Apocalypse Now?

Two of my students here in the Gulf showed me a rock video after class, curious as to the meaning of the lyrics. It was titled “Europa,” and I had never heard it before. But here are some of the puzzling lyrics:

“Now we face the rising tide

Of new crusades, religious wars
Insurgents imported to our shores
The western world, gripped in fear
The mother of all battles here

…All glory, all honor
Victory is upon us
Our savior, fight evil
Send armies to defend us

Empires built, and nations burned
Mass graves remain unturned
Decendants of the dispossessed
Return with bombs strapped to their chests

There's hate for life, and death in hate
Emerging from the new caliphate
The victors of this war on fear
Will rule for the next thousand years.”

And what, indeed, to make of this?

First, if this is representative of the thinking of young Europeans these days—and if it isn’t, one or two good rock songs could make it so—then the current high levels of immigration are obviously causing growing concern, not to say alarm. The doors are likely soon to slam shut.

But I also hear, chillingly, here, Nazi echoes. For one thing, the music is distinctly Wagnerian. For another, while the song is sung in defense and praise of Europe, it also defines Europe as having been born of the blood of many battles—history as a continuing kampf, a core Fascist concept. The fear it expresses of a foreign threat having infiltrated its gates is identical to the Nazi appeal against the Jews—the “foreign” Jews simply being replaced here by Muslim immigrants. The pseudo-pagan personification of "Europa" is also Fascist in tone.

And then there is that reference to a thousand-year Reich. Surely the allusion is intentional?

The current economic downturn seems the perfect occasion to bring such nativist sentiments out—perhaps in the streets. Just as the Great Depression spawned the Fascists’ success.

Let’s remember that our enemy these days is not just the new Fascism of “Islamism,” aka “radical Islam.” The greater danger is if a parallel movement is inspired in European and “Western” civilization. Fascism itself, after all, rose largely in reaction to the threat of radical Bolshevism. Let this happen again, and we are all faced with a hopeless Hobson’s choice.

Hear "Europa" for yourself here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc56moy0poA