Barbarians.

“When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.”

Leonard Cohen 'The Partisan'

'Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the Spanish Civil War, told a journalist in 1936 that as his four columns of troops approached Madrid, a "fifth column" of supporters inside the city would support him and undermine the Republican government from within.'

Barbarian (plural barbarians)

1. An uncivilized or uncultured person, originally compared to the hellenistic Greco-Roman civilisation; often associated with fighting or other such shows of strength.
2. (derogatory) Someone from a developing country or backward culture.
3. A warrior, clad in fur or leather, associated with sword and sorcery stories.
4. (derogatory) A person destitute of culture; a Philistine.
5. A cruel, savage, brutal person; one without pity or humanity

“The expression "barbarians at the gate" is often used in contemporary English within a sarcastic, or ironic context, when speaking about a perceived threat from a rival group of people, often deemed to be less capable, or somehow "primitive". … .. … The term "barbarian" was used by the Romans to denote anyone who was different, or who lived outside of the Roman Empire. The expression "barbarians at the gate" was also used by the Romans to describe foreign attacks against their empire. Many Roman cities were surrounded by walls and gates during the fifth century and as such, this expression was also used in a literal sense.”

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They are pouring across the border now, as I write. And I, for one, cannot and will not surrender. But, who are 'they'?

There are some very obvious barbarians, cancerous growths on the human body political, slag heaps on the human landscape. For example, and most apparent at this time, ISIS in the Middle East and Boko Haram in Africa, plus a couple of dozen other such groups that are active today. But these are just highly visible and deeply obnoxious instances of barbarism, the tip of a poisonous iceberg.

The ideals of the European Enlightenment are worth fighting for dammit!

Enlightenment Ideals:

1. Human autonomy is the means and end of Enlightenment

a. Enlightenment means that humans develop (become “mature”) through the use of their reason. Individuals can seek knowledge and use their own reason rather than be told how to think by the church or the state. Enlightenment means think for yourself!

b. The notion of human autonomy changes the relationship between individual freedom and the state. If individuals should be free to use their own reason and to think what they want, how much power should the state have over individuals’ lives? This becomes a key problem for Enlightenment ideologies.

2. The importance of reason

a. Freedom means being able to think rationally for yourself. Kant argues that humanity must abandon a life of un-reason, of relying on superstition, faith, and blind obedience. Instead, we must order our lives according to reason.

b. Reason will lead us to the truth. We find truth through science rather than opinion or faith. Through scientific inquiry we can solve all the mysteries of the universe and reveal the solutions to all the problems people face.

3. Enlightenment is universal All human beings possess the ability to be enlightened. In other words, humans are equal by nature. All humans are part of a “universal community” who share a single universal human nature. Differences among people are less important than their fundamental sameness.

4. Progress Humanity is progressing from immaturity, superstition, and slavery to maturity, reason, and freedom. Human history is therefore the story of progress in the human condition.

5. Secularism Religion and politics should be separated. There should be no official religion. Further, one’s method of worship should be a private matter.

6. The centrality of economics to politics The social organization of production and distribution becomes a central problem for enlightenment ideologies. A society’s well-being depends on how its economy is structured.

7. The ideal of popular government

a. People are capable of ruling themselves. The aristocracy is not the only class that deserved to rule. The middle class, or bourgeoisie, should also play a part in politics.

b. Support for popular government developed into support for democracy in the nineteenth century. As a result, all ideologies today (except fascism and Nazism) claim to be democratic.

Just a bald statement of some of the ideals of the European Enlightenment in the 18^th Century. I think they are worth protecting.