The development of a European widespread id within the final 50 years or so has been delegated to the so-called “Western values,” which have been presupposed to have some magical worth. It made some sense, on condition that the EU states don’t make reference to a typical nation, don’t have a typical language, and faith, after all, is off-limits given the separation of church and state.
It was mentioned that values comparable to democracy, respect for particular person liberties and rights, the welcoming of range, and solidarity as a normal coverage (schooling and healthcare as human rights) have been the widespread heritage on the foundation of this new geopolitical entity.
This fired the creativeness of the individuals of my age in our youth.
To not communicate of the truth that the EU was born of ex-enemies who pledged to finish wars amongst them and with the remainder of the world eternally. To not linger on the truth that colonialism was over and multilateralism was the buzzword.
Quick ahead 50 years or so, and the EU isn’t solely a humungous bureaucratic equipment — a truth so evident that the right-wing populists can win elections primarily based on it — however is perpetuating the worst colonial insurance policies, creating havoc and distress all over the world, whereas hypocritically speaking about “Western values” on a regular basis.
Europe is a fortress inside which its inhabitants is growing old at a tempo that makes it unimaginable for its economic system to thrive. However Europeans, by and enormous, are afraid of “shedding our Western values” and oppose mass immigration. Subsequently, complacent politicians have put in place for many years anti-immigration insurance policies as a substitute of regulating the arrival of recent residents from the south of the world.
The worst amongst such insurance policies usually are not, nevertheless, those that often increase public debates, such because the norms and ready instances to turn out to be a European citizen. They’re, as a substitute, the agreements with armed militias in a number of elements of the world, which, beneath the pretext of worldwide help, are signed for 2 main functions: the containment of immigration towards the north and the continuation of the exploitation of pure sources by European firms at a low value.
For instance, the civil battle in Sudan between the common military and the RSF militias has made about 2,000 civilian casualties in the previous few days, and over 150,000 general since its inception in 2023, with thousands and thousands of individuals displaced. What isn’t mentioned fairly often is that in 2014, the EU functionaries began paying the RSF militias excellent cash in change for his or her management of immigration towards the north.
One wonders what they anticipated to occur when the purse of the militias acquired full. In fact, that cash was used to purchase new weapons, which merely made public European cash circulation again into the coffers of (largely European) personal residents who personal weapon factories, and now are used for functions of ethnic cleaning and mass homicide.
Is that this info broadly out there? Sure, and there are brave journalists who unearth and publish new scandals each day. Is that this info mentioned by the general public? By no means or very not often.
Now the warmongering angle has caught to the identical EU functionaries, who’re imposing on nationwide governments the doubling of navy bills in a single 12 months or so. The true objective is identical: to make enormous earnings for just a few individuals, within the identify of the “protection of Western values,” whereas eroding these exact same values, as public well being providers and public schooling are being dismantled 12 months after 12 months.
The disaster in Ukraine is taken as a pretext for the sudden rearmament of all of Europe. I wholeheartedly counsel to my American pals to not be fooled into considering that the EU place in regards to the protection of Ukraine is pure and holy, simply because it opposes Trump’s personal folly. The state of affairs is directly rather more complicated and far easier. The underside line is that no one cares concerning the individuals of Ukraine, and everyone desires their minerals and sources.
Beliefs haven’t inhabited the palaces of the EU fee (the EU “authorities”) for fairly a very long time, and values in the identical palaces are being spoken about on a regular basis to scale back them to mud by over-munching.
So we Europeans dwell plunged into hypocrisy, whereas my American pals should endure the each day present of greed and cruelty. Let’s not battle over who has the perfect deal. Let’s ask ourselves how one can get out of those woods as a substitute.
Banner Picture: Casual refugee website, Adré, Sudan, the place greater than 215,000 individuals rely upon emergency meals rations co-funded by the EU. © European Union, 2025 (photographer: Anouk Delafortrie). Picture by EU Civil Safety and Humanitarian Support, on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Is there a religious reply to the world disaster of values?
Associated Readings by Matthew Fox
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Therapeutic of Mom Earth and the Start of a World Renaissance
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Reworking Evil in Soul and Society
Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Presents for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Imaginative and prescient For a New Era, by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
