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"'You mean you don't want to fight the occupation of your country?' She would have liked to tell them that behind Communism, Fascism, behind all occupations and invasions lurks a more basic, pervasive evil and that the image of evil was a parade of people marching by with raised fists ad shouting identical syllables in unison."

Most European credos, religious or political, adhere to what Kundera calls a "categorical agreement with being." Their aesthetic ideal is kitsch. Nothing inappropriate or marring can be allowed in the aesthetic of kitsch, and the individual cannot be allo wed either. The Grand March, which encompasses all these various and seemingly conflicting credos, is based on people screaming slogans together with one voice and marching in step. Sabina holds that the ideal of one-voice-no-individuals is actually much worse than any violent or imperfect totalitarian reality.

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