Those of us who are old enough to have participated in the immense tragedy of the Second World War may have the will and corporal strength to give our undivided attention to the two minutes silence which is to be observed at Cenotaphs, Tombs and Memorials at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

The Armistice thus commemorated brought to an end the horrors of an earlier conflict which raged in Europe from 1914 to 1918 and changed entirely the social, political and economic maps of more than twenty nations involved.

Brave words and resolutions for peace were to no avail. Twenty years later dictators, terrorists and their ilk cried “Havoc and let slip their wolves so that death and destruction became so in use mothers did but smile when they beheld their infants quartered by the hands of war” (Shakespeare: Julius Caesar).

In the European holocaust of 1939 to 1945 at least twenty million souls perished with far more being crippled mentally and physically; while in the East this number was exceeded during conflicts which spilled onwards from Japan to Korea and Vietnam.

Now, in the 21st century, those brave and hopeful words of peaceful intent continue to be uttered by those who fear that the bellicosity of the U.S. imperialists will trigger regional conflicts and lead to global catastrophe of a greater magnitude than WW1 and 2. In this regard, it is not traditional warfare that threatens our very existence. It is the new cyber psychopathy of a digital era whereby an elite oligarchy aided by A.I has the potential to seduce hearts and minds by streaming a propaganda of misinformation and false data.

How many will observe the two minutes silence 108 years after a historic near-calamity?

Who will have the courage to challenge the wickedness which drives the gathering stormtroopers of evil?

Lest We Forget.

by Roberto Cavaleiro Tomar 08 November, 2024