The wrong side of history
https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-essay/2024/03/gaza-ukraine-wrong-side-history
Richard J Evans:
Who, then, in the light of all these claims and counter-claims, is on the “right side of history”? There are several reasons why there is, in the end, no such thing. If the 20th and 21st centuries have taught us anything, it must surely be that any notion that human history is progressing towards a world of greater tolerance, humanitarianism, peace and democracy is wholly illusory. Of course, this is no reason to stop fighting for these things. From time to time, indeed, the fight can even meet with a degree of success. But as the French philosopher Albert Camus recognised long ago, humanity’s struggles for these things are best viewed in the light of the myth of Sisyphus, condemned forever to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill, only to see the rock tumble to the bottom as soon as it nears the top, forcing him to start the struggle once more.
https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-essay/2024/03/gaza-ukraine-wrong-side-history
Richard J Evans:
Who, then, in the light of all these claims and counter-claims, is on the “right side of history”? There are several reasons why there is, in the end, no such thing. If the 20th and 21st centuries have taught us anything, it must surely be that any notion that human history is progressing towards a world of greater tolerance, humanitarianism, peace and democracy is wholly illusory. Of course, this is no reason to stop fighting for these things. From time to time, indeed, the fight can even meet with a degree of success. But as the French philosopher Albert Camus recognised long ago, humanity’s struggles for these things are best viewed in the light of the myth of Sisyphus, condemned forever to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill, only to see the rock tumble to the bottom as soon as it nears the top, forcing him to start the struggle once more.