Italian historian Franco Cardini: The injustices of Gaza and the darkness of modernity

Italian thinker and writer Franco Cardini is one of the most prominent and prolific Italian thinkers and has nearly 200 books (Getty)

In the editorial he wrote last November 19 for his personal blog on the Internet, the Italian thinker Franco Cardini (born in 1940) mocked the Italian journalists who have been sharpening their pens since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip “to convince an audience that lacks critical thinking that Hamas represents “evil.” " in this world.

“This is nothing but propaganda,” says the Italian historian specializing in the Middle Ages, who noted in his book published last September, “The Incoherence of the West” (Laterza Publications, 2023), how the Western world did not move beyond the idea of ​​“absolute evil” and demonization of the enemy in the manner of medieval societies. (The Middle Ages), despite what he called “the illusion of secularization of the European peoples.”

Cardini, an expert in the history of the Crusades, argues that the West created many demons for itself in its contemporary history, beginning with Nazism, which, according to Reagan’s definition, constituted “absolute evil,” followed by the “Evil Empire,” represented by the Soviet Union, then “the origin of evil,” Islam, “so that these people may be compensated.” Today, with (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” he says in his book in a sarcastic tone.

The book "The Infatuation of the West" by the Italian thinker Franco Cardini (Al Jazeera)

"Totalitarian liberalism"

In his condensed 170-page edition, Franco Cardini explains that the concept of the greatest enemy or the absolute enemy in the existential sense is a well-established concept in the “Abrahamic religions that believe in one God” and its counterpart as an adversary in the Christian religion, “Satan.” The prominent Italian historian invoked the American notebook (from German origin) Hannah Arendt, who theorized the idea of ​​totalitarian regimes resorting to consolidating their power by inventing an enemy that they present as the first and last responsible for all evils. Cardini points out that the matter is not limited to what is historically known as totalitarian regimes only, “but the opposite, Western liberalism or what... It is believed to be the most democratic ideology of all the ideologies of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, capable of producing a new form of totalitarian thought, which appears as a glimpse of monistic thought.”

Cardini continues by stressing that "liberalism itself can be considered a form of totalitarianism."

Cardini did not stop at the example of the West’s demonization of its enemies as evidence of the futility of modernist thought and the international institutions that produced it and proved their total inability in the face of the massacres that Israel commits every day against the Palestinians. Rather, the author of “Journey from Italy to Jerusalem” expressed his position on the Israeli aggression against Gaza in the opening of his blog. On November 13, he invited Netanyahu to reflect on verses from the Book of Genesis, asking, “Is the Israeli prime minister able to understand them, or does he believe that he is more powerful than God?”

What is striking here is that Cardini did not invoke either “democracy” or “human rights” in expressing his position on the daily killings taking place in Palestine, but rather he exclusively invoked the Bible and the Gospel stories.

Thus, we find him in the editorial of his blog dated December 17, which he titled “O Lord, O Avenger, do not forget,” confirming that “there is an ongoing massacre that shows no signs of its end being near, and with it the media’s cover-up of the massacres and downplaying continue.” "It would, and look in the other direction, and play the policy of putting the ostrich's head in the dirt. They call it the war between Israel and Hamas, but it is a war that has claimed the lives of more than 20,000 innocent people, including a huge number of children."

The book "Andalusia" by the Italian thinker Franco Cardini (Al Jazeera)

Cardini, who prayed to God to support the innocents in Gaza, does not seem to believe in the usefulness of appealing to the institutions of the international system or invoking their lexicon. Rather, in his recently published book, he went on to criticize the roots of modernist thought, which originated the idea of ​​the “will to power,” including the “West” imposing its hegemony on the world. In general, this is because the Westerner - according to Cardini - is convinced that his values ​​are necessarily universal values, while “it is only a matter of the American dream of happiness that he turned into a right.”

In the introduction to his book, Cardini points the finger at the defects of modernist thought since its inception, stressing that “the will to power is what legislates the two pillars on which modernity is based: equality and justice, two pillars that, unfortunately, are nothing but two horses, each of them running in opposite directions, and thus the greater the equality, the lower the percentage of freedom.” The greater the freedom, the weaker the equality.”

In order to create a balance between the two parties, there must be a third pillar in the middle, according to the Italian historian, “and here the French Revolution proposes, with all humanity and utopia, brotherhood.”

Cardini continues, "But what appears to be that brotherhood does not endure if it is not supported by a metaphysical and transcendent justification, that is, with a divine source."

Here, Cardini stands at the most prominent paradox in modernist thought, which is that “the path of secularization closely linked to the concept of modernity was itself what neutralized any possibility of providing any reasonable justification of this kind.”

