dia do veterano nos EUA

Hoje os americanos celebram “Veterans Day”, feriado instituído pelo presidente Woodrow Wilson inicialmente em memória ao armistício que encerrou a Primeira Guerra, em 1919. (O mesmo motivo fez o governo francês transformar o dia de hoje em feriado nacional. Quem estiver em Paris verá bandeirolas tricolores em todos os ônibus.) Em 1954 os EUA decidiram aumentar o escopo e passaram a homenagear todos os veteranos no feriado.

Aproveitando a efeméride, Stephen Walt, professor de Harvard, deixou um memorável post em seu blog sobre a relação entre o Estado moderno e a guerra ainda nos dias de hoje:

It is revealing that we honor veterans of the armed forces but not other members of society who run similar risks and make similar sacrifices — rescue workers, firemen, police officers, etc. It reflects our awareness that we still live in an insecure world, and it echoes the origin of the modern state as an instrument for the conduct of organized violence. “War made the state, and the state made war,” wrote sociologist Charles Tilly, and we still look to national governments to provide protection against external dangers. Americans didn’t turn to Microsoft, Amnesty International or the Ford Foundation after 9/11, and while they may have gone to church, mosque or synagogue to find comfort, they looked to the federal government — and especially the national security establishment — to provide protection.