Re: [DG] Daniel Tusk, former prime minister of Poland, current president of the European Council, speaking in Athens: Thucydides still important!

Apologies: *Donald* Tusk.  My error solipsistic? Who knows.

Dan

On Fri, Oct 11, 2019 at 10:11 AM DANIEL P. Tompkins <[email protected]>
wrote:

> At a forum on democracy
> <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.consilium.europa.eu%2Fen%2Fpress%2Fpress-releases%2F2019%2F10%2F09%2Fspeech-by-president-donald-tusk-at-the-athens-democracy-forum-2019%2F&amp;data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C423566851dfe4fc0ee8008d74e55d2a8%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C637064002826660608&amp;sdata=bieLVVS9ZmRuvcrhdZGKBf6TtYKjzEgaQmte%2FcPAnYI%3D&amp;reserved=0>.
> He's got a good grip on a terrifying passage about civil strife (Thucydides
> 3.82-83):
>
> It is no accident that in the latest issue of the prestigious Polish
> periodical *Political Review (Przegląd Polityczny)* devoted to Brexit,
> there are essays on Thucydides and his reflection on the theme of stasis,
> an ancient Greek term literally meaning: a part, a fraction, denoted a
> state of public disorder, chaos resulting from political passions and a
> constant escalation of internal conflicts. As an example Thucydides gave
> the situation in Korkyra [Corfu], where agreement was not possible also
> because, in the heat of the battle, the *sides freely changed the
> meanings of words, while values were being reversed*. Madness and
> reckless audacity came to be seen as courage; common sense as cowardice,
> moderation as conformism. Every pause for thought or attempt at reflection
> was treated as capitulation or laziness. Those who sowed anger, resentment
> and destruction became figures of political and even moral authority, and
> whoever resisted them, in the name of order and prudence, was under
> suspicion.
>
> Thucydides noticed that in the state of upheaval, *human nature comes
> before justice*. Emotions and passions, inherent in our nature, are
> stronger than our attachment to the laws and rules we ourselves have
> established, and will always be pushing us towards violation and
> domination. The most important political inventions of humanity –
> democracy, human rights and freedoms, international order, checks and
> balances, the rule of law – they all stem from this awareness  of our
> nature as well as from past, negative experiences. But do they stem only
> from the past? Aren't we today facing our own stasis [discord], amplified
> by the technological revolution and the mass character of social phenomena?
> Are Europe and the world not turning, before our eyes, into ancient Korkyra?
>
> I am curious* how today Thucydides would diagnose the situation in the
> United States under the administration of President Trump, in the United
> Kingdom in the time of Brexit* and permanent parliamentary crisis, in
> some countries in East Central Europe, where the foundations of liberal
> democracy and the rule of law are being undermined, or on the border of
> Russia and Ukraine. For sure he would have something to write about.
>
> Thucydides generally concluded that what happened was awful, but the next
> time around, we'll have a better understanding of what went down-- though
> perhaps still unable to prevent it.  UK and USA have both been caught up by
> forces they largely didn't expect or understand, and now must muddle
> through.  As Thucydides says, these events may bring out the worst in us.
>
> Dan
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