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| ISBN-13: | 9781785352645 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hunt, John Publishing |
| Publication date: | 12/11/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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The Dream of Europa
The Triumph of Peace: A Masque
By Nicholas Hagger
John Hunt Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2015 Nicholas HaggerAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78535-264-5
CHAPTER 1
THE DREAM OF EUROPA
Prologue
(Berlin towards the end of the Second World War. 50 representatives of European nations stand in formation (see diagram and key on this page–this page). Their nationalities are identifiable from their dress and flags, and they will be listed on a programme note. At different times representatives step forward to speak lines or to embody a chorus. Before them stand the aged ZEUS and EUROPA. Film on a screen behind them of Berlin in ruins.)
Zeus: It looks like an earthquake – Berlin, Europe:
Everywhere rubble of collapsed buildings
As if the earth had heaved. Humans did this,
Not Nature, dropping bombs on neighbouring states.
I want a peaceful and unified world,
Order and harmony. As the top god
I am frustrated that blundering man
Has undermined my efforts to bring in
A democratic World State with the power
To abolish war, famine and disease.
I gave my backing to first Hitler, then
To Stalin, but both disappointed me.
Fascism, Communism killed millions
And imposed tyrannies on humankind,
But they also imposed a levelling-down.
Traditions are right for a new Europe
That can incorporate its nation-states
And grow into a massive superstate
And bring peace and prosperity to close
On a billion Europeans. The first
Step is to create a common market
From which political union can grow.
As I'm disillusioned with world leaders,
Who're self-interested and can't be trusted,
I've chosen my protégée Europa,
To whom I've been a mentor and whose mind
I have 'impregnated' with one-world seed,
To gestate and bear an infant World State:
A European Union that can grow
Into a United States of Europe
So Europe, Asia and the Americas
Can one day unite in a one-world State.
My dear Europa, you have always held
A special place in my heart and my hopes.
You know I want a unified mankind,
All humankind equal under world law.
Are you now ready to begin the task
That weighs so heavily upon my mind,
To bring order to this chaos of war
And establish a resurging Europe
In which all citizens can live at peace,
A paradise, a forerunner of states
That can combine in a peaceful union
And be an example to humankind?
Europa: I am, and I am honoured that you've placed
Your trust in me. I will happily share
The burden of shouldering the dark world
Which, stooping like Atlas, you have endured.
I will gladly assist you in quelling
Europe and replacing its disorder
And cruel war with order and smiling peace.
I accept the responsibility.
Zeus: Well spoken. You'll be like a Minister,
Autonomous but reporting to me.
I'm your President and Prime Minister,
And so a word of advice at the start.
I want a democratic World State, not
A tyranny, the self-interested
Élite's New World Order run to enrich
Themselves and ignoring poor humankind.
You may have to ally with this élite
To bring to birth your free common market,
But when it's served its purpose you must dump
All who'd loot Europe's assets for themselves,
Twine them round your finger, and when they've done
The work you want, sever the connection.
You must be ruthless in the cause of peace.
Europa: I will do as you say for I'm loyal
To your vision of a united earth.
I have a dream of the most dignified,
Free, equal, rightful, just, utopian
Society that ever existed.
Antimasque
(Auschwitz. Film of Auschwitz, smoking chimneys, Nazi executions, torture, enslavements and discrimination against Jews and other minorities. Sombre music evoking Europe's ruin. The 50 representatives mime and dance from their standing positions, aghast at the horrors, averting their eyes, not wanting to look at the screen. Then all 50 become a CHORUS and chant. Sections of the 50 can chant different lines in a kind of contrapuntal dialogue.)
Chorus: Alas, we lament our ruined Europe.
Alas, we lament the miserable
Conditions ordinary people endure.
We are devastated by mass slaughter.
Our ruined homes, amid mounds of rubble,
Bombs blasting round us, demolishing all,
No shops for food, no water, no shelter.
We have been squatting among dead bodies,
The stench of death has filled us with disgust.
We are listless, we feel a lassitude,
We're hungry from eating scraps of stale bread.
We all feel sick, we have no energy.
(The representatives each indicate their war suffering in two lines, to film and sombre music. As EACH OF THE 50 chants, a snippet of film on the screen shows the war misery in that representative's country.)
