Turn towards Tradition
by Aleksandr Dugin [5-23-2024 published].
President Putin's inauguration marks a new stage in Russia's history. Some of the lines from previous periods will surely have continuity. Some will reach a critical threshold. Others will back off. But something new must also come up.
I would like to draw attention to the ideological aspect, which can become a fundamental vector of Russia's future development in the international context.
In our fierce confrontation with the West, which is reeling on the brink of nuclear conflict and World War III, the problem of values is increasingly contrasted. Ukraine's war is not only a conflict of states with its rather rational national interests, but a clash of civilizations that fiercely defend their value systems.
Today we can affirm with all certainty that Russia has definitively opted for the defense of traditional values, and it is with them that he links the fundamental processes of strengthening his own civilizational identity and his geopolitical sovereignty. It is not simply a matter of interests other than separate entities within the same western-civilization, as until recently it was still possible to interpret, even if it were with exaggeration, the conflict between Russia and the collective West. It is now evident that two value systems have collided.
The modern collective West firmly defends:
- absolute individualism;
- LGBT * and gender policy;
- cosmopolitanism;
- a culture of cancellation;
- post-humanism;
- unrestricted migration;
- the destruction of all forms of identity;
- the critical theory of race (according to which previously oppressed peoples have every right to oppress their former oppressors in turn);
- the relativistic and nihilistic philosophy of postmodernism.
The West mercilessly censors its own history, prohibits books and works of art, and the US Congress is preparing to remove entire blocks of Scripture that allegedly offend certain groups of people on ethnic and religious grounds. Further, the development of digital technologies and neural networks has put on the agenda the transfer of the initiative to govern the world of humanity to artificial intelligence, and several Western authors already praise it as an incredible success and a moment of long-awaited uniqueness.
Faced with all this, Putin's Russia explicitly opposes a very different set of values, many of which are legislated in Decree No. 809 of November 9, 2022.
Russia strongly defends:
- collective identity versus individualism;
- patriotism versus cosmopolitanism;
- the healthy family against the legalization of perversions;
- religion versus nihilism, materialism and relativism;
- the human being against post-humanist experiments;
- organic identity against its erosion;
- the historical truth versus the culture of annulment.
There are two opposite orientations, moreover, two ideologies, antagonistic worldview systems. Russia chooses tradition; The West, by contrast, everything non-traditional and even anti-traditional.
This makes the conflict in Ukraine, where these two civilizations faced each other in a fierce and decisive battle, much more than just a conflict of interest. It is here, of course, but it is not the main thing. The main thing is that two models of further development of humanity have entered into confrontation: the liberal, globalist and anti-traditional path of the modern West or the alternative, multipolar and polycentric path, with the preservation of traditional tradition and values, for which Russia fights.
And here is the time to point out that the multipolar world, to which Russia proclaimed its loyalty during Putin's previous stage of government, only makes sense if we recognize that each pole, each civilization (today clearly represented in the BRICS) has the right to its own identity, its own tradition, its own value system. Multipolarity makes sense and is justified if we start from the plurality of existing cultures and recognize their right to preserve their identity and to develop on the basis of internal principles. This means that the poles of the multipolar world, unlike the globalist unipolar model, where western values dominate by default as universal values, they follow Russia's path to a greater or lesser extent, but only hiding in its traditional values, which are different each time.
We see it clearly in modern China. Not only does it reject globalism, liberalism, and global capitalism as dogma, while retaining many features of the socialist way of life, but increasingly resorts to the eternal values of Chinese culture, reviving Confucius' political and social ethics in a new turn, who inspired and ordered society for several millennia. It is no coincidence that one of the main theories of international relations in modern China is the ancient idea of Tianxia, in which China is thought to be at the center of the world system, with all the other nations surrounding the Celestial Empire on the periphery. China is its own absolute center, open to the world, but strictly keeping its sovereignty, uniqueness and identity.
Modern India (Bharat) is moving in the same direction, especially under the government of Narendra Modi. Also in this case it is dominated by a deep identity, the Hindutva, which rekindles the foundations of the ancient Vedic culture, religion, philosophy and social order.
The Islamic world rejects even more categorically the value system of the collective West, which is by no means compatible with Islamic laws, norms and attitudes. In this case, tradition is emphasized.
The peoples of Africa are moving in the same direction as embarking on a new round of decolonization, this time of consciousness, culture and the way of thinking. More and more African thinkers, politicians and personalities are returning to the roots of their indigenous cultures.
Latin America, too, is gradually discovering these new horizons of traditionalism, religion and cultural roots, increasingly coming into conflict with the policies of the United States and the collective West. And the specificity of Latin America is that for a long time the anti-colonial struggle was carried out predominantly under leftist slogans. Now the situation is changing: the left is discovering the traditional and conservative origins of its struggle (for example, in the Catholic-dominated « liberation theology ») and a conservative anti-colonial front is growing (for example, the « peoples' theology »).
