Antonio Gramsci and ‘cancel culture’ in America

In the wake of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917, Communists throughout Europe believed Communism would quickly flourish throughout the world. Karl Marx had predicted that Communism was “scientifically” inevitable as a replacement of capitalism.  In the wake of a successful Proletariat (workers/employees) revolution in one major country, the Proletariat throughout the world would rise up and take control of the means of production. The successor to the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, established the “Communist International (Comintern)” to help further the spread of Communism throughout Europe. By the early 1920s, however, it became clear that Communism was not flourishing beyond the Soviet Union, and those Communists in Western Europe faced a conundrum.  Antonio Gramsci, who helped establish the Communist Party in Italy in the wake of the Bolshevik, came up with answers to the conundrum that eventually came to America and help explain modern Cancel Culture.

Gramsci was born in 1891 in Sardinia, Italy, and was imprisoned in 1926 for Communist agitation after World War I. In poor health due to an accident in his youth, Gramsci died in prison in 1937. During the decade Gramsci wrote about what has become known today as “cultural Marxism”. Gramsci’s explanation for the failure of Communism in Western Europe was the challenge of the strength of civil society and the institutions compared with Russian. In particular, Gramsci wrote about the importance of “cultural hegemony” in keeping the proletariat from overthrowing the bourgeoisie. According to Gramsci, the proletariat class was kept complacent in subordinationation to the bourgeoisie through “cultural hegemony”. Gramsci alleged that the dominant class established the history, language, stories, etc. of a people which helped maintain the dominance without the necessity of hard force.  

Gramsci’s prescription for dismantling the alleged cultural hegemony of the Bourgeoisie was through dismantling and subordinating the alleged dominant culture. This would come through promotion of alternate cultures to a new hegemony.  This would allow the proletariat class revolt to move forward unhindered and bring a Communist society. For success, this would require attacks on the cultural icons of society and a sustained demeaning of that culture. It would require a change language and accepted “common sense”. For example, the term “picking yourself up by your bootstraps” would be alleged to be part of the cultural hegemony to keep the proletariat complacent within the hegemonic system. Following the Marxist admonition “the present must control the past”, historical icons must be removed and replaced. This had happened in Russian, with the renaming of the iconic city St. Petersburg (temporarily Petrograd during WWI) with Leningrad and the murder of the entire extended royal family among many examples.  

Like Marx, Gramsci wrote that Christianity was a primary enemy of the Communist Revolution and the major pillar of the alleged cultural hegemony. The claims of absolute truth and submission to societal authority were a part. In particular, Christian admonitions of the importance of the nuclear family and the role of the father in the family were primary obstacles to the proletariat uprising.  Like Marx, Gramsci advocated attacking and demeaning Christianity, the nuclear family, and fatherhood (“Patriarchy”). Gramsci advocated infiltration of cultural Marxists in the media, entertainment, courts, and politics. He referred to this as going through “the robes” of society to dismantle the hegemonic culture.

Though Gramsci died in Prison in 1937, his prison notes were published in Europe in 1950 during the post-Word War II resurgence of European Communism. The writings were not translated and published in the US until the 1970s.  Interestingly, Joseph Buttigieg (Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg’s father), providing the primary translations and commentary of Gramsci.  Gramsci’s ideas of the alleged cultural hegemony helped spur the writings and ideas of the political left and higher education. Gramsci’s ideas permeated the progressive left, which steadily grew from the 1970s to the present. In relation to American society, Gramsci’s influence can be seen in the escalating demeaning of American history.  The demeaning of fatherhood and the nuclear family, with the demeaning and suppression of other Christian ideals.  Finally the demeaning of the founding fathers and cultural heroes of American society.

Gramsci brought what we now understand as cancel culture.  When the Mayor of Washington, DC sets up a task force to consider removing the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial,  and other such memorials, we can see the influence of Gramsci. When rioters tear down statues throughout America, destroying and defacing monuments to abolitionists, Lincoln, US Grant, and others, this is more about Gramsci than anti-racism. BLM and antifa, thoroughly influenced by Gramsci, were purposely following the admonition of Gramsci in tearing down every cultural icon to American society.  The many attacks on the Church, including burning Bibles in Portland, followed Gramsci.  BLM includes “disrupt the nuclear family” as a primary aim, following the direction of Gramsci. The riots (not peaceful protests) of the past three months are primarily about the influence of Gramsci’s overturning cultural hegemony to bring the Communist Revolution. It’s important to note that primary founder of BLM, Patricia Cullors, admitted in a 2015 interview that founders of BLM were “trained Marxists”, and following that ideology.