Germany: Hitler rubbled Berlin's streets and slaughtered
Three hundred and fifty thousand Germans.
Italy: Mussolini marched us into defeats
In Greece, in Russia and North Africa.
UK: The UK stood alone, Blitzed but unbowed.
Ruined London liberated Europe.
Ireland: Ireland was neutral but gave the Allies
News of Atlantic storms before D-Day.
France: France was wretched under occupation
And dreamt of victory for the Resistance.
Belgium: Belgium was invaded by the Blitzkrieg
And occupied by the murderous Nazis.
Netherlands: The Dutch were overrun in just five days,
Nazi occupation lasted five years.
Luxembourg: Luxembourg was annexed by the Nazis
And became a 'province' of the Third Reich.
Austria: Austria lost independence when we were
Incorporated into the Third Reich.
Slovenia: Slovenia was divided, partisans
Drove out the Italians and the Nazis.
Malta: Malta was close to Axis shipping lanes
And was bombed during the siege of Malta.
Portugal: Portugal's right-wing dictatorship kept
Us neutral during the Second World War.
Spain: Spain was neutral under military
Dictatorship and steered clear of the war.
Cyprus: Cyprus fought in the British Army in
Both wars, hoping for union with Greece.
Croatia: The Axis occupied Croatia and
Killed three hundred and thirty thousand Serbs.
Estonia: Estonia was occupied by Soviets,
Then by the Germans, then the Red Army.
Latvia: Latvia was occupied by Soviets
And the Nazis, who killed all Latvian Jews.
Lithuania: Lithuania also, and two hundred
Thousand Lithuanian Jews were murdered.
Poland: The Nazis occupied Poland and killed
Five million – gassed three million Polish Jews.
Hungary: The Nazis occupied Hungary and sent
Four hundred thousand Jews to Auschwitz.
Czech Republic: Czech territory was occupied and three
Hundred and fifty thousand Czechs were killed.
Slovakia: Slovakia became a German puppet
Regime till liberated by Russia.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria was forced to join the Axis
And was invaded by the Soviets.
Romania: Romania supplied Germany with oil
And was bombed by the Allies, then changed sides.
Greece: Greece was occupied by Germans, thousands
Died in combat or camps, or starved to death.
Sweden: Sweden was cut off by Nazi blockades
And spent the war under German influence.
Denmark: Denmark fell to the Germans in two hours
And the occupation brought misery.
Finland: Finland fought the Soviet Union twice
And then forced the Germans out of the north.
Turkey: Turkey remained neutral but declared war
On Germany and Japan at the end.
Switzerland: Switzerland remained neutral and traded
With both sides and amassed gold in its banks.
Iceland: Iceland was occupied by the British,
Then the Americans, and missed the war.
Norway: Norway was occupied by the Nazis,
At least thirty thousand were imprisoned.
Liechtenstein: Liechtenstein stayed neutral, but Czechs and Poles
Expropriated all our 'German' lands.
Monaco: Italy, then Germany occupied
The principality of Monaco.
Andorra: Andorra remained neutral and became
A route for getting airmen out of France.
San Marino: The British bombed San Marino, thinking
It had been overrun by the Germans.
Serbia: The Axis powers killed Serbians in camps,
Three hundred and forty thousand were killed.
Albania: Albania, occupied by Italy,
Then Germany, endured a wretched time.
Kosovo: The Axis assigned most of Kosovo
To Italian-controlled Albania.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia was ceded to Croatia, Jews
And Serbs were genocided in eight camps.
Macedonia: Macedonia groaned under pro-Axis
Albania and German Bulgaria.
Montenegro: Italy, then Germany occupied
Montenegro and spread great misery.
Moldova: In Moldova, a Soviet republic,
Two hundred thousand died of starvation.
Ukraine: Eight million starved to death in the famine
In Ukraine, then Germany colonised.
Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan was Soviet and supplied
Oil and gas and fought in the Red Army.
Georgia: Georgia was Soviet and its oilfields were
Out of reach of the thrusting Axis powers.
Armenia:
Armenia was Soviet and sent hundreds
Of thousands of its troops to the front line.
Russia: Russia repelled a German invasion
But endured twenty-seven million deaths.
