Nenikékamen! We won!

After the Athenians beat the Persian invaders on the plain of Marathon in 490 BC, a hoplite was dispatched to bring the news to Athens. He furiously ran the distance of 42 kilometers and when he reached the city, before dying of exhaustion, he cried out the word nenikékamen: We won.

It was no random victory. Historians argue that this was the moment when the history of the West truly began — the moment that saw citizens fight for their freedom, their families, properties, liberties and traditions against an enemy who wanted to annihilate their cultural identity and erase their historical existence.

Since then the West has come under threat countless times. Crucial battles have been fought – and won. The foundations of democracy, science, reason, rule of law, philosophy, liberty and art have been kept sound for our ancestors to build on for two and a half millennia. Every generation has been called to defend them one way or another.

During these last days many have commemorated Ronald Reagan. He once said: “Freedom is a fragile thing and it is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

Interestingly enough, Reagan is on the exact same page with Miltiades, the Athenian general of Marathon. Reagan has also famously said: If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape. This is the last stand on earth.” Miltiades addressed his troops before the battle saying: “If we defeat them, they have a homeland to return to. If we lose, we have nowhere to go.”

The importance of crucial battles is always of existential nature. They do not come about often, but when they do, they are a do or die affair. And such was the 2024 US presidential election.

Unlike other times, when the West has found itself under threat from outside forces, this time the menace has developed from within. Islamic extremism may be on the rise and a new breed of dystopian high tech despotism may have emerged as a geopolitical adversary in Asia and elsewhere, but the greatest danger is internal.

It is the fifth column of the woke nihilists, which has come the closest to bringing us down. This postmodern movement of cultural suicide which demolishes reason and freedom in the name of supposed human rights, this trend of lamentable surrender to anyone who wishes to subdue and conquer us.

First and foremost, it is this enemy which was defeated on the 5th of November 2024. Donald Trump’s victory is one against those who want to see our children childless, godless, without a moral compass or ethical backbone, deprived of any sense of reason, stripped of property rights and freedom of expression, slave workers of the globalist overlords.

History will record Donald J. Trump as the patriarch of this century’s conservative movement and the leading figure of its crucial counter-offensive. Appearances can be deceiving. But if we look under the surface of this strange looking, sui generis individual, we will see the forces of history at work.

Of course, this is not the end. It is the beginning of a long road of resistance that lies ahead. Alongside Trump, who did his duty, new conservative figures and movements are now emerging worldwide. Trump’s presidency is sure to boost them and provide them with support.

The relay baton is being passed. Had Kamala Harris won, the West in five years would be utterly broken and unrecognisable. Now some of the damage can be mended. But most of all, faith in the value of fighting for a higher cause is being restored. We will need this faith, because our enemies will strike back.

Our generation’s marathon race has begun. God willing, one day we will be able to look our children in the eye and say: Nenikékamen.