Understanding the "material and immaterial" past for a fully multipolar future

26.09.2023
Speech by Alessandro Fanetti at the European Conference on Multipolarity, September 4th 2023

A heartfelt thanks to Professor Lorenzo Maria Pacini for the gladly received invitation and a warm greeting to Professor Dugin, to the colleagues present and to all the listeners.

In this turbulent third millennium of ours, characterized primarily by the clash between Unipolarism and Multipolarism, it is in my judgement essential to revisit the past with its examples and teachings.

As has been well summarized by the French theologian and philosopher Félicité de La Mennais: "The past is like a lamp placed at the entrance of the future".

There is no, and there can be no, aware and conscientious future, without an understanding of the past and the ability to discern and internalize, materially and spiritually, the broad outlines of philosophy and thought, as well as the events that occurred in the decades and centuries that have preceded the earthly lives of every human being.

To discern and internalize in order to understand, to shape, and to create the knowledge and the roots without which we would simply be apathetic beings, trans – human and post – human, stateless in the most destructive sense of the term and globalized for use, consumption and at the service of a greedy and unscrupulous elite, interested only in its own eternal well-being, at the expense of all other living beings.

Living materially and spiritually.

As well explained by a distinguished spokesman for this elite, the economist and writer Jacques Attali: "One day we will have a world government [...] and humanity will be divided into three categories: rich nomads with all the freedoms […]. These will be about 150 million [...]. On the other hand, we will have 5 or 6 billion nomads of misery who will migrate between cities to find food. And then a central, intermediate category, which will live between the illusion of reaching the luxury nomads and the terror of ending up among the poor nomads [...]."

The diffusion and internalization of knowledge and of the roots of everybody, are certainly a powerful antidote to this abomination.

An antidote so powerful that we can see what the elite's response is to this "risk": promotion of ignorance, the attempt to destroy man as a sentient being, and the attempt to reset "material and spiritual" man, as well as society as a whole.

An antidote that, despite everything, has nevertheless managed to show all its strength and its "decisive" capacity already several times throughout human history.

An antidote capable to awaken the inner "sleeping dog" of the self and of society.

In this regard and as an example of this concept, I would like to recall to collective memory the story of the Chieftain of the Cherusci tribe Hermann and his valiant comrades in arms, at first "enslaved" to Rome and then, patiently waiting for the opportune moment, rebelled against the Romanization enforced by the Empire.

A rebellion comparable to a lethal bite on the neck of the unsuspecting victim (who up until just a moment before was the executioner).

A bite so strong to make the Romans abandon all their "dreams of glory" beyond the eastern Rhine.

It all began around 12 BC when the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian Augustus, launched his armies to the area inhabited by the various Germanic tribes and to the Balkans. Menacing military campaigns, apparently capable on the one hand of annexing significant territories and on the other of subduing the native populations.

Subdue, primarily, through the Romanization of these peoples. As well explained by the scholar Massimo Pallottino, in fact: "[…] With the concept of Romanization we mean a process [...] which gradually changes (or not), in the first place, language, religious conceptions and ways of life [...].”

And by the scholar Michela Mariotti: “[…] For the Romans, the Romanization of the Empire is simply a process of civilization [...]. For the Romans, dominating the world is the destiny of Rome [...].”

Be that as it may, this fate befell, for a short time, as well the various Germanic tribes of which the Cherusci and Prince Hermann were part.

A Prince who was from the outstart "Romanized", and thus making him learn the virtues and vices of this world. That then came in handy when annihilating the Roman army in the decisive Battle of Teutoburg in 9 AD.

During the first part of life, in fact, he served in the Roman army and even obtained admission to the equestrian order and gained Roman citizenship with the Latinized name of Gaius Julius Arminius.

He had therefore been considered completely civilized; without understanding instead that the "flame" of identity, still linked to its deep roots, was very much alive within his inner self.

A flame imbued with "Germanic spirit" that regained full force, in Hermann as well as others, when the arrogant and greedy Publius Quintilius Varus arrived as Roman Governor of those lands.

A governor who began accelerating the "Romanization" of those peoples.

And it was in these moments that Hermann decided to take action against the Romans, bringing
Publius Quintilius Varus, in 9 AD, to enter the Teutoburg Forest where thousands of Germans were waiting for him, ready to destroy his entire army.

A devastation with few equals throughout the history of Rome.

The "Romanization" imposed from above, the forced and unsolicited "civilization", had failed miserably.

In conclusion, therefore, it is possible to affirm that, if on the one hand the "unipolar rulers" have sometimes managed to subdue populations and different peoples, history teaches us that a light in the darkness remains always lit, ready to illuminate the entire darkness at the right moment.

Lights of the self and of society that remain lit for decades or centuries, without clues or particular signals but that still have the strength to suddenly release all their energy when the opportunity arises.

An energy that is never exhausted and is always able to recharge itself adequately.

And this is what keeps hope and the will to fight alive at all times.

Thank you for your attention.