Belarus: Germans occupied Soviet Belarus
And razed over two-thirds of our cities.
Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan stayed out of the Axis reach
And rehoused Russians and their industries.
All in chorus: Alas, our misery and our torment.
Save us from executions and torture,
From slavery and compulsory labour.
Our souls are tired from five long years of war,
And now swathes of East Europe are falling
Under Soviet control, and as fast as
One despotism ends a new one starts.
Alas, will no one help? Who will save us
From the wretched lives we've all had to bear?
We dream of democratic states that reach
The borders of Russia, but have no hope.
All's disorder, confusion and chaos.
(EUROPA turns to the Nine Muses, who are standing to
one side on the left of the stage.)
Europa: Nine Muses, I need you to inspire me
To save these people from their wretched lives.
Calliope, with your writing tablet
Inspire me with an epic Union.
I need the sweep of your epic vision.
Clio, with your scrolls teach me history
So I may draw nations into Union.
Erato, with your cithara or lyre
Inspire me with your lyric poetry
So I may turn their plaintive woe to joy.
Euterpe, with your aulos, your old flute,
Inspire me with your music so I may
Turn wretchedness into prosperity.
Melpomene, with your tragic mask please
Inspire me with your tragedy so I
May turn this tragic scene into beauty.
Polyhymnia, pensive beneath your veil,
Inspire me with your sacred poetry
So our choruses guide us to Union.
Terpsichore, who carries a lyre, please
Inspire me with your dancing so dancers
May dance the joy of creating Union.
Thalia, with your comic mask please inspire
This masque so I may satirise all who
Would stand in the way of Europe's Union,
So I may ridicule their warped follies.
And Urania, with your celestial globe
And pair of compasses please inspire me
So with your astronomy I may read
The stars and predict our Union's growth
Accurately, and our State's expansion.
And now, Nine Muses, conjure by your art,
Assisted by mighty Zeus, Lord of all,
Nine Wise Men who dwell in the Elysian Fields
To come up through Hades and advise me.
(The NINE MUSES come to the front centre of the stage and raise their arms and conjure. They chant.)
Nine Muses: Shades of the glorious dead, we conjure you,
Step forth from the eternal sunshine round
The banks of the river Oceanus,
That happy place in the Isles of the Blessed
In the western ocean at the earth's end.
Traverse the darkness round the earth and cross
Through Hades and return to this daylight,
You shades of men who still have much to give.
Step forth, I command you, two Emperors,
Augustus and Charlemagne; law-maker
Justinian; visionary Dante;
Sir Thomas More who wrote Utopia;
Erasmus; conqueror Napoleon;
Uniter Ficino; philosopher Kant.
Nine spirits who can dream a new Europe.
(One by one the shades gather on stage as they are summoned. Each is clad in a black cloak. EUROPA speaks.)
Europa: Spirits, I command you in Zeus's name
To spend time at my side and inform me,
For I must now live in complexity
And take into my soul all arguments
That represent every conflicting view
And quarrel with myself so a Union
Can be born from your range of opinions,
All opposites from east and west and all
Principles and democratic values,
That I may leave no idea untried as
I deliberate on the way forward.
(EUROPA addresses each of the nine Wise Men, and after they are spoken to each nods.)
Ficino, please advise on dignity,
On the dignity of citizens, as
You wrote of the dignity of the soul.
Augustus, champion of freedom, vindex
Libertatis in Res Gestae, advise
On the freedoms citizens should enjoy.
Napoleon, please advise on citizens'
Equality as your Code established
The equality of all before law.
Charlemagne, who based high army morale
On tribal solidarity, advise
On the citizens' solidarity.
Kant, please advise me on citizens' rights
As you wrote your Doctrine of Rights, and bring
Your purposive view of history to me.
And Justinian, please advise on justice
As you pushed through the Codex Justinianus.
Dante, who in Convivio appealed
For a universal monarch to rule,
Bring your vision of human unity.
Erasmus, the "Prince of the Humanists",
Who wrote In Praise of Folly staying with More,
Bring your wide knowledge of the human heart.
And Thomas More, bring your utopian
Idealism to imperfect Europe,
Help me build a perfect society.
