The first few minutes of are impressive. We come across an empty land, where bullets fly from one side to the other. There is no life — or, at least, it seems like there isn’t. At some point, people emerge from holes dug in the earth. These are the French, Scottish and German trenches. It is 1914, the first year of the . The film, based on facts, is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I recommend.
On one side, the Scots and French fight against their German neighbors. The objective is to advance into the enemy trenches. The number of victims doesn’t matter. Death takes on the role of protagonist in this inhospitable territory. The faceless enemy must be fought by any means necessary.
Everything changes on the night of. Soldiers leave the trenches and enter no man’s land — the territory that separates enemy lines. As if by magic, the faceless people come to life and stories, and everyone celebrates Christmas Eve together.
The next day it becomes impossible to shoot the other way. The faceless now have a name, address and family. The unknown enemy disappears and the human returns to the surface.
The dehumanization of others serves several purposes. A faceless and nameless enemy is easier to fight — even kill. At different times in history we have seen this happen, with greater or lesser intensity. Perhaps, in numerical terms, unfortunately, the Jew is in the front row. The dehumanization was such that it was acceptable. This barbarism did not occur overnight: it was established little by little. German society was tested to its limits until it reached the extermination machine.
African history was also marked by a process of dehumanization on the part of Europeans, which enabled the construction of society, transforming it into merchandise. Thus, millions of Africans were forcibly taken and sold in and, mainly, in , where many died on the way. Even after the end of slavery, black people remained adrift for a long time, treated as second-class citizens.
Unfortunately, we still witness cases today that have intensified with the spread of extremism. Another worrying phenomenon is the villainization of immigrants. If before the immigrant was seen as an entrepreneur in search of a better life, today, in many political speeches, he is portrayed as the “enemy”, someone violent, who steals jobs and threatens the social order. Topic covered by me in the “” column.
In the world we live in, with wars of narratives and polarized sides, the other becomes an enemy to be fought. It doesn’t matter whether on the right or on the left: extremism takes its victims. From the lack of communication and contact, dehumanization thrives. Thus, that person ceases to be “human” and can be segregated, arrested or erased from existence.
The growth of political violence is a direct effect of this process. Faceless or nameless people are easier to be
transformed into “enemies”, and extremist discourse finds fertile ground to thrive. This logic is not restricted to wars, but is also present in polarization across both political spectrums, fueled by intolerance and the end of dialogue. It has never been so difficult to listen and respect others — social media is here to prove it.
We urgently need, as in the film, to celebrate Christmas Eve, a gesture of reconciliation that returns humanity to the land devastated by dehumanization. Only dialogue and listening to the opposite will make it possible to combat extremism.
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