“Critical (race) theory” and “intersectionality” are also a part of cancel culture and tearing down of American founders and heroes. Any cultural icon with “dominant” characteristics (white, male, heterosexual, Christian) becomes automatically suspect. Based on our national demographics of the founding generations almost all become stigmatized as racists, abolitionist or not. This is part of the tearing down of the hegemony.

Americans can agree that racism is wrong, and yet reject cancel culture brought by Gramsci. Antonio Gramsci’s ideas should not be bulldozing America through the claim of anti-racism or anti-fascism and American leaders need to speak out now. The silencing and stigmatizing of conservatives is wrong and influenced by Gramsci more than anything else. Most Americans remain Christian, believe the nuclear family is important, and love our founding fathers and cultural icons, which includes Martin Luther King Jr.  Americans love our freedom and liberty, including economic liberty, which would be extinguished with Communism. Antonia Gramsci and cancel culture are the enemy of the American Constitutional system and it is time these ideas are exposed, rejected, and never tolerated again.

Greek-Turkish rivalry again near the boiling point

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

                  Almost daily, Greek and Turkish aircraft and ships fight mock battles over disputed oil and gas rights in the eastern Mediterranean.












                  Since the loss of much of the Christian Balkans to the Ottomans in the 15th century, Greece and what would later become modern Turkey have been rivals, outright enemies and often at war.












                  Mutual NATO membership and shared Cold War fears of Soviet Russia did not stop the two from almost going to war after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
















                  Still, the current escalation seems weird. Most territorial claims and disputes over borders were settled almost a century ago, and the two countries have had mass population exchanges.












                  Why, then, does the divide still run so deep?














                  Turkey is a Muslim country and was once the Ottoman Empire that ruled much of the Islamic world. Greece is still surrounded by Muslim countries.




























                  Turks are quick to remind everyone that from the late 15th century to the early 19th century, most of Greece and the Aegean Islands belonged to the Ottoman Empire.












                  Greeks note that Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, was the capital of Christendom for 1,000 years and the center of the vast Byzantine Empire, where Greek was widely spoken.












                  In modern times, after the bitterness over the Cyprus crisis of 1974 and years of socialist governments, Greece was vehemently anti-American despite shared Western traditions.









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                  In contrast, Turkey once prided itself on its secular customs institutionalized by its first modern, pro-Western president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. His successors until recently were pro-American autocrats.










                  Now, geostrategic relations have flipped. Both nations remain NATO members, but Greece, not Turkey, is also a member of the European Union. Turkish northern Cyprus is largely considered a rogue territory, while democratic Greek Cyprus is an EU member.

                  Moreover, Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become an increasingly Islamic state, often hostile to the U.S. It likes to leverage its NATO membership to advance its new Middle East agendas.

                  It is Turkey, not Greece, that has been acting provocatively on the world stage. It recently refashioned the iconic Hagia Sophia cathedral, built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the sixth century — long one of the most iconic churches of the Christian world — from a museum into a mosque.

                  Turkey is often engaged with Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the Iranian theocracy in Middle Eastern intrigue. It opposes French efforts to calm Libya.

                  Turkey has compromised NATO weapons systems thanks to its new arms relationships with Russia.

                  Turkey is more likely than Greece to threaten force to advance its oil and gas claims. And it hints that dozens of Greek islands off the Turkish coast — Greek since pre-antiquity — may soon be targeted. Most neutral diplomats and legal scholars say Greece has the more sound legal claim over the disputed, oil-rich waters.

                  Today, the ancient rivalry might seem an uneven match.

                  Greece is a tiny country of less than 11 million people. Turkey is a country of some 82 million people and has far more jet fighters than Greece and a much larger army.

                  Yet by many accounts, Greek pilots are among the best in the world. Greece’s smaller navy is far more effective than Turkey’s.

