> Gary Younge
> Monday February 10, 2003
> The Guardian
> European leaders and
> commentators are right to criticise the US for its brutality and
> imperialist pretensions. But they must do so with sufficient
> self-awareness to see what most of the rest of the world has seen:
> that their nations have acted in similar and even more pernicious ways
> whenever they have had the opportunity.
Well, sure, but the EU isn't about recreating national history. It's the first awesome attempt to move beyond the nation-state -- peacefully and democratically. Since the end of the Cold War, the logic of history has become multinational. It's most obvious in the omnipresent media and Web culture, which long ago outgrew its American incubator, but the speed at which the EU has developed is really astounding. Five years ago, mainstream pundits scorned the euro as a laughable pipedream; three years ago, the EU had no domestic policy; one year ago, the EU had no foreign policy. But all of a sudden, ten new countries will be joining the EU next year, the euro is pounding the dollar, while Putin, Chirac, Fischer and Schroeder are all on the same page. All the more reason for the Left to take the EU -- and the idea of the multinational, as a utopia worth fighting for -- seriously.
-- DRR