Latin Empire

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Latin Empire is a political utopia that goes back to the Russian-French philosopher Alexandre Kojève and is concerned with the establishment of a powerful empire, “consisting of at least France , Spain and Italy ”. Regardless of the fascist past of Italy and General Franco's regime in Spain, the necessity of the Latin Empire , to German Latin Empire , was derived from the two world wars , since only a powerful, united empire on the left bank of the Rhine would be able to “forever” the aggression of the German hereditary enemy “To prevent. In addition to the Romance languages , Catholicism was intended to serve as a spiritual bond between the three countries.

Kojève's worldview

The philosopher Alexandre Kojève , advisor to several French ministries after the Second World War , saw the end of nation-state structures heralded. Countries like France would only be able to survive in the future in larger political associations. In this context, Kojève formed the term "age of empires ", which would emerge from peoples with similar languages ​​and related mentalities . In this context, France would run the risk of "being banished from a re-strengthened Germany to a European role as an extra" .

With the title L'Empire latin. Esquisse d'une doctrine de la politique française (in English: The Latin Empire. Sketch of a doctrine of French foreign policy ) Kojève first wrote a memorandum in August 1945 to Charles de Gaulle , the head of the Provisional Government of France , about him and the French public to raise awareness of the German danger and its possible defense. In 1947 Kojève then published his main work L'Empire latin (in German: The Latin Empire ).

According to Kojève, two dangers threatened France, which at the time was badly devastated by the World War and economically almost as bad as Germany :

The strategic interest of French politics should therefore be geared towards asserting itself politically and economically against Germany as the leading power on the continent. Only the founding of a Latin Empire could guarantee this, so Kojève. Germany, as a declared enemy state of the Latin Empire (analogous to the UN Charter adopted in 1945 ) was to be forced through eternal political impotence to become an agrarian state that was only allowed to import its fertilizers from France. All steel and chemical production should be strictly forbidden, with which Germany ultimately only functions as the "coal mine of the Latin Empire" and thus should secure the dominance of the French steel and war industries.

Pan-Latin aspirations in Europe

Historical background

All in all, there is a long series of different proposals, drafts and projects with which a Latin Empire or at least a Latin Union should be established, which was directed against the Anglosphere, which was perceived as hostile - but above all against Germany. As early as 1880 there were political reports of such efforts in the relevant French journals Revue du Monde Latine and the Renaissance Latine , which outlined the essential cornerstones of a "Latin policy".

Until the Spanish Civil War , intellectual circles also discussed during and after the First World War to what extent the establishment of a Latin Union would be realistic. However, the establishment of fascist regimes in Spain and Italy well-disposed towards the German National Socialists put such plans on hold for the time being.

Current background

Latin Union

The international organization based in Paris was founded in Madrid in 1954 with constituent agreements. Not least because of the irreconcilable contradictions between the liberal Fourth and Fifth Republic of France and Franco's military regime in Spain, the Latin Union has only existed as a functioning institution since 1983 and because of the advancing pan-European unification without any major political dimension. Since the founding of the organization, consisting of countries where Romance languages ​​are spoken, the number of member states has skyrocketed from 12 to 35. Their common goal is to promote and preserve the common heritage and diverse identities of the Latin language throughout the Latin world.

The official name of the Latin Union in Spanish is Unión Latina , Union latine in French , Unione Latina in Italian , União Latina in Portuguese , Uniunea Latină in Romanian, and Unió Llatina in Catalan

Union for the Mediterranean

In 2005, the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy drew up a plan for a Mediterranean Union to join , which was exclusively open to every country bordering the Mediterranean Sea . Since Germany has no Mediterranean coast and the Union could have extended far beyond Europe, France's position of power within the EU would have been strengthened.