                  And while U.S. President Donald Trump has reached out to Mr. Erdogan, his administration has also been among the most pro-Greek in years, forging a number of military and weapons pacts. For all the talk of American withdrawal, the Sixth Fleet remains the most powerful in the Mediterranean.

                  The past policies of the Obama administration — tilting toward Turkey, inviting Vladimir Putin into Syria, favoring Iran in the Middle East — have only muddied the Mediterranean waters.

                  Most Americans sympathize with underdog Greece. Many have close cultural and ethnic ties with Greece, Israel and Armenia, non-Muslim countries surrounded by Islamic nations. All three nations, at one time or another, have been bullied by Turkey.

                  Most NATO members, especially France, also favor Greece. Traditionally pro-Turkish Germany has tried to meditate — but clumsily so. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is now more hostile to the Trump administration than it is to Putin’s Russia, its new partner in a huge natural gas deal.

                  Mrs. Merkel prompted a flood of millions of African and Asian migrants into Turkey and Greece by promising them eventual refuge and amnesty in northern Europe. The massive refugee camps have spiked tensions along the Greek-Turkish border.

                  The paranoid Turkish government is now wracked by fissures after a failed 2016 coup. Greece is a stable European democracy.

                  Add up all the contorted rivalries, histories, and overlapping alliances and loyalties, and the dispute may seem irrational, if not silly. It likely would only end in a stalemate, an economic catastrophe, the near destruction of NATO’s southern flank, and the eventual intercession of the U.S. to warn Turkey to cease aggression.

                  But reason has seldom stopped the outbreak of war — the stuff of ancient passions, bitter history and ethnic and religious frenzy.

                  <em>• Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, is the author, most recently, of “The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.” You can reach him by e-mailing authorvictorhanson.com.</em>







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Cardinal calls for resettlement of asylum-seekers from Greek island

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Hours after a fire or fires sent thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing their tents and makeshift container homes at the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, a close aide to Pope Francis called for the permanent resettlement of all the residents.

“Since the time of the visit of the Holy Father (in 2016), we have been asking them to empty these concentration camps, but they let us take only the small groups that we have brought to Italy at the Vatican’s expense in collaboration with the Community of Sant’Egidio,” said Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner.

Asked about the fire, the cardinal, who has visited the Moria camp several times and accompanied small groups of asylum-seekers to Rome, told Catholic News Service that “sooner or later it was bound to happen.”

“The refugees who entered Europe” by arriving in Greece, but have been stuck in overcrowded camps there, “are at the limit of supporting such an inhuman situation,” the cardinal said. “It’s like their hope is being killed.”

While government officials said they were investigating the cause of the fire, the Greek news agency ANA said it broke out “at 2 a.m. after clashes began when some of the 35 refugees who tested positive for COVID-19 refused to move into isolation with their families.”

The Moria camp was built to house just over 2,000 asylum-seekers, but according to the U.N. Refugee Agency, when the fire broke out, the camp housed more than 12,000 asylum-seekers, “including more than 4,000 children as well as other vulnerable groups, including 407 unaccompanied children, pregnant women and elderly people.”

While many were given shelter in portable containers, thousands of others lived in tents on a hillside olive grove.

Daniela Pompei, who coordinates the refugee-resettlement program of the Sant’Egidio Community, told CNS Sept. 9 that she had been in contact that morning with many of the asylum-seekers at the camp.

“The situation is dramatic,” she said. “Our refugee friends in Moria are desperate” as most of the 12,000 people who were in the camp are now on the road leading to the sea. Local media were reporting that the Greek police and nearby residents were preventing the asylum seekers from moving into town.

Pompei said it is necessary to find immediate housing at least for the families with children and other vulnerable people and to feed all of them.

“They must set up structures quickly with military tents or use hotels if possible,” she said. “But even more importantly, they must transfer people to the mainland.”

As Pope Francis has said repeatedly, as part of the European Union, Greece — and Italy and Malta as well — cannot be expected to enforce Europe’s borders and its refugee policies alone.

Other nations must “accept the transfer of family groups and unaccompanied minors,” Pompei said. “It is necessary to help Greece and, particularly, to help the asylum seekers who are mainly Syrians, Afghans, Congolese and Cameroonians.”

