No king
No king! The demonstrators in the United States chanting this slogan have rediscovered the lucidity of Roman citizens: no king in a republic! Caesar himself had therefore not become king, but he built Caesarism as defined by Wikipedia: “power concentrated in the hands of a strong, charismatic man, supported by the people, preferably a military leader. This type of regime may include a strong demagogic or even populist dimension, in the sense that the leader would officially draw his legitimacy directly from the people and against the elite.” A quarter of the way into the 21st century, this temptation stirs many powerful heads of state and many others with less influence, after having been widely practiced in the 20th century.
Resistance
Like Brutus and Cassius organizing Caesar’s assassination, Caesarism generates resistance that generally allows citizens—sometimes late—to raise their heads again. Hugo resisted Napoleon III, de Gaulle resisted Pétain, Zelensky resists Putin, but such resistance triumphs only when the people take over, by revolting, fighting or voting. But from dictator to downfall, how many misfortunes! Yet once domination ends, good years often follow: the Third Republic after the Second Empire, the Thirty Glorious Years after the Second World War. Resistance promotes generous ideas.
Tomorrows
So it was after the disastrous dictatorships of the 20th century—Hitler, Mussolini, Franco—when the world built cooperation as never before. Starting with the United Nations, numerous organizations for exchange, regulation and justice were established, generating three‑quarters of a century not exactly of peace but at least without universal war. Without preventing, however, the Pinochets and Videllas, the Maos or Pol Pots, the Salazars or Bokassas. Despite them, one could believe that the sometimes shaky system of classical democracy, based on honestly elected majorities, was going to prevail. But that was without counting on the erratic memory of peoples.
In memoriam
All ideologies like to violate History; thus the Gauls became our unique ancestors when the Third Republic wanted to standardize “a country where there exist 258 varieties of cheese,” according to C. de Gaulle (in fact more than 1,200 recorded!). Amnesia is a characteristic of ideologues. There are always new Nazis, fascists, Francoists, admirers of Vidella or Pinochet, nostalgics of Stalin or Ivan the Terrible, brandishing chainsaws and bloody slogans. Two generations are enough to forget all the pogroms and all the ruins, to forget the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires and the crowds marching for peace. Barely spared by a bullet aimed at him, Donald Trump shouted Fight! Fight! Fight! while dreaming of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ave Caesar…
…Those who are about to die salute you! For in the end, like gladiators in the arena, citizens suffer in the ring of violence created by the Caesar of the moment, praised by his sycophants, exploited by his courtiers, encouraged by oligarchs, protected by his praetorian guard. When drunken Caesars destroy, bomb, kill, or plan to do so, mocking and scorning all efforts toward peace, it is necessary, to preserve the future, to distinguish Caesar from his people, keep a cool head, strengthen democratic processes, and intensify all cooperation that fosters peace. All Caesars love the sound of marching boots and hate the long silent marches that defy them.
Michel Seyrat.