But so far none of the civilizations oriented towards multipolarity and preferring tradition have entered into direct armed conflict with the West, except Russia. Many hesitate, waiting for the end of this dramatic confrontation. And while most of humanity potentially rejects the hegemony of the West and its value systems, no one other than us is willing to enter into a direct clash with it.
This gives Russia a unique opportunity to take the lead in the conservative world turn. The time has come to declare directly that Russia is at war with the claim of Western civilization of the universality of its values and fully defends tradition, both his own (Russian folklore, orthodox power) and that of everyone else. After all, in the case of the triumph of globalism and the preservation of Western hegemony, they are also threatened with imminent destruction.
All the civilizations in the world are conservative, this is their identity. And they are increasingly aware of it. Only the postmodern West has decided to radically break with its classical Christian roots and has begun to build a culture of degeneration, perversion, pathology and technical substitution of people for post-human organisms (from AI to cyborgs, chimeras and genetic engineering products). And in the West itself, a significant part of society rejects this path and is increasingly opposed to the course of the ruling postmodern liberal elites towards the definitive abolition of the cultural and historical identity of the western societies themselves.
In his new term as president, it would make perfect sense for Putin to proclaim defending tradition - in Russia and around the world, including the West itself - as his main ideological mission. Vladimir Putin is already the greatest leader in the eyes of all humanity, playing this role, heroically resisting Western hegemony. It is time to announce Russia's global mission to protect civilizations and their traditional values. Let's stop playing along with the West and use its strategies, terms, protocols, and criteria. Civilizing sovereignty is that each nation has the full right to accept and reject any external directive, to develop in its special way, regardless of whether someone from outside may be unhappy with it.
Thus, recently, on May 7, the British newspaper Mirror declared that nine words from President Putin's investiture speech were « a terrible threat to the West ». These words were: « Russia by itself and only by itself will determine its own destiny! ». That is, any allusion to sovereignty is perceived by the West as a declaration of war against it. Russia accepted it and is ready to support anyone who defends its sovereignty with the same firmness as it.
Of course, each civilization has its own traditional values. But today they are all being attacked by an aggressive, intolerant, deceitful and perverted civilization, which is waging an all-out war against any tradition, against tradition as such. In such a situation, Putin's Russia can openly declare itself carrying an inverse mission: to become an advocate of tradition and norm, of continuity and identity.
Before, in the 20th century, Russia's influence on the world rested mainly on the left-wing movement. But today it has gradually vanished, absorbed by liberalism or exhausted by itself (with few exceptions, and most of the time in alliance with conservative anti-colonial tendencies). Now it is worth betting on conservatives, supporters of civilizational identity. And so a new slogan is born: traditionalists from all countries, unite!
And we should not be ashamed or hide it. The more confidently we embark on this path, the faster and more reliably our influence in the world will grow. If we have chosen to focus on multipolarity, we must be consistent in this regard.
Everyone already sees Putin as the key figure in the conservative renaissance. It is time to openly proclaim it. Criticism from the West cannot be avoided under any circumstances, but now the decisive factors in relations with the West are different. And our allies - current and potential - will begin to support Russia with renewed vigor. After all, they will now be clear about our long-range goals and objectives. They will trust us and begin to build with us a just and balanced world in the interest of humanity without mistrust or hesitation.
WE HAVE LOST WESTERN, BUT WE HAVE DISCOVERED « THE REST »: DUGIN
Editor's Note:
Russian philosopher and political analyst Aleksander Dugin (Dugin), whom some Western media calls Putin's « brain », He is one of the most controversial academics in Russia and has now joined China's social media platforms, such as Sina Weibo and Bilibili, to seek broader and deeper communication with Chinese Internet users and academics.
Before the state visit to China by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yang Sheng, a Global Times (GT) journalist, was announced, he held an exclusive interview with Dugin in Moscow, in which he shared his views on relations between China and Russia and responded to some sharp and critical comments from Chinese Internet users about his opinions.
Some questions and answers have been edited for the sake of brevity and clarity.
GT: How do you foresee the result of President Putin's state visit to China and also the future of Sino-Russian relations?
Dugin: In diplomacy there are many things that have symbolic meaning. This is Putin's first visit abroad after his re-election and investiture. However, this visit is not unique. There is something else behind: the will to create a multipolar world.
China is not only a part of the western capitalist, liberal, economic and political system, but is already outside this system. China participates in it, is connected to it, but it is a totally independent pole, a sovereign and civilizational state. Therefore, there is no doubt that China represents that sovereign pole and pillar of the multipolar world order.
The other pillar is Russia. When these two pillars of a multipolar world meet and communicate, it is to show the will to continue building this multipolarity with the two most important instances of it. Today's world is no longer unipolar, so the hegemony of the western power has ended.
