Demosthenes Davvetas

My article, which was published in Elefteros Typos today at 23 October
The revolution of Traditions

Since a year ago, in regular time intervals, apublished ever increasing number of people, is protesting in French cities, under the name, “Protest for Everyone”. It is a diverse congregation of people, particularly strong and fighting, despite the hard policing methods of dealing with them, by the socialist government. Main demand of this movement is the defense of eternal cultural values, among which are the concept of family and the nation. As their opponents they point to the progressives who call them ‘extremists’, ‘religious fanatics’ and other names in the same spirit. However, the main claim of this conscious crowd is not either party oriented, or political ideology. It is above all the need to avoid dispersing the society nucleuses such as society. For them progress is not connected to dispersive of values. It is not an annihilating totalitarianism. Does not mean indifferent neutrality as boundaries of the either silent or loud condemn of historical, cultural, religious or national symbolisms. It is barbarically unjust, to watch young and grown men and women of different political and cultural origins to demand the maintenance of old values and for that to be called, scotadists, reactionaries, conservative. The communist skepticism, at the border of an all out merchandising, leads society, in a ‘progressive’ decline, like the one we live in today, with the youth deprived of proper education, and citizens deprived of culturally. The “progress” of “relativeness” drives to value nihilism. The “Protest for Everyone” is a quiet resistance against this nihilism. It attempts to guard basic human values. “We abandon nothing” shouts the crowd, and their decisiveness is obvious. It is a post modern social movement where evolution and traditional values must be in synergy and not in conflict. This movement does want to lose institutional foundations of civilization, does not want the dismantling of family and nation. It believes in their roots and not in the nomadic way or to the abolition of borders. Although they are not supported by the official political parties, in fear that they might be called “politically anorthodox”, they are however expressing the agony of citizens’ identity questions. The identity issue as an existence question is therefore entering the movement as a main issue. Who are we culturally speaking? Where are we going to? How we survive the heat of globalization? Those are amongst others the main questions/issues of this revolution of tradition, which slowly and steadily paves its own way without help or guidance from the official political parties. Without the assistance of the political elite and the media, this crowd enforces its silent resistance against the bulldozing of an ill perceived communist progressiveness.
Demosthenes Davvetas

“Marx and Allah”

The jihadists in Kurdish Kompani, keep on going despite the US airstrikes. They are not afraid. At the same time through the disclosures of hostage decapitations, they utilize internet and media to transfer a sense of fear to Western world that is discovering that Islam proclaimed war against them. The original notion that these barbaric actions of the jihadists
Were isolated occurrences was abandoned so now European and US newspapers deal with the issue on their cover pages. By taking a look at the Islamist geographical map it depicts that as many as 15 jihadist units are corroborating in their respective locations and act murderously in the name of Allah. Kill and torture in his name. How did we get to this? How hate threatens logic? So far this phenomenon was dealt with utilizing Marxist analyses such as “all religions as peoples’ opium are violent in their initiation”, “Islam hasn’t progressed as it should have”, although numerous efforts took place decades ago, or even that “those countries populous is poor”, so the economic degradation leads to fanatics. In particular the last arguments that are based on poverty as cause for extremism or rejection leading to terrorism, could have been accepted if the jihadist main core was young abandoned poor illiterates, deprived, something reminiscent of modern Muzhiks. But they are not. Most of them, the Islam’s leadership are university students in their countries, (usually born in a Western country) and quite capable of utilizing with dexterity the secrets of communication, mass psychology, IT, and strategy. Their hits are characterized by precision and tactical methods. This realization upsets all the Marxist oriented socializing analyses of the economic factor and points as cause of this barbaric behavior, spiritual, cultural and religion issues. They are possessed by religious fanatism. When in their declaration that they are the only faithful ones and whoever is different is an infidel and as such they should suffer and eliminated, then hate becomes a theological issue. Which is actually the opposite of the Love that Islam preaches? This lack of love, is lack of love to fellow humans and themselves as well. It is hate to fellow humans and to their own shelves. It is an externalized indifference towards history and civilization. It is lack of self respect that mathematically leads to self destruction

“Politics and reality”

