“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
So spoke Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940. It is his most renowned oration. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed Churchill’s sentiments when he addressed the Commons in early March.
Churchill’s fighting words are said to have rallied Britons’ spirits and girded their resolve for the imminent Nazi onslaught. No doubt you have heard the speech yourself. Except you haven’t. The speech was never broadcast. It was not recorded in Parliament, nor transmitted live to the nation, as no equipment was installed to capture it.
Unlike some of his other wartime speeches that were taped after delivery in a BBC studio, this one was not repeated until Churchill recorded it for posterity in 1949, long after the war had ended. This is what you have heard.
Reaction to the speech was tempered. Many of Churchill’s Conservative Party colleagues sat sullen behind him. They feared he was a reckless warmonger who would lead the United Kingdom to its doom. Only two newspapers saw fit to lead their headlines with coverage of his remarks. And since no British citizen heard the words, they could hardly have been inspired by his soaring rhetoric.
On Saturday US President Joe Biden gave a speech in Warsaw. In opening he reiterated a constant refrain of Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope: “Be not afraid.” He reminded the world that John Paul had carried that message into the heart of communist Europe in 1979, when he returned to his homeland and helped galvanise the Solidarity movement.
Biden recalled a time when “the Soviet Union ruled with an iron fist behind an Iron Curtain”, harking back to Churchill’s famous delineation between freedom and tyranny. He told the crowd, and the world, that we confront such a challenge once again: “A battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force.” He steeled listeners that “this battle will not be won in days or months either”. He signalled unified NATO determination to stand with Ukraine. And he spoke directly to the Russian people, telling them: “You, the Russian people, are not our enemy.”
But gotcha journalists who are to news what instant noodles are to cuisine instead latched on to nine words at the tail of Biden’s address: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
What did he mean? Was it a gaffe? Did it signal a pivot in US policy in favour of regime change in Russia? The White House clarifying his comments only magnified the media frenzy.
And they wonder why navigating a conflict with a revanchist megalomaniac without escalating to global thermonuclear war is a delicate task.
Lost in their babble was the larger context of Biden’s message, both in diplomatic and historical terms. His address emulated previous landmark speeches during the Cold War. In 1963 John F Kennedy travelled to West Berlin after the Berlin Wall was erected to declare: “As a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’ “ In 1987 Ronald Reagan followed in his footsteps by demanding at the Brandenburg Gate: “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Such speeches were more than hollow gestures in the face of oppression. They were milestones of hope, courage, resilience and resistance. Their ideals resonated throughout the repressed populations of the Warsaw Pact. Eventually they won out.
Aside from this, Biden’s closing quip is self-evident. He said what we all know. Enduring peace is not possible while an aggressive dictator lurks nearby. This is a lesson that Europe has been forced to reckon with repeatedly. However the war in Ukraine ends, Russia will remain a threat as long as Putin sits in the Kremlin.
What marks a speech for posterity is often not recognised by initial impressions. The Gettysburg Address is among the greatest ever given, yet London’s The Times reported it as “ludicrous by some of the luckless sallies of that President Lincoln”. Shows what they knew. Lincoln himself was grateful his discourse wasn’t a “total failure”.
What matters most about Biden’s speech is its symbolism, its historical rhyme, and its steadfast commitment to crush Putin’s aggression. That is a message that Churchill would surely have applauded.
Oh spare me: “A battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force.”
Yes, deplore the brutal invasion of Ukraine. But also:
Who invaded Iraq on a false pretext and with disastrous results, including 300,000+ dead?
Who routinely murders people by remote drone, including wedding parties?
Who supports the murderous Saudi assault on Yemen?
Who spent the past couple of decades stoking trouble in Ukraine?
All for power-polical purposes.
The US is a blundering brute in the world. We should rapidly disentangle ourselves from it, as Malcolm Fraser advocated.
Actually the estimates for Iraqi deaths are around M$1
So true Geoff.
The hypocrisy of US behaviour on the world stage is there for all to see, with your examples.
It will be interesting to see if they trash their principles and do deals with their arch enemies, Venezuela and Iran, in seeking to source and replenish their oil stocks?
Spare a thought for the Cuban’s who have no oil to bargain with, as a lever in getting the US to lift their 60 years of crippling embargo on their country.
“Dangerous Allies” by Malcolm Fraser a great read, however Malcolm Turnbull assured us that we and the US are “joined at the hip”.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2046461/world
The US may be a blundering brute in the world, but I am yet to see a preferred alternative for a world super power.
How about NONE?
In other words, the US has failed to reach the bar that…literally no super power has ever met.
Far too much being made of Biden’s undiplomatic comment about Putin not being allowed to survive. This is actually what the whole world wants, and urgently, but cant say. How about some global and media suport for him.
‘This is actually what the whole world wants’.
I think India, China, Brazil, Turkey, Pakistan, UAE,etc.etc. may have a different opinion on that….
Actually only the West cares. The other 87% of humanity could not care less.
You’ve polled them? Pretty sure that 87% of humanity would care about Putin’s maniacal finger on the nuke button after his thinly veiled threats.
Your magisterial certainty is at odds with reality and you grasp on that is tenuous at best, demonstrated by wild talk of “…Putin’s maniacal finger on the nuke button…”.
We should be more concerned about Slow Joe’s doddery fingers hitting it instead of the night nurse call button.
Trump insults now? Not quite sure which world you’re living in, but Biden has been remarkably restrained in his words and actions throughout Putin’s, ahem, special military operation. Biden’s not threatening nuclear war is also kind of nice, you have to admit.
It is what the US wants.
Funny how your list comprises countries with little or no freedom of press or expression. Here are their rankings in the 2021 World Press Freedom list: India (142), China (177), Brazil (111), Turkey (153), Pakistan (145), UAE (131). Russia is at 150, by the way. We have no idea what the average person in China thinks, because they are fed state media and not allowed to express an alternative view.
Do you recall Obama claiming in 2014 that “Assad would be gone in two weeks“?
Trump’s boast that the SilvercorpUSA coup had already succeeded against Maduro?
Inmates of the Benighted States may think that their failed society is ‘The World’ – most humans disagree.
If we are relying on the msm for analysis of speeches then god help us all.
Unrelated topic but I was living outside Australia in a time zone four hours behind Canberra when PM Gillard delivered her misogyny speech in PH. The initial msm responses were all critical, what followed was quite the opposite.
I pay little attention to the msm and select my news sources carefully.
It took a day or two for the (male) journos to catch themselves on – some even longer.
When Wally Ali started at RN’s Drive in 2013 he referred, in his usual tin-eared way, to “…her infamous speech attacking Abbott…”
After instant push-back by text from many listeners – whilst his editorial was still being broadcast, he gratuitously changed his grandiloquence to “..her notorious speech“.
Yair nice one Keir. Very Hallmark. You’re North American correspondent right? I ask for confirmation only because of your quoting Uncle Joe: “You, the Russian people, are not our enemy.”
You seem to have forgotten that Bush II said exactly the same to the Iraqis. In the end 500,000 were killed (low end count); millions displaced. 15,000 killed on the first night of bombing. Torture chambers, death squads, white phosphorous.
But go ahead, reassure the Ukrainians. And forget what Biden’s government did to the Iraqi Kurds.
Wow! You should read today’s Scrum piece Keir. They tally up all the slurs cast against old Vlad- Hitler, worse than Hitler, a butcher, a fascist, brutal dictator, cold hearted soulless killer, and now your one , megalomaniac! I’m not sure what the holocaust survivors would think of these ludicrous name calling efforts? Or the people in Yemen or Afghanistan who hosted years of US weaponry. At least Macron understands that you have to talk, even,to Stalin, to have a settlement. I liked the Scrum’s allusion to Biden as a long term snake oil salesman, totally out of his depth. We are flirting with nuclear war. The consensus is that it’ll start by accident and cascade into something awful! The quality of journalism in the MSM is dreadful. Now I’ll have to add you to the list!
10,000,000 Russian deaths in WWII half civilian. They saved the world from Hitler
Yes, after forming an alliance with him and encouraging him to direct his attention to the west and not the east. Not the wisest diplomatic action.
The views of just about everyone in the “foreign policy” industry are cow’s tripe. I can’t remember the last time anyone made sense or didn’t regurgitate anything that was not a litany of mistruths.
I wish Crikey would stop trolling me by publishing these official views.