Let the will to power replace brotherhood and the desire for domination become the original concept accompanying modernity that brought colonialism, which is what Cardini says: Thousands of volumes may not be enough for us to enumerate its atrocities, along with the atrocities of economic colonialism and neocolonialism, to which today the institutions of the international system turn a blind eye.

Cardini not only criticizes the philosophical foundations of modernity, but also questions its epistemological (cognitive) tools, and as a specialist in history, he reminds us of the saying of the American historian David Landes, through which he calls on us to write history with all verbs attached to the letter “may,” which “benefits skepticism.”

Here, Cardini expands on the thesis of “history written by the victors” to the point that history in Europe, since the beginning of the modern era, has become a commodity paid for by financiers. “History is a profession,” says Cardini, “and whoever practices it needs to earn his living, and thus it requires the presence of customers.” ".

Franco Cardini's book "Europe and Islam... A History of Misunderstanding" (1999) (Al Jazeera)

Cardini continues, "Therefore, the historian looking for clients is usually found working for entities requesting his services known as sponsors or sponsors."

Here, the Italian historian discusses detailed examples from the history of France during the reign of Louis XIV, and confirms that the falsification of history continues to this day.

The matter is not only a matter of distorting the facts of the past, but rather distorting the current facts that are recorded by attaching them to misleading interpretations that would create false tables for history in the future.

Cardini links modernity to the individual materialistic tendency that exploded in Europe after the Church entered a stormy phase in the fourteenth century, which forced it to move the seat of the papacy from Rome to Avignon. There, “the Church needed a lot of money in order to run its affairs, so it was forced to resort to banks, borrowing, and mortgages.” Which led to the production of extremely wealthy elites.”

These elites opened the door to the Renaissance by financing artistic and scientific activities that accelerated between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This “revolutionary resort to borrowing, from which the Catholic Church removed the nightmare of being convicted of usury (...), prompted the unscrupulous to exploit the opportunities offered by financing. Thus, it opened the door to the Renaissance. Absolute states supported by financial resources open the doors of modernity to the world in the name of victorious individualism.”

In his talk about “modernity and victorious individualism,” Cardini did not neglect to highlight the processes of falsifying the religious character of colonial campaigns, pointing to the fact that the Christian religion was being subjected to decline or even distortion in Europe at a time when it was being used as a colonial pretext abroad, stressing that Europe during the colonial campaigns Freemasonry lodges (which the church condemns) were widespread there, in addition to the fact that European elites were fascinated at the time by satanic doctrines and the practice of magic of American and African origins.

Cardini stopped at the processes of defaming “monastic orders” through literature, starting with Voltaire and ending with writers from contemporary history, stressing that the spirit of modernity, on the other hand, is compatible with the colonial idea embodied today by the United States.

Here, Cardini notes that the United States, which is trying to present itself today as the heir to the Roman Empire, does not share anything in its political values ​​with the Roman Empire, but rather is an embodiment of materialistic modernist thought, and that it is not possible to talk about America and its areas of influence except as a company that has branches and representatives working for it in... The world, and that the “President - the American business owner” can only be viewed as a “Chairman of the Business Council.”

Here, Cardini warns against falling into the trap of imagining that the world is ruled by a hidden group that runs the universe in secrecy, because the matter is related to financial institutions, companies, and banks whose names and operating mechanisms we all know.

Italian historian and author Franco Cardini: The West is an invented concept, just like the East (Getty)

Cardini's book revolves around the fundamental idea that the West is an invented concept, just like the East, and that the West, modernity, and Europe are three names that are usually used as if they were synonyms, while we are faced with three discordant concepts from within. Rather, he went on to emphasize that the world currently contains more than one "West" outside. “The West,” and the modernity that was exported to the world has been transformed into “modernities” that are taking root everywhere through local agents of globalization.

All this at a time when we find today's European elites seeking to restore their authentic values ​​outside the tunnel of modernity.

Cardini closes his book optimistic about Europe’s ability to emerge from what he called the state of stunting it is experiencing, and to emerge “neither Eastern nor Western, exactly like the light of God described in the Qur’an.” With this, the great Italian historian concludes his work by referring to verse 35 of Surat An-Nur.

It is noteworthy that Franco Cardini is considered one of the most prominent and prolific Italian thinkers. He held many positions in universities and research centers in Italy and abroad, and cooperated over decades with the most important Italian newspapers.

Since 1971 to date, he has published more than 200 books, including “From East to West: Islam, Europe, and the United States” (2017), “Does Islam constitute a threat? No” (2016), and “The Hypocrisy of the West: Caliphate, Terror, and History.” " (2015), "Lawrence of Arabia" (2006), "The Invention of the West" (2004), "Europe and Islam... A History of Misunderstanding" (1999), "We and Islam" (1994), and "Jerusalem ..The Holy Land and Europe” (1987).

Source: Al Jazeera