It is rather strange how we are today able to accept certain things, situations and actions when these are implemented by particular forces and powers but then are ourselves fervently and even violently contrary to these things, situations and actions when they are caused by other forces and powers.
The present capitalist system, known today as the globalized form of old capitalism, has in fact wonderfully yet dangerously succeeded in making us easily accept the particular attitudes and politics of certain powers. Yet at the same time, capitalism makes us vehemently oppose those other powers who advocate the same attitude and politics.
So many of us ran into the streets, screaming and shouting against the harassment of human rights and freedom of expression when these were violated by others! However, when Snowden and Assange so courageously and spectacularly exposed the naked Emperor, they were immediately labelled as criminals, hunted down by all powers and even face harsh punishment.
Anything goes as long as it is done in the name of Western democracy. Yet when Putin, another totalitarian oligarch, accused the oligarch Khodorkovsky and Berezovsky, the whole world rose up and the road towards another cold war began.
The Falkland Islands, Kosovo, Scotland, Gibraltar, Catalonia and even Malta were all granted the right to a referendum to be able to determine their future and their alliances, to be able to choose their own path. Yet on the other hand, Abkhazia, Ossetia, Crimea, Kurdistan and others, were not, they do not deserve the democratic right to vote.
NATO and the United States also usurped the exclusive right to uproot the Arab world and do with it what they please, especially since they forgot the damage they themselves caused there in the preceding centuries.
This damage is caused by not only claiming land but, in a profoundly tragic way, gave themselves the legal right to effectuate military attacks everywhere. The comic experience which happened in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and all land touched by Western capitalism is a tragedy.
Iraq was destroyed for having weapons which it did not possess. Syria is being destroyed for doing that which it didn't do. And now that we have ISIS - established by the West - cutting off heads, we are very patiently discussing what could be done whilst trying to understand them. What hypocrisy.
The United States created a situation for herself wherein, as stated by Chomsky, she holds the monopoly for the defence of her citizens and her alliances (even though at the same time she uses them as puppets and spies on them), and this defence goes beyond her frontiers. She gave herself the right to attack, invade, kill, accuse, arrest and torture of all those who are, according to her, capable of causing her damage. And everyone claps, including her alliances that she herself has spied on.
How do we not realize that Shakespeare and Gogol's grotesque stories were inspired by such happenings?
On the other hand, Putin also tried to do likewise. But no, Putin could not implement the same strategy. Further hypocrisy. Obviously, one must be careful. In no way do I want to justify any of Putin's actions. Today Russia forms an integral part of global capitalism in its old present state.
This global capitalism is determining the entire evolution or the destruction of humanity. Today our planet is in the hands of two majestic monsters. The fighting which occurs between themselves is a battle for territory and space, and for this they are ready to destroy any square centimetre of this planet without giving such destruction any thought. They are in fact ready to, without being dramatic, destroy it without batting an eyelid.
However, for today's article, it is not politics which interests me, not at all, yet I am trying to understand how the masses and the intelligentsia are ready to accept particular attitudes from one side and condemn the same attitude when it is espoused by another. The Putinesque atrocities, as well as the Obamesque ones, are crystal clear to all. The system of Old Capitalism gave birth to them. The Left has to quit its complacency and analyse this radically different and new situation.
The situation no longer involves the wrestling for power by two alternative socio-economic systems, as in the 20th century. Today we have two giants within the same system. Two giants who are today frustrated that no more territories and spaces are left for them to occupy. And so, the only way to occupy lands which are already occupied is to cause havoc and to dismantle whole territories, create new frontiers by means of new wars, and create confusion and civil war to enter triumphantly into the territory which is now in their hands and ready to be exploited.
I arrived at this thought when I was in Milan on academic work with Prof. Antonio Sparzani and Prof. Giuliano della Pergola. Obviously, I ended up at the Duomo, which, as everybody knows, is a fundamental centre for Christianity and the Catholic Church.
Instead of sacred and holy icons, I was confronted by erotic icons and financial adverts together with the golden calf of Moses dangling pathetically from the walls of the Cathedral, a centre of prayer and spirituality.
I was fascinated by the absolute neutrality of the supposedly faithful masses, of the lay powers and also of, obviously, the bought silence of the ecclesiastical authorities. This reminded me of when I was a student in the Soviet Union, of the constant commotion caused by the West when many Orthodox churches were nationalized and transformed into art museums, social clubs, artistic centres, artisan centres and even swimming pools.
The West was right. But I cannot comprehend how the West is silent today when it sees on holy territory, territories of spiritual reception, the installation of icons of financial conglomerates, of fashion, diamond watches and even mobile telephone technology.
And all this covers the sublime art which embellishes the Cathedral. Art which shows historical sufferance in the history of Christianity.
Can you hear me, please, Pope Francis? The only, or most effective mode to create a strong counterpoint against all this is to revive the value of Beauty.
Not fossilized beauty or kitsch, but the Beauty which is based on the premises which were experienced during the 20th century.
However, this must occur by once again looking at the sources of universal values to maybe wedge closer towards the archetype of the concept and to human values. We must return to prehistory for the Modern to achieve new meaning.
Article edited and translated by Nikki Petroni
Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci is the artistic director of the Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale which will be held between 13 November 2015 and 7 January 2016. APS is the main partner of the Mdina Biennale