Thanks to this communication and cooperation between two poles or two pillars (China and Russia), the other countries and regions also want to join the « multipolar club », like India, the Islamic world, Africa and Latin America.
That does not mean that we are building or forging an alliance against someone. Now, if the West accepts multipolarity, it can participate in the construction of this multipolar world. But if the West continues to oppose the emergence of this multipolarity, we will be forced to fight this attempt, not against the West, but against hegemony.
We have already seen many times that when the West declares something it pursues, it presumes that there is the « rules-based world order ». But when it contradicts their interests, they simply change that position.
They invited China to the open world market, but when China began to gain an advantage, some western countries began to impose some protectionist measures against China. They change the rules to serve their own interests, because they are « the rules ».
Together, we want to defend ourselves against any attempt to destroy this multipolarity or to maintain the hegemony of any power in the world.
GT: How could Russia overcome all those difficulties and challenges that it has experienced in the past two years, since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2022? The western world has launched a series of sanctions against Russia, but last year we saw that, according to data published by the Russian government, the Russian economy registered GDP growth of around 3.6% in 2023.
Dugin: To answer your question, we have to investigate the different versions of the process of participation and globalization. You Chinese have a very special experience in that. They entered globalization as a country more or less behind in its development. And during and after the reforms, they have known how to use participation in globalization in their favor. They have taken advantage of all its positive aspects to save and reinforce the sovereignty and government of the Communist Party of China (CCP). This has guaranteed your country a certain stability.
The Russian experience of participation in globalization was quite different. First, we lost order. We lost our geopolitical system, including our control over Eastern Europe. We lost the countries of the Warsaw Pact and gave them to NATO. We accept Western values, Western systems, the type of Western constitution, and we lost the Soviet Union.
We also lost our industries, our economy, and our financial system. We lost everything during the 1990s. So they are two different experiences of the globalization process. China's style is better and it made rapid growth while preserving its own independence and sovereignty. The wisdom of Deng Xiaoping and the CCP is now clearly manifested throughout these decades.
Putin, when he came to power, began to restore this sovereignty of Russia step by step. He put sovereignty at the center of his politics. And when we were separated from the globalist western economy, we lost nothing. But we win because we were forced to self-will, even this will possibly make us lose some interest. And at the same time, we are not isolated and rediscover that we are not alone in this world.
There are many partners, such as China, the Islamic world, India, etc. We have also found out who is willing to cooperate with us. We have discovered that more and more countries are interested in participating in an economic partnership with Russia. We have discovered the other substitute for the West, like the countries of Africa and Latin America, so we have lost the West, but we have discovered « the rest ».
GT: You have recently opened your personal accounts on some Chinese social media platforms like Sina Weibo and Bilibili. Many Chinese Internet users follow him to see what he is going to say to the Chinese public. ¿Why have you done it and read the comments of Chinese Internet users?
Dugin: First of all, I have great respect for modern China and Chinese traditions. I wrote a book entitled The Yellow Dragon, totally dedicated to Chinese civilization from its beginnings to modern times. Now I am seeing the glory of the spirit, culture and philosophy of China. And that's the book of a lover and admirer of China.
Now I believe that we must further elaborate the philosophical basis of China-Russia friendship. The two countries are not only tactical partners, but constitute an alignment between two great civilizations, and to promote it, we need to understand each other better.
Our societies, cultures, civilizations and traditional values are very different. They are divergent and, in some elements, convergent. To promote a large-scale dialogue between two civilizations, I have decided to open accounts on social media in China and speak to the Chinese public, open the debate. In this, I am only expressing my opinion on what happens in Russia, what happens in the world, how the Russians see the importance of China and what principles should be put at the base of our future relations.
I started with a very friendly gesture and open to debate. But then a huge wave of debates came up, and to me this is amazing and surprising. I did not expect it.
Some people started using some excerpts from my previous views of the 1990s, when we lived in a totally different condition in Russia. Before Putin, the country was ruled by « the traitors of our civilization ». I considered [at that time] that China is entering globalization and is going to lose its sovereignty, and he will betray his traditional values in favor of global capitalism by betraying his socialist and communist ideas.
GT: So in the 1990s, you thought that China would change with globalization, and even that it would join the West to become a threat to Russia. But then he changed his mind because China also changed, and China's change surprised him, because he did not expect it, and then he became friends with China and again supported the Sino-Russian friendship. ¿That's right?
Dugin: Of course. Of course. The fact is, the change occurred about 25 years ago, so it was not a new change.
My opinions have changed because China has changed, the world has changed, Russia has changed, geopolitics has changed. And it is not correct to use my opinions taken out of context to attack me.
I finally changed my mind after visiting China beginning in the 2000s. I met with many Chinese intellectuals and we had serious and very fruitful discussions. Today, I have a totally different opinion, not only theoretically, but I am very involved in working to raise the lives of Chinese academic society. The more I know China, the more I admire it.
Source: https://www.globaltimes.cn
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