{"id":764,"date":"2025-09-13T13:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T11:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/?page_id=764"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:36:45","slug":"when-humanity-prevails","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/en\/when-humanity-prevails\/","title":{"rendered":"When Humanity Prevails…"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Humanity Prevails…<\/span><\/p>\n

In December 1914, at several points along the Western Front, soldiers spontaneously stopped fighting. On Christmas Eve, songs and candles replaced the sound of gunfire. Soldiers heard Christmas carols rising from the enemy trenches and joined in singing. British, French, Belgian, and German troops stepped into no man\u2019s land, exchanged tobacco, chocolate, and wine. Together they buried the dead, and in some places impromptu football matches were played.<\/p>\n

These scenes were widely reported in the British press, and in January 1915 the *Daily Mirror* published photographs of these memorable moments\u2014though censored on the French and Belgian sides. Yet they remain a striking testimony of fraternity and humanity. They entered history and are still remembered as part of the Christmas truces of 1914<\/strong>. Christian Carion\u2019s 2005 film *Joyeux No\u00ebl<\/em>* was dedicated \u201cto the memory of the soldiers who fraternized on Christmas Eve.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The fraternization recounted by Carion in his film was inspired by events in the trenches around Ypres. While reading Yves Buffetaut\u2019s book *Batailles de Flandres et d\u2019Artois 1914\u20131918*<\/em>, he discovered the incredible Christmas of 1914 in which the author described fraternization between enemies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Germans sang *Stille Nacht*\u2014*Silent Night*\u2014and the other side answered. Suddenly the no man\u2019s land, usually a death zone, was no longer so. It was the music that built the bridge. Very early on, I knew *Joyeux No\u00ebl* would be a musical film.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Condemned by the General Staff, who took measures to end them and prevent their recurrence, the Christmas truces of 1914 were long absent from history books.<\/p>\n

That same humanity resurfaced in 1997, when soldiers sent by the government of Moroni to Anjouan refused to open fire on their compatriots and preferred to surrender rather thanfire on the population.<\/p>\n

This major historical episode is recounted in my novel *Christine and Her Life of Adventures on the Moon Islands<\/strong><\/em><\/span>*<\/a>, in the chapter on the secession of Anjouan.<\/p>\n

History is not made only of battles won or lost. It is also shaped by those moments when, faced with the order to fire, men choose to lower their rifles. These moments are rare, but they shine in our collective memory like stars that refuse to fade.<\/p>\n

In 1974, in Portugal, soldiers sent to repress the democratic movement refused to fire on the crowd. Civilians slipped carnations into their rifle barrels. This \u201cCarnation Revolution\u201d ended nearly half a century of dictatorship without a drop of blood.<\/p>\n

In 1989, in Leipzig, East Germany, thousands of demonstrators gathered every Monday. The order to repress was given, but some commanders refused. Their soldiers remained motionless. This act of restraint opened the way to the peaceful fall of the East German regime.<\/p>\n

In the uncertain hours of the August 1991 coup in the Soviet Union, tanks were stationed in Moscow, ready to crush the popular uprising. Several units disobeyed, siding with the demonstrators. This unexpected fraternization contributed to the coup\u2019s failure and hastened the collapse of the USSR.<\/p>\n

At Tiananmen Square in 1989, some groups of soldiers withdrew rather than open fire. Their gesture did not prevent the tragedy, but it testified to a personal choice: to preserve life by refusing to shoot.<\/p>\n

These examples\u2014from Portugal to Moscow, from Leipzig to Anjouan\u2014remind us of a truth that Pericles already proclaimed 2,400 years ago: there is no happiness without freedom, nor freedom without courage. Courage is surely defending one\u2019s country and loved ones when they are threatened\u2014but it is not always fighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes it is saying no, choosing to lay down arms<\/p>\n

\n

We learn today, October 11, 2025, that Malagasy soldiers have joined the thousands of demonstrators in the streets of the capital, Antananarivo, calling on the security forces to \u201crefuse orders to shoot\u201d at the population and condemning the recent police repression.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us unite our military forces, gendarmes and police officers, and refuse to be paid to shoot at our friends, our brothers and our sisters,\u201d declared the soldiers, who were greeted with cheers and thanks from the demonstrators, according to Agence France-Presse. Colonel Michael Randrianirina told AFP that the police had fired on soldiers, hitting a serviceman and a journalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe journalist was wounded in the buttock while the soldier died,\u201d he said. \u201cTo all those who sent the gendarmes here \u2014 starting with the head of the gendarmerie, the Prime Minister, and the President \u2014 they must step down from power,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Rescue services on site reported two deaths and 26 injuries on Saturday. A report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights dated September 29 lists 22 people killed and more than a hundred injured since the beginning of the demonstrations on September 25.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When Humanity Prevails… In December 1914, at several points along the Western Front, soldiers spontaneously stopped fighting. On Christmas Eve, songs and candles replaced the sound of gunfire. Soldiers heard Christmas carols rising from the enemy trenches and joined in singing. British, French, Belgian, and German troops stepped into no man\u2019s land, exchanged tobacco, chocolate, … <\/p>\n

Continuer la lecture de « When Humanity Prevails… »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-764","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":764,"fr":742,"es":756,"de":758},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1927,"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764\/revisions\/1927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mariechristineaubert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}