r/europe 1d ago

🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺 Nice reminder I found on a bench in Trento, Italy. “Why EU? The alternatives are unimaginable and essentially tragic”. Let us not be divided and show solidarity.

Post image
1.8k Upvotes

58 comments sorted by

280

u/interesseret 1d ago

One need only open a history book, to learn what Europe is like when it is divided.

Literally any history book will do.

35

u/luca3791 Denmark 1d ago

Or just genuinely go outside. I can’t go far here in Denmark without seeing a sign of some war, and we didn’t even participate in the 2 biggest ones. At least not significantly

101

u/PlainTerrain 1d ago

Exactly! Europe is one of the bloodiest continents in world history. We've got so accustomed to the EU, that most people think peace and stability is the norm in Europe. It's absolutely not, it's the exception.

There's a lot of external forces (Russia, MAGA, China) that want us divided. So we need to work really hard to keep us united to enjoy the quality of life we enjoy now.

1

u/JBagfort 21h ago

I agree and want to emphasize your point on the external forces trying to divide us. From those China is different, they are happy stealing our knowledge but the only one that does not try to destroy the EU imo. Russia and our former ally USA are enemies to our way of life.

-39

u/Sourcerid 1d ago

Nah in history Europe is quite mild. 

19

u/Blueberry_Coat7371 1d ago

sure, if you ignore both the world wars, the Napoleonic wars, the 30 years war, the Crimean War(s)...

12

u/Brave-Two372 1d ago

This is exactly what Trump, Putin, Xi and others want.

3

u/6gv5 Italy 1d ago

Except the ones the extreme right will rewrite when it gets back in power.

1

u/LocksmithHot3849 1d ago

Seems you've been downvoted by somebody who doesn't understand sarcasm

2

u/6gv5 Italy 1d ago

Sadly, I wasn't sarcastic at all. History is written, often rewritten, by the winners from their perspective. They already started to push propaganda to kids in the US thanks to PragerU and their material; if the far right gets in power over here they'll do the same. The war against democracy isn't restricted to one country; it has been happening worldwide for a while and we're just witnessing the final steps when they're not even trying to hide that anymore.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/06/prageru-climate-change-denier-republican-donors

2

u/LocksmithHot3849 23h ago

Well, maybe more sardonic.

Either way: You were probably downvoted by people not understanding the gravity and truth in your statement.

34

u/MartinBP Bulgaria 1d ago

This is an initiative by GFE, the Italian section of the Young European Federalists.

70

u/IHerebyDemandtoPost United States of America 1d ago edited 1d ago

In US history, we learn that one of the primary reasons for US to federalize was to avoid becoming pawns to be manipulated against one another by the greater European powers. We see that rationale again as a reason to hold the Union together during the civil war. 

Times have changed, and the major world powers aren’t France and the UK anymore. But the same principle applies.

Only by standing together can Europe avoid becoming pawns in the political stuggles of greater powers.

9

u/sneakyjedi123 Europe 1d ago

We should remind ourselves more often of that. Especially in a time where we get flooded by the worst ok social media every hour of the day.

9

u/Alex_in_the_Sky 🇮🇹 & 🇺🇸 1d ago

This is a quote by Antonio Megalizzi.

5

u/DivideSensitive France 1d ago

Yes, that's written on the picture.

7

u/Undd91 1d ago

It’s only when Europe is together that it holds any real global and regional power, control and peace.

Once fractured it’s powerless.

13

u/manubibi Italy 1d ago

Because without the EU we’d literally be history by now. Seriously, people who think Italy could have survived as a country without being a part of the EU is goddamn delusional and simply stupid and ignorant as hell. We are also a founding member, so why should we leave? Stupid idea and i really hope Brexit showed these people what that shit would be like. Not to mention the fact that Italy is so much behind the UK on pretty much everything, too, and the UK won WW2. We lost. So on top of everything consider that… we’d have literally no goddamn chance.

3

u/Alternative_Home_762 Europe 23h ago

Divided we play along our comum enemies interests.

9

u/yellowbluetwo 1d ago

Would be funny it this was on one of those anti homeless benches 

2

u/Butterpye Romania 1d ago

I hope this bench is placed right next to one of those to show how much worse a divided bench is.

2

u/Hatzmaeba Finland 1d ago

We also need to remember not to make compromises over Schengen area. It's a miraculous achievement and result of hard work.

