Anthem - Intellect

Anthem
for instance in the Swedish rock artist Tomas Ledin’s ‘Genom ett regnigt Europa’
(‘Through a rainy Europe’, 2006—probably inspired by John Foxx’s ‘Europe after the
Rain’), there is consolation in that ‘I’ and ‘you’ at least can walk together in love even
though the sun is not always shining.
However, 9/11 and the subsequent challenges posed by radical Islamists have
continued to fuel rather dark narratives of a Europe caught in mortal combat on its
east frontier. Some songs use a dark and violent imagery to defend Europe’s mission
to stand up against all external threats, thus giving voice to more or less openly fascist
sentiments. One example is the Belgian black/folk metal band Ancient Rites with
‘Mother Europe’ (1998) and the rather similar ‘(Ode to Ancient) Europa’ (2001).
‘Mother Europe’ is a phrase often used in white supremacist debates on European
issues. This song points out ‘the proud Hellenic civilisation’ as ‘the cradle of Europe
where it all began’, then adds a series of brave and gallant regions that have added
to its glory: Flemish, German, French, English, Scandinavian, Italian, Slovenian and
Celtic contributions are mentioned and each briefly characterised. These ‘knights’ are
summoned up to stand reunited and proud: ‘Mother Europe born from your womb /
Mother Europe on Your soil shall be my tomb’. This is reminiscent of Captain Euro’s
mission, but the song never explicitly clarifies if a new war is expected and who is in
that case the new enemy.
The British Nazi punk band Skrewdriver’s song with the same title ‘Mother Europe’
(1994) explicitly expresses a xenophobian creed. It mentions how ‘Mother Europe’s sons
/ faced so many tragedies at the barrel of a loaded gun’ but are now protected by her
‘guardian angel’, ‘with a flag held high’: ‘Mother Europe stands by our side / Mother
Europe, we all live for you now.’ ‘So many martyrs’, ‘honest men’ and ‘warriors’ have been
sacrificed through history: ‘For keeping Europe sacred, will be our fateful quest.’ This
fascist imagery shares certain aspects with the European flag’s symbolism of sacredness,
and Skrewdriver continues by summoning to a new war against Europe’s enemies.
For far too long now we’ve sat in apathy
But just be warned now, before the coming tragedy
For the power and the glory stand within our reach
We must prepare the struggle for the victory we seek
Mother Europe stands by our side
Mother Europe we will die for you now
Here, the enemies are never specified, but it is not difficult to fill in the blanks
by thinking of the usual Nazi combination of homosexuals, Muslims and atheist
Communists as intended targets of this forthcoming battle. And in some ways a more
problematic example is the song ‘Europa’ by Globus—a band, or rather a commercial
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