If something was lost in the political life of this country, mainly since 1981 onwards, is its equilibrium relevance to reality. The crisis we are going through in the last years is the epitome of this unbalance. The political lie that citizens so often refer to, is the result of the growing distance from what is called reality and of that that we got accustomed to call reality.
Amongst the necessary measures that have to be taken by Politics and those that have been taken, the lying dynamic often barred useful decision condemning government action to oblivion. This, as a direct result of the Politics being occupied, in party tactics, personal and ideological bubbles, instead of focusing on the true reality that the country needs.
The demystification of the lies and hypocrisies are common symptoms of a problem, whereas the “proper” or “political correct” replaced the truthiness of real.
And is exactly the above attitude that drove the degradation of school education, increase in youth violence, devaluation of values and finally apathy. The educational and economic dead ends, lack of values in youth, the relativity of all values, constant diminishing of stereotypes, that with constant violence destroys the archetypes, which we so badly need as points of reference, lead to ever growing chasm between citizens and Politics. Someone listening the day to day life, listening to the majority of politicians speaking, will realize that political words lost their value. As if everyone lives in a different reality within their own country.
Many will argue that responsibility lies to every government so far. There is a truth in that, although generalizations burry noticeable exceptions. Once more I have to make a point that responsibility rest as much an the opposition parties as well. If you always are negative, by definition, you disagree to everything a government does, you never admit to a single issue which is abnormal, and then you carry the responsibility of blocking any positive undertaking. I would even dare say that opposition parties’ role in destroying our political culture is vast. That has to stop too and politics to regain its proper and honest relationship with reality. Against the stress experienced by the youth (no jobs, no cultural points of reference) lining in a mutated by the crisis society, who incur the laws of globalization as if they are the disinherited victims of worldwide commercialization, against those who lost faith in both present and future, we need a new political language from both ends of the political spectrum. New faces are needed without the twisted conception of everyday reality. Quite the opposite, the new faces need a balanced relation so the words and actions of citizens and politicians will mean exactly the same thing. Only then the politic will receive the podium it deserves, the one it had on its birth time, as expressed by Aristotle. The ability of perfect equilibrium between speech, wish and action.
Demosthenes Davvetas
University Professor, artist, poet
Advisor to the Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, on culture

 THE COMPETION OF AMNISIAC IDENTITY.
The subject of freedom, a very precious and desired, for humanity, became an issue of contradiction among the right and left wing idealisms.
The right wing places its emphasis from within the its philosophical structure that is named liberalism. It’s a spherical perception of life, which touches the aesthetic, ideology, economy, morality and in general whatever issue concerns the human liberation.
Primary target of liberalism is the development of personality, and self knowledge of the human being, through competition and constant invention. Thus the human is able to acquire the conscience of a creative freedom, which composes tradition and ingenuity in everyday life and way of thinking.
The left wing commences from the philosophy of “distrust” against traditions, and anything in regard to national issues and given points of cultural reference. Believing as well in innovation and breakthroughs, the left in the name of revolution denies values that are considered conservative and identifies progress and evolution with the breaking of the conservative and traditional past.
The meaning of freedom for the left is this constant confrontation with the conservative past. Both the left and the liberal element are derivatives of modern thought, the modernism.I could argue that among other issues two philosophical backgrounds.
First one is Nitse’s “hammer” philosophy, breaking traditions. Far from the philosopher’s indent they adopted his theory, both the barbaric right extremists and the social populistic left extremists.
Second one is Hegel’s dialectic for the state –also far from the philosopher’s indent – that the Marxist communism and fascism are based upon.
As long the capitalist right remained within the boundaries of constant innovative supply (for survival reasons), the anti-conservative left, proclaimed a post modern nihilistic interpretation of Nitse, coming in contrast of the Western civilization’s basic values.
By deducing from Western civilization the cultural references (classic Hellenistic education, Enlightment, Bible) the reference points are diminished and freedom from creation becomes egotism in anarchy, individualism in anarchy, and cynical relevance of all moral values.
Western society is a composition of ideas from Russo, Kant’s morals and the Stoics, under the ever watching spirit of its creators, Plato and Aristotle.
If you put everything in relevance claiming all is point of view and that there are not standard values, then you easily provide grounds in the barbarous nationalism or the fanatic theocracy with the known crimes or even to the fascist communal where every society competes with perseverance of their “truth” to the other societies, in the most vulgar way.
After the totalitarianism during WWII, today we we are subject in another of totalitarianism, the one of forced differential and forced relevance.
In the name of difference, the multiplism and variety, all of which were promoted as countermeasure for nationalistic extremism, the indifference of neutrality and the amnesiac identity were born.
These age merciless and destroy people’s identity menories.
The multiculturalism and the relevance of values suggested by the modern left wing it exacerbates rather than solves the identity issues.
Exacerbation is weakness. Modern society as depicted by Russo is based on Society’s Contract. That includes all citizens, maintaining their differentiality but at the same time including them in society’s general identity. Thus everybody and everything are treated with the isometric analogy and space required based on the law, civil rights and obligations.
However we should not confuse the equal (analog) spacing, with the relevance of everything that leads to denial of everything in the name of so called progress.
Freedom does mean constant relevance but a creative bridge of delivering and innovating values of the past with the foster leadership of present and future.
Freedom is not nihilism, where the modern leftist are threaten to drive society

Demosthenes Davvetas
University Professor, artist, poet
Advisor to the Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, on culture.