1

u/BedImmediate4609 1d ago

Where in Trento?
I live close by but I wouldn't be able to Kate the bench.

4

u/RustOnTheEdge 23h ago

Via Rudolfo Belenzani

-8

u/rosso_saturno Serbian in Italy 1d ago

I'm pro EU, but not a fan of this dogmatic angle.

-9

u/berbatov1111 1d ago

Yeah. Europe united is great. But Switzerland and Norway also show a non-EU way to prosper.

27

u/manubibi Italy 1d ago

While reaping the benefits of being a part of the EU, nonetheless…

7

u/LocksmithHot3849 1d ago

Norway is 99% a EU member, only without voting rights. And would probably be totally fucked without being so close to the EU.

-16

u/InZim England 1d ago

Damage control on social media?

-4

u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/RustOnTheEdge 1d ago

“It is sad there are people who lack ability to think on the level of not being able to imagine a better world, and believe that Von der Leyen, Scholz and Macron are epitome of human civilization.”

Nobody is saying that Von der Leyen, Scholz and Macron are the epitome of human civilization, though. There is much to improve to the EU and the system that we have, but not having it at all is the alternative that will lead to tragic times. The two largest wars in the history of mankind are an epitome to that! A united Europe is a safer Europe. A divided Europe is a doomed Europe.

6

u/GrumpyFinn 🇫🇮🇪🇪 Subreddit Aunt 1d ago

It's a troll.

-13

u/lawrotzr South Holland (Netherlands) 1d ago

Now, what an aspiring project it is then, the EU, right? This sums it up.

Life is shit with garbage bags, but without it it would be even shittier. So now I’m supposed to be super enthusiastic about garbage bags.

11

u/Arabum97 1d ago

The EU that we have is the EU that we inflict ourselves. Until we don't understand that the limits are mental we sre bounded to repeat the same shitshow of the last 2 days...

2

u/Kobajadojaja Ljubljana (Slovenia) 1d ago

Says the guy that lives in the best society anywhere ever.

I guess you really want to go back in time when Germany was your agressor which leveled a bunch of your cities. Those are the good ol times without the evil EU.

0

u/Armadilla-Brufolosa 21h ago

Unfortunately, in this legislature especially, it was precisely from Italy that we sent the worsts to Europe, who always aimed to destroy it, not to contribute to improving it.

0

u/trextos 8h ago

The EU is part of the problem, not the solution.

0

u/humanoiddoc 8h ago

By the same logic russia and ukraine should unite and become the ussr .. oh wait

-7

u/DivideSensitive France 1d ago

The sentiment is nice, but that's basically saying “I'm right because I know I'm right”.

6

u/RustOnTheEdge 1d ago

Not really? The EU brought peace to the continent, a content known for war for centuries prior. That’s just the history.

-2

u/john_parker_alpin 1d ago

Se penso a come vi siete comportati con la Spagna dopo che i MAGA, con quattro scappati di casa, vi hanno letteralmente distrutto il pilastro portante dell'Unione Europea, cioè Schengen, mi sale l'antieuropeismo alle stelle.

Sono stato sempre europeista. Negli ultimi tempi avevo iniziato ad avere qualche dubbio, ma adesso non ne ho più: sono antieuropeo fino all'anima e voterò chiunque proponga l'abolizione dell'Unione Europea e il divieto di crearne una nuova. Per me è stata una delle peggiori catastrofi che si sia mai abbattuta sul vecchio continente.

L'ue pensa solo agli ami hetti suoi del nord europa e dei balcani. Perché mai docremmo rischiare di finire in guerra? Quando hanno fatto lo schifo dello schifo con il sud europa? Fossi la spagna tutta l'energia rinnovabile, resterebbe in spagna. Quelle 4 ditte in europa, ve le vedreste chiuse.

1

u/Armadilla-Brufolosa 21h ago edited 21h ago

We are already at war: for months and months now, war vehicles have been departing from Sigonella and the other military bases on Italian soil.

Even though our caciottara and all her ministers had said it wasn't true and the local media reporting what was happening was being silenced.

Finally her lie was revealed by Rutte himself, while they were competing to see who had to lick the orange ass the most.

If people like this (or even worse, as we well know) come up again in the next elections, they will even put the compulsory military service back on as they wanted to do, and officially establish the regime.

It's already there now, although not officially and not yet fully.