Building peace

President Emmanuel Macron presided over the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice on Nov. 11.

The aim of the event, which was attended by dozens of heads of state and government leaders, was to show that patriotism is not necessarily opposed to peace building.

French flags flew while the national anthem and the Last Post were played in tribute to the French soldiers fallen in defense of their nation. The imposing international presence did not diminish this in any way.

On the contrary, the foreign leaders’ presence helped highlight a very simple truth, namely that building peace is a far from solitary task.

Peace can only be built together with other nations, including both longstanding friends and recent enemies.

Building peace needs symbols as well as very concrete gestures.

And, in fact, the ceremony, which took place near the tomb of the unknown soldier, was rich in emotion and memorable gestures.

It included a human chain of high school students who linked hands with President Macron, as well as other participating leaders, as the French leader lit the flame of remembrance.

The aim was to devise a means of involving the students at a historical moment when there is a growing “fascination with turning inwards as well as violence and domination.”

Nevertheless, none of this obviates the need for action. Indeed, the whole purpose of the Paris Peace Forum, which opened on Sunday afternoon, was to encourage concrete initiatives in favor of international cooperation.

Contrary to appearances, this is actually already occurring on a daily basis.

One such initiative, which was recently announced in Le Parisien newspaper by the presidents of the French National Assembly and the German Bundestag, is the creation of a French-German parliamentary assembly.

The purpose is to enable the work of the parliamentarians of each country to become better coordinated.

Enemies for so long have now become friends.