain is that death
and poverty are two words that will stay with us for a long time.
Europeans now miss having competent governments, cohesive civil societies,
responsible economic administrations, and citizens capable of giving their
lives for others — that is to say, citizens with values. The same values that
were deliberately excluded in the European Constitution in order to please the
extreme left-wing secularists.
Tajani was right. The coronavirus has reopened the
deepest wounds in the European Union.
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