Copyright ©2020 Catholic News Service / U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Send questions about this site to cns@catholicnews.com

Global missionary efforts have taken a hit in the time of coronavirus

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a world marked by religious persecution and mounting secularism, being a missionary priest has never been easy.

Add closed frontiers and social distancing caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the already tough job may seem impossible. But according to one missionary, Salesian priest Martin Lasarte, there is opportunity beyond the challenges.

“Being a missionary priest has always been hard, and it will forever be,” Lasarte told reporters during an online meeting Monday (Sept. 7).

“But in the various dark moments in history, the Lord always found a way,” he added.

Lasarte, who has been working as a missionary in Angola since the 1990s, is a member of the Department for Missions at the Salesian General House in Rome. He trains and prepares Catholic missionaries to travel all over the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a “large reduction” in the realm of missionary work, aggravating an ongoing decline in the number of vocations and priests seeking to become missionaries. But while Catholicism may be waning in many Western countries, new communities are emerging in other parts of the world, especially in the Eastern Hemisphere, Lasarte said.

The Rev. Martin Lasarte. Photo via Salesians.org

“When it seems that the light is about to fade in some places, faith emerges once again somewhere else,” he said.

Korea, India and Vietnam have witnessed a significant surge in the number of Catholic faithful, the missionary said. But even in Asia, missionary work faces mounting challenges; he noted China’s authoritarian hold on the life of the faithful within its borders.

“In the past few years the situation in China has gotten much worse,” Lasarte said, adding that Beijing “looks at Catholicism and human rights with a certain preoccupation.”

China has been facing consistent criticism and outcry due to its treatment of religious minorities. Starting in 2009, the country forced over a million Uighur Muslims into mass detention camps, where there have been numerous reports of human rights violations.

Lasarte’s comments on religious persecution in China come at a time when Pope Francis and the Vatican are attempting to broker a deal with the up-and-coming superpower in an attempt to reconcile decade-long tensions.

The upcoming deal has come under fire from those who fear that the Catholic Church will, in the name of diplomacy, be unwilling to hold China accountable for its actions.

RELATED: Vatican’s China deal may protect Chinese Catholics, keep Pope Francis silent

In his experience as a missionary in Angola, Lasarte pointed out “the new colonization of China in Africa,” which has been occurring economically and politically in the country amid what he called “the silence of the world, the silence of Europe especially.”

It’s in Europe that Lasarte finds “the most preoccupying areas.” Once the home of missionary zeal and hot-blooded Catholics, the Old Continent has become residence to a tepid and secularized faith, with dwindling vocations and empty pews, said the missionary.

With more than 2 million cases of the coronavirus and almost 200,000 COVID-19 related deaths, Europe has been dealt a heavy blow by the pandemic — and so has its faith. Churches, confessionals and many sacraments were banned during the months of lockdown in many European countries.

Speaking to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich said the pandemic set the Catholic Church back a decade in terms of faithful numbers and religious culture. The archbishop of Luxembourg said that Catholics in his own country “will be reduced in number” once they find that “life is very comfortable” without having to go to church.

According to Lasarte, the COVID-19 pandemic “has purified the church,” separating those who were “culture Catholics” attending Mass out of inertia from those who cannot live without it. The answer, according to the missionary, is not in demographics.

“We don’t have to seek large numbers,” he said, “but the authenticity of the gospel.”

Like many priests coming to terms with the declining state of religion in the west, Lasarte finds comfort in the “few, but good” approach.

This is the not the first time the Catholic priest attempted to switch the narrative amid a global crisis. In 2017, he wrote a letter to The New York Times that, while commending the publication for shedding light on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, asked that reporters also take an interest in the positive work done by priests and laypeople.

He was also invited by Pope Francis to attend the 2019 summit of bishops on the Amazon region at the Vatican, focused on promoting the sustainable development of its inhabitants and their habitat, where he experienced the profound divisions underscoring the Catholic Church firsthand.

At the time, Lasarte accused bishops of clericalism and losing sight of the real needs of the faithful. Today, Salesian missionaries are hard at work trying to cure and prevent the spread of COVID-19 among Indigenous peoples.

Despite challenges from within and without, the missionary continues to have faith that even in reduced numbers “Catholics can be a significant minority.”

“Christianity still has a future,” he said.