If nationality be regarded as the sum of the facts, spiritual and intellectual, which mark off one nation from another, and freedom as the condition which allows those facts full scope and development, it will be seen that both the spiritual and intellectual fact, nationality, and the physical condition, freedom, enter into a proper definition of independence or nationhood. Freedom is a condition which can be lost and won and lost again; nationality is a life which, if once lost, can never be recovered. A nation is a stubborn thing, very hard to kill; but a dead nation does not come back to life, any more than a dead man. There will never again be a Ligurian nation, nor an Aztec nation, nor a Cornish nation. Irish nationality is an ancient spiritual tradition, and the Irish nation could not die as long as that tradition lived in the heart of one faithful man or woman. But had the last repositor of the Gaelic tradition, the last unconquered Gael, died, the Irish nation was no more. Any free state that might thereafter be erected in Ireland, whatever it might call itself, would certainly not be the historic Irish nation.
- Excerpt From: The Spiritual Nation, by Pádraig Pearse
How can one be a rebel today? How can one not! To exist is to defy all that threatens you. To be a rebel is not to accumulate a library of subversive books or to dream of fantastic conspiracies or of taking to the hills. It is to make yourself your own law. To find in yourself what counts. To make sure that you’re never “cured” of your youth. To prefer to put everyone up against the wall rather than to remain supine. To pillage in this age whatever can be converted to your law, without concern for appearance. By contrast, I would never dream of questioning the futility of seemingly lost struggles. Think of Patrick Pearse. I’ve also spoken of Solzhenitsyn, who personifies the magic sword of which Junger speaks, “the magic sword that makes tyrants tremble.” In this Solzhenitsyn is unique and inimitable. But he owed this power to someone who was less great than himself. To someone who should gives us cause to reflect. In “The Gulag Archipelago,” he tells the story of his “revelation.” In 1945, he was in a cell at Boutyrki Prison in Moscow, along with a dozen other prisoners, whose faces were emaciated and whose bodies broken. One of the prisoners, though, was different. He was an old White Guard colonel, Constantin Iassevitch. He had been imprisoned for his role in the Civil War. Solzhenitsyn says the colonel never spoke of his past, but in every facet of his attitude and behavior it was obvious that the struggle had never ended for him. Despite the chaos that reigned in the spirits of the other prisoners, he retained a clear, decisive view of the world around him. This disposition gave his body a presence, a flexibility, an energy that defied its years. He washed himself in freezing cold water each morning, while the other prisoners grew foul in their filth and lament. A year later, after being transferred to another Moscow prison, Solzhenitsyn learned that the colonel had been executed. “He had seen through the prison walls with eyes that remained perpetually young. . . . This indomitable loyalty to the cause he had fought had given him a very uncommon power.” In thinking of this episode, I tell myself that we can never be another Solzhenitsyn, but it’s within the reach of each of us to emulate the old White colonel.
- Taken from an interview with Dominique Venner.
“…a requirement of love, desire, work, discipline, enthusiasm and energy. {} Tell me what you give, I’ll tell you what you are. Work, in some small way… even quietly, but seriously. That, or shut up.”
April 25, 2010
On the 35th anniversary of Sergio Ramelli’s death a dozen people belonging to Blocco Studentesco Verona painted a mural in his memory on the street named after him. “We decided to conduct this action” – said Alessandro Gandini, head of Blocco Studentesco Verona – “in order to show that the memory of Sergio is still alive while ensuring that the students of Verona are aware of the vile anti-fascist aggression which caused his death and to ensure a similar event will never happen again.” While creating the mural the members of Blocco Studentesco were interrupted by the arrival of police. “Despite the fact the police were given notice of the commemorative action which was to take place 4 days before the anniversary of Sergio’s murder,” – indicated Marcello Ruffo, Caspound coordinator for the region of Veneto – “we were all taken to the police station for questioning, and had all materials seized in order to prevent completion of the mural.”
“They probably were informed of vandalism”, continued Gandini, “however, we could not have imagined that the authorities would have responded in a such heavy handed fashion against what was meant to be an act of remembrance, and we remain convinced that such sanction against the creation of this beautiful mural is nothing compared to Sergio’s sacrifice, ensuring there will be no more politically-motivated homicide”.
Blocco Studentesco militants have invited everybody to gather at Cutty Sark, 30 Via Poloni on Thursday 29th at 20.00 to then head to Via Ramelli in order to commemorate, like every year, Sergio’s death.
Life here on earth cannot be viewed as a coincidence. Moreover, it should not be regarded as something we can either accept or reject at will, nor as a reality that imposes itself on us, before which we can only remain passive, or display an attitude of obtuse resignation. Rather, what arises in some people is the sensation that earthly life is something to which, prior to our becoming terrestrial beings, we have committed ourselves, both as an adventure and as a mission or a chosen task, undertaking a whole set of problematic and tragic elements as well.
- Excerpt From: Etica Aria, by Julius Evola
