De Gaulle's Epic Tale Highlights Modern Political Failings
Simon Abkarian portrays Charles de Gaulle in La Bataille de Gaulle, a two-part film based on historian Julian Jackson's biography. The film focuses on World War II, presenting de Gaulle as a blend of stubbornness, arrogance, and genius. After fleeing to London in June 1940, de Gaulle imposed himself on Churchill and Roosevelt, embodying a nation state through sheer will. He wrote, 'I recreated France from nothing, from being a man alone in a foreign city.'
The Battle of Bir Hakeim: A Strategic Triumph
The Free French Forces (FFF) are often a footnote in WWII narratives. However, the battle of Bir Hakeim showcased their impact: 3,700 FFF held off 35,000 Axis soldiers under Erwin Rommel for 16 days, enabling the British Eighth Army to evacuate Tobruk. Historians credit this as crucial to slowing Rommel's advance in North Africa and securing Egypt and the Suez Canal. Yet de Gaulle shamefully did not resist American demands to remove Black soldiers from the victory march into Paris in 1944.
Modern Crises Demand Bold Action
Today, we face ecological breakdown, oligarchic wealth, impunity for war crimes, and unregulated AI. Solutions exist: taxing wealth, ending fossil fuel subsidies, pricing carbon, regulating AI, and prosecuting war criminals. But we fail to act, not due to powerlessness but imagination poverty. Europe is rich, united, and at peace, yet voters crave meaningful projects beyond economic growth. We have conceded that we cannot make history.
De Gaulle's Lesson: Passion and Reason
In 1942, de Gaulle quoted Chamfort: 'The reasonable have persisted and the impassioned have lived.' He added, 'For two years, we've lived much because we're impassioned, but we've also persisted. Oh, how reasonable we must be!' Today, we need leaders at all levels to accept that passion and reason intersect, and that agency exists to ensure democratic societies endure on a habitable planet.