Here is an extract from East and West. North and south. The European compassionate dispute , published on December 12, 2012 by the rector of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , Udo Sträter : “The architects of the Mediterranean Union did not hide the fact that this foundation was also directed against Germany. Henri Guaino, the majordomo of Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke openly that France wanted to enforce the Mediterranean Union 'contre les Allemands'. The plan failed. Angela Merkel vetoed the Mediterranean Union and became a Union for the Mediterranean [with all member states of the EU plus any Mediterranean neighbors] which was placed under the supervision of Brussels and thus bureaucratically sidelined and condemned to political ineffectiveness. With the end of the Mediterranean Union, the “Latin option” seemed to be finally shelved - and experienced a paradoxical revival as a result of the financial crisis in southern Europe. During the crisis the 'Latin bloc' was formed, which in times of general European well-being had remained a vague project "

Agamben's essay

On March 15, 2013, the Italian daily La Repubblica published a memorandum by Giorgio Agamben entitled Se un impero latino prendesse forma nel'cuore d'Europa ( if a Latin Empire were to be formed in the heart of Europe ) . The Italian philosopher Agamben recommends a reread of the treatise L'Empire latin (in English: The Latin Empire), written by Kojève in the summer of 1945.

On March 24, 2013, the French left-liberal daily newspaper Libération Agambens published a text by Martin Rueff in a free French translation under the title "Que l'Empire latin contre-attaque!" , (to German "The Latin Empire Strikes Back!"). Based on the moral duty of the Grand Nation to initiate a political turnaround, Agamben addresses the justified criticism of French politicians of Germany's leading role in the euro crisis in his paper, under the historical legitimation of Alexandre Kojève's Latin Empire. Jean-Luc Mélenchon , head of the ruling French Socialist Party (PS) , for example , is named: " We stand obsequiously in front of the Germans [...] , berets in hand, and let us be ordered what we do and what we allow have let " (parliamentary speech April 2010). Next described Mélenchon in January 2013, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel literally as "peasant woman squatting in the German area, and their responsibilities towards Europe does not perceive" and concludes that "it [...] high time [was] the Conflict with Germany, especially with the Chancellor, must be resolved openly! "

In the midst of the national debate on Agamben's essay, the PS published an official position paper that went in the same direction as Agamben and added weight to his essay. In the PS paper, Angela Merkel is described as the "Chancellor of austerity " and accused of "German egoistic intransigence" .

Thomas Assheuer , editor of the newspaper Die Zeit wrote: "Germany, as one should understand Agamben, is the prince of the European world, and therefore the continent is at a crossroads. Either Europe will rewrite its constitution and found a" Latin empire "under leadership France. Or it will fall apart. "

Regardless of Agamben's true intention, political extreme parties can treat his writing as a plea for the establishment of a Latin empire as a political strategy for the present.

Agamben international

In the German-language print media, among other things, the newspaper Die Welt saw Wolf Lepenies' article about Agamben's advance entitled Time for a Latin Empire - France's left dream of a union with Spain and Italy against Germany . Because on March 24, Agamben's article appeared in a free French translation under the title Que l'Empire latin contre-attaque! (in English the Latin Empire strikes back) in the Liberation.

The essay has now been translated into ten languages for the news portal Presseurop.eu :

  • German: A Latin empire against the German overwhelming power
  • English: The Latin Empire should strike back
  • French: Un Empire latin contre l'hyperpuissance allemande
  • Italian: L ' Impero latino contro l'egemonia tedesca
  • Dutch: Latijns imperium tegen Duitse dominantie
  • Polish: Imperium łacińskie versus niemieckie supermocarstwo
  • Portuguese: Um Império latino contra a híper potência alemã
  • Romanian: Un Imperiu latin împotriva supraputerii germane
  • Spanish: Un Imperio latino contra la hiperpotencia alemana
  • Czech: Latinské impérium proti německé supervelmoci

Web links

Commons : Latin Union  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolf Lepenies: He wanted to contain Germany and died for the EU. In: Die Welt from June 5, 2018.
  2. ^ Diepresse.com: Mediterranean Union: Sarkozy's Shot in the Void , July 10, 2009
  3. ↑ Barcelona is to be the seat of the Mediterranean Union Märkische Oberzeitung, accessed May 17, 2013
  4. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. East and West. North and south. The European compassionate dispute, University Press Halle-Wittenberg, accessed May 17, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.universitaetsverlag-halle-wittenberg.de
  5. ↑ zeit.de: France discusses a pamphlet by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben: The south should defend itself under the leadership of France , Thomas Assheuer , from April 11, 2013
  6. ↑ Time for a Latin Empire - France's leftists dream of a union with Spain and Italy against Germany From Wolf Lepenies , Die Welt , accessed May 19, 2013
  7. ^ A "Latin Empire" against the German overwhelming power presseurop.eu , accessed May 19, 2013