And please draw near my living VIPs:
Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and Winston
Churchill, who can all give me sound advice
As I begin to found institutions.
Please remain with me after you have died.
(The THREE VIPs gather on the right of the stage, the opposite side from the nine shades' side. When they have died, they will put on black cloaks similar to those worn by the nine shades, and cross to join the shades on the left of the stage. The Nine Muses play their lyres and flute, and sway in dance. The NINE SHADES speak.)
The nine shades: We will gladly share all our commonsense
As we advise on this growing Europe.
We're glad to be back among the living
And to strive once again to achieve goals,
A function we have missed in Hades' realm.
The three VIPs: We're glad to join this advisory body.
Masque
(Lights dim and then brighten. 4 December 1945. EUROPA turns to JEAN MONNET. Film of Monnet on screen.)
Europa: Jean Monnet, what is your plan for Europe?
Monnet: The Monnet Plan, which I have submitted
To General de Gaulle, who is our head,
To modernise the French economy,
For France to mine German coal in the Saar
And integrate the two economies
Under a common High Authority,
To weaken Germany and raise up France,
Remove the Saar to a Protectorate.
I am a humble French civil servant,
I hold no office but I have a Plan.
(Lights dim and then brighten. 14 July 1946. Metz. WINSTON CHURCHILL stands next to Robert Schuman. Film of Churchill on screen.)
Europa: Winston Churchill, you have seen the future.
Churchill: Franco-German reconciliation
In a united Europe –that's our path.
(Lights dim and then brighten. 19 September 1946. CHURCHILL speaks at Zurich University. Film of Churchill speaking.)
Churchill: I wish to speak to you today about
The tragedy of Europe. We must build
A kind of United States of Europe.
We must re-create the European
Family in a regional structure called
The United States of Europe. The first
Step is to form a Council of Europe.
(Lights dim and then brighten. 1 January 1948. The REPRESENTATIVES OF BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS AND LUXEMBOURG step forward. They chant. Film on screen.)
Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg:
Even while war ravaged our continent
We signed the London Customs Convention,
A treaty to set up the Benelux
Customs Union and unify three states.
(Lights dim and then brighten. 17 March 1948. Film on screen of the Treaty of Brussels being signed by the UK, the Benelux three and France. EUROPA speaks.)
Europa: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands
And the UK have signed an expansion
Of last year's Anglo-French Dunkirk Treaty:
The Treaty of Brussels' mutual defence.
(Lights dim and then brighten. 5 May 1949. London.Film of the Treaty of London establishing the Council of Europe. Ten states sign: Belgium, Denmark, France,Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway,Sweden and the UK. EUROPA speaks.)
Europa: Ten states have implemented Churchill's call
For a body that shares democratic
And legal principles that are based on
Protecting human rights and our freedoms:
Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden
And Churchill's own redoubtable UK.
The Berlin blockade has set the western
Democratic bloc against the eastern
Communists, and west Germany against
East Germany, what is about to be
The Federal Republic of Germany
Against the Red German Democratic
Republic. Europe is completely split.
(EUROPA turns to Robert Schuman, French Minister of Foreign Affairs.)
Robert Schuman, tell us what you have seen.
(Lights dim and then brighten. 16 May 1949. SCHUMAN speaks in the Festival Hall, Strasbourg.Film on screen.)
Schuman: We're carrying out a great experiment,
Fulfilment of the same recurrent dream
That for ten centuries has revisited
The peoples of Europe: their creation
Of an organisation that will end
War and guarantee an eternal peace.
The Roman Church and German Führertum
(Domination by dictatorship) failed
To create such a system. Audacious
Seers such as Dante, Erasmus, Abbé
De Saint-Pierre, Rousseau, Kant and Proudhon tried.
More's Utopia was found impractical.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Dream of Europa by Nicholas Hagger. Copyright © 2015 Nicholas Hagger. Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface: Masques and Europe,Groupings of Nation-States,
Positioning of Representatives,
The Dream of Europa,
Prologue,
Antimasque,
Masque,
Revels,
Epilogue,
Timeline: The Growth and Enlargement of Europe,
Appendix,
1. Groupings within Europe,
2. The European Convention on Human Rights: Articles 1–19,
3. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union,
4. The Tree of European Civilization,