PARIS (AP) — Excerpts from the address French President Emmanuel Macron gave before world leaders Sunday at the memorial for the centennial of the World War I armistice.
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"Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism: Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. In saying 'our interests first, whatever happens to the others,' you erase the most precious thing a nation can have, that which makes it lives, that which causes it to be great and that which is most important: Its moral values."
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"I know, the old demons are resurging, ready to finish off their work of chaos and death. New ideologies manipulate religions, push a contagious obscurantism. Sometimes, history threatens to retake its tragic course and threaten our heritage of peace that we believed we had definitively settled with our ancestors' blood."
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"For four years, Europe almost committed suicide. Humanity had sunk into a hideous labyrinth of merciless battles, in a hell that engulfed all fighters, whichever side they were on, whatever nationality they had ... 10 million dead, 6 million injured and mutilated, 3 million widows, 6 million orphans, millions of civilian victims."
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"That this anniversary day is therefore the day when we renew our loyalty to our dead! Let's again renew the oath of nations to put peace at the highest level, because we know the price! We know its importance! We know what it takes!"
Disclaimer: This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Associated Press (AP) wire.
