By: Dr Matevž Tomšič
The term awakening has become established in recent years as a general designation covering a whole spectrum of ideological currents of the so-called new left, from multiculturalism, radical feminism, and LGBT activism to eco-fundamentalism and similar movements. It also encompasses its concrete ideological products, such as the uncompromising struggle for “social justice”, the demand for “positive discrimination” (read: favouritism) of oppressed minorities, complete cultural relativism, and the imposition of the so-called green transition regardless of the consequences.
At its core lies resistance – if not outright hatred – towards the foundations of Western civilisation, towards its Judeo-Christian tradition, towards values related to family, nation, and faith, and towards its institutional arrangements (although the awakened eagerly exploit its fruits). Europeans or Westerners, who have created a society unmatched in human history in terms of freedom and prosperity, are imposed with some kind of “white guilt”, claiming that their progress was achieved at the expense of suppressing people in the non-Western world they colonised during their expansion. But the causal relationship is reversed: Europeans colonised the world because they were economically, scientifically, technologically, organisationally, and even (though politically correct guardians may turn this upside down) culturally superior at a given historical moment. Moreover, they were not the only ones engaged in conquest. They were just the most successful.
It is paradoxical that awakening is now widespread in developed Western societies. Its main strongholds are the media, academic sphere, cultural industry, and it is increasingly penetrating politics as well. Both the current American administration and the institutions of the European Union are strongly influenced by it. Those who advocate such ideas proclaim themselves as modern, progressive, enlightened. Conversely, those who oppose them are depicted as backward and outdated.
WE CAN SAY THAT AWAKENING IS SOME KIND OF CONTINUATION OF COMMUNISM BY OTHER MEANS. WHILE COMMUNISTS USED REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS, AWAKENERS ENGAGE IN SOCIAL ENGINEERING, MEANING THE INDOCTRINATION OF PEOPLE THROUGH THE DOMINATION OF EDUCATION, MEDIA, AND CULTURE.
However, awakening, both in its formi mentis and its mode of operation, is not a historical uniqueness. It has its predecessor in communist ideology. In contrast to communism, which emerged from the thoughts of the classical Marxists and emphasised the primacy of economic factors, it relies on neo-Marxism (or so-called cultural Marxism) and emphasises the importance of identities of individual (oppressed) social groups. But in both cases, it is a distinctly collectivist understanding of man, whose essence is almost entirely determined by belonging to a certain group. The individual’s character is determined by whether they are bourgeois or proletarian in communism or white or black in awakening. And both views of the world and people are distinctly Manichean. Some are always oppressors, others always victims. And this is not due to specific life circumstances, but due to membership in a certain collective. Therefore, guilt is not subjective but objective.
Both ideologies are messianic. They see society as full of injustices caused by some to others. Therefore, they want to carry out a radical social transformation: communism to abolish the capitalist system, awakening to abolish traditional values based on Christianity. Both lead to resistance to the achievements of Western civilisation. For example, Karl Marx at least acknowledged that Western capitalist organisation was the pinnacle of human society’s development at that time. His neo-Marxist successors deny this, as they see it as the source of practically all the world’s problems.
We can say that awakening is a kind of continuation of communism by other means. While communists used revolutionary violence to achieve their goals, awakeners engage in social engineering, meaning the indoctrination of people through the domination of education, media, and culture. But both are characterised by a tendency to systematically exclude all those who stand in the way of their agenda. Both are detrimental to the freedom and prosperity of people.