When the foundations of the world are shaken, what can the just do?
This old cry from the Psalms is more contemporary than ever.
Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur of the UN for the occupied Palestinian territories, has clearly shown with facts and numbers in her last report that not only the U.S. but the E.U. nations in particular have such deep ties with the economy of the state of Israel that they could have stopped the killings many months ago, simply by interrupting all trade with it. Yet despite their continual reference in their speeches to “Western values”, the EU leadership seems far from taking such an ethical step.
But when you trample upon the values you proclaim as the foundation of your own societies, are not the foundations shaken?
Spain and Ireland have taken the right steps on their own. The governments of France and the UK have tried to appease their populations with the formal approval of a Palestinian state, but without adopting consequent economic sanctions.
The governments of Italy and Germany seem to still be acting out of guilt, which is however quite misplaced not because 80 years have passed since the Holocaust — there will never be a time when such a tragedy should not be remembered and the guilty parties should not be despised — but because letting the Israeli authorities do whatever they please to the Palestinians is not showing respect to the victims of Nazi fascism. On the contrary, it means to soil their memory.
The slogan “Never again!” is either intended for every human being, of whatever nationality, or it makes no sense. “Never again” for Jews only is a good ingredient instead of breeding a new racial superiority and the victimization of another group, as in fact has happened for decades.
Marches and protests, including the stopping of weapon cargoes in seaports, are continuing all over Europe. They are underreported in the news, and often they face governmental restraints rather than the support that would qualify our governments, finally, as ethical. Even some leaders of the left are afraid to join them openly, so all the more credit goes to individuals such as Jeremy Corbyn, who has not stopped for months challenging the absurdity and inhumanity of the UK government’s behavior.
Legal fights are underway in all EU legal systems concerning the confusion between antisemitism and anti-Zionism or, more generally, critiques of the State of Israel, its government, and its policies and behavior in the occupied territories. Israeli lobbies are pushing for the legal adoption of the equation of all of the above with antisemitism. Individuals defend in courts their right to free speech against Israel. This fight is not over, and its outcome is of the utmost importance.
I have observed in recent months in my own region in Northern Italy that Palestinian flags are popping up everywhere, even in remote Alpine villages. People who live close to the land, but with internet, can see videos of the carnage in Gaza and the displacements in the West Bank, and they have had enough.
Many people in Europe are acting and showing solidarity. Governments are slow and obtuse because they are defending the interests of the mighty rather than serving their populations. But the soul of Europe now lives in Palestine. Many are comparing this historical moment to the choice to boycott the South African regime, which the Irish government took in 1987. If we miss this chance to do the right thing, our bureaucracy and rearming will simply sink the European dream.
Banner Image: Rete degli Studenti Medi (High School Students’ Network) carries a banner accusing schools and universities of complicity in genocide at the general strike for Gaza in Ancona, Italy, September 2025. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
How do you participate consciously and meaningfully in the fights for justice of our time? What can you change in your behavior and choices?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation, by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox
Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
7 thoughts on “The Soul of Europe”
I will continue to do what I do until called upon to do something else. In light of Jesus offering us a light load to carry, why do we ‘inflate’ ourselves and believe that we have the ‘weight of the world’ on our shoulders? Are we to take on and be enlisted to ‘resolve the unresolvable’ or be humble and loving servants of the Lord? Never to turn our backs on humankind, but the Lord’s Kingdom and reign are ‘not of this world’ as someone greater than us proclaimed. — BB.
“Prayer, properly understood and applied, is the most potent instrument of action.” Mahatma Gandhi.
Great quote and very good point, Paul. Yet the same Gandhi led the pivotal Salt March and undertook several hunger strikes, all quite compatible with prayer.
Practicing the B of BDS is accessible to every-one and constitutes a “conscious and meaningful participation in the fights for justice”, just like the (successful) boycott of the apartheid regime of South Africa was in the 1980’s. It is a form of economic sanction far more effective than the “official” economic sanctions for which governments usually find loopholes [https://bdsmovement.net/bds-call]. The systematic equation of criticism of Israel policies with antisemitism is a manipulative insult to intelligence. Antisemitism is racism, anti-Zionism is anti-racism.
Even though it can be very painful in our hearts to be informed/aware of the injustices and suffering continuing to happen to our sisters and brothers around the world, we must maintain our Faith and include them in our deepest prayers of Compassion that GOD’S SPIRIT of LOVE~WISDOM~TRUTH~PEACE~JUSTICE~HEALING~TRANSFORMATION~CREATIVITY… be with them and All Spiritual Workers of LOVE~LIGHT~LIFE in All physical/nonphysical spiritual dimensions doing GOD’S WILL in LOVING DIVERSE ONENESS in the Sacred Flow of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT….
So well written on something SO important. We want to celebrate the prince of peace, but there is no peace without justice, and we see very little justice anywhere! We must do more than pray. We can all speak. We can tell our neighbours and friends how distressed we are–and come up with the words to describe it. Name it. Say it. Raise a flag. Refuse to feel helpless. Search and find the seat of power inside and then join others. To do less is to let your country deteriorate to the state of the cultural revolution in China. Canada is only a veneer. I’ve never seen so many of us work so hard for democracy, but we’ve given too much power away and I don’t know that we will find our way back to the garden.
Bravo! We must continue to face the inequalities and lack of human rights, and where the economic policies make it worse, we have to try to change them. The Nativity scene with the baby snatched away by ICE is a good visual shocking image. Palestinian rights advocacy in Southern Italy is great. We need to get to the trade agreements, and the international monetary policy issues. THANK YOU!