John Morris-Brown - 20 February 2022
Home · Kesselbourg · The Continent · The World · Policy · Opinion · Features · Newsletters · Continental Pro
Etrurian nationalism and a 20th century mystic
The emerging religious ultranationalism in Etruria poses significant threats to its own democracy and abroad
The event itself was surprisingly and relatively enjoyable, I discovered I was invited via a former colleague of mine who worked at the University of Morwall, who knew I specialised in the study of populist politics and nationalism and thought I would find interesting the work of this unknown think tank. The Saint Alessia Institute’s speakers included Leonardo Frederico Fioravanti, Giorgio Kocar and perhaps most surprising, Solariano Urbano Ricordati, the Archbishop of Schiuntrave, a deeply controversial Catholic bishop who is rumoured to be the confessor to President Francesco Carcaterra. Their words and speeches proffered a litany of grievances against the liberal-left, conspiracy theories about the replacement of white Euclea, the anti-nation state agenda and the unbridled degeneracy of modern day Eastern Euclea – rather run of the mill Tribune talking points. However, what followed these now dull points was the referencing of Saint Alessia herself and how the messages she received from Sotirias constitute the basis of an Etrurian ultranationalism, and the influences policy makers can draw from Etruria’s First Republic – nationalism, parliamentarianism, republicanism and ultra-majoritarianism. Beyond the Tribune grievance hymn sheet, what was being presented as a framework or a layout for the Etruria steadily being built by the Tribune Movement.
First, I would like to stress that after some research together with friends in Etruria it was revealed that the Saint Alessia Institute for Political Studies was founded in 2019, a year after the 2018 federal election. Based out of Solaria, the think tank reportedly has 80 staff and is chaired by Leonardo Fioravanti, a personal friend of President Carcaterra and a well known far-right academic. The SAIPS received €35 million in funding from the Federal Ministry for Education and Skills as an endowment, it is also contracted to provide “strategic and electoral research” for the Tribune Movement’s Federal Executive. It has no discernible link to any academic institution but does boast direct links to the highest levels of Etrurian government. According to its website, it works closely with the “Institute of Saint Pope Julius III” and the “Association for Ecumenical Integration” two Etruria-based Catholic think tanks boasting senior clergymen as writers and polemicists. The AEI for example, regularly calls for the dissolution of the EC and for a replacement bloc consisting of Gaullica, Etruria and Paretia.
“I bear a special love for Etruria, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.” – diary of Saint Alessia Maria Fiorelli (1937)
The wealth of material accessible enables for the compilation of works and the construction of this dogma being produced by far-right thinkers and pro-Tribune figures within the Catholic Church, a dogma that does indeed pose a serious threat to liberal democracy, plurality and civil liberties. The dogma also poses the threat of ultranationalism once again finding purchase within Etruria and its society.
This ultranationalism within works done by these groups appears anchored entirely upon one segment of the diary of Saint Alessia Maria Fiorelli; diary entry no.164: “I bear a special love for Etruria, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.” This message from Jesus Sotirias to the Etrurian nun proclaims that if Etruria serves God, the final coming of Jesus shall begin in Etruria, the home of Tibernium and the Papacy, it elevates Etruria in the eyes of the beholder to exceptional status in relation to Sotirias and faith. Archbishop Ricordati in a thesis published by the SAIPS in 2020 wrote, “Etruria possesses an exceptionalism not rooted in temporal thinking but in the words of the holy, we possess an innate and deep-rooted connection to Heaven and God that guarantees our glory and might, a reality we have become blinded to through decades of secularism and progressivism.” Fioravanti who is a regular on the subjugated public broadcaster ARE said last month, “I would never take much notice of criticism or opinion from foreigners on our country, ours is God’s chosen. We are his chosen people, our soil is drenched in the blood of the martyr saints, we are the spring that brought forth civilisation and Sotirianity to this continent.” ARE besides hosting a ceaseless stream of far-right talking heads also promotes “love of fatherland” in its everyday programming, this is the same for the relatively pro-Tribune RepubblicaTV, while Etrurian social media is awash with nationalistic myths and stories peddled by Tribune funded algorithms and bot accounts. Nationalism is finding considerable purchase in Etruria once more, as evidenced by the swift embrace of conspiracy theories against the Arthasthan-based ‘Etrurian Subsection’ of how it was plotting a coup and ran sex rings of pressganged Etrurian girls and women. Casual racism and xenophobia against non-white people is rising are breath-taking levels, while even casual racism toward other Eucleans is notably on the rise.
Etrurian nationalism is also feeding into support for the authoritarian approach of the Tribune government to its rivals and critics. The “Religious Liberty Law” for example is supported by 52% of Etrurians and has enabled the government to shutter the pro-choice movement (before lifting the ban as a ploy to deter mass protests), but also the sole atheist NGO. The RLL controversially in its wording could allow for the shuttering of the Social Democratic Party and the centrist Citizens’ due to their support in overturning the ban on abortion. Many Etrurians see the RLL as a means of “re-Etrurianising Etruria” and provides the clearest example of Etrurian nationalism is being morphed and conjoined with Catholicism as another identity. 55% of Etrurians believe that the country is the “most Catholic of nations” and 58% believe that “Etruria should provide leadership for Sotirians worldwide.”
This nationalism also feeds into the formulation of a supposed “sacred mission.” Much like the First Republic saw its “sacred duty” as the liberating of Catholics from the “Cult of the Sinner’s Womb” (monarchism) and waging ‘liberation crusades’ to form a unified Ecumenical Republic, the Tribunes today see their mission as to “defend Euclea from the extremes of the nihilist left.” Ricordati, Fioravanti and Kocar all argued that “Etruria can serve as an organiser and inspiration for the Euclean patriotic right.” The exporting of Tribune ideals has found success in Paretia through the Patron League, now the pressure grows to do so elsewhere in Eastern Euclea to “defend Euclean civilisation and Sotirianity.” This poses problems for the EC establishment and the incumbent centre-left governments that dominate its member states.
“A Republic that forgoes the virtue and moral will surely embrace the decadent. Its columns and walls shall crumble and soon enough, find the roof upon its denizens’ heads” – Francesco Cassio Cacciarelli, First Citizen of the Republic (1790)
Tribune opposition to progressive politics and social trends within Euclea are well documented, but they also find purchase among Etruria’s clergy, who are generally regarded as more conservative within the global Catholic Church. Whereas other far-right movements hold relatively simplistic views on opposing gay and trans rights, immigration and women’s rights, in Etruria all are rooted within Catholic teaching or “Sotirian values.” Cynics claim the Tribunes oppose abortion and gay rights based on Etruria’s demographic decline, this is simplistic as it is incorrect. For over a decade Tribune politicians have denounced this social trends as a the “vehicle to moral collapse.” The legacy of the First Republic also plays a role within the Etrurian right, insofar that a Republic that is moralistic, virtuous, and faithful is one that is more cohesive, democratic and unified. The Tribunes amplify this to such a degree that gay rights not only threaten “traditional family values” but endangers the Republic itself, for a debauched, decadent Republic is one destined for collapse – read the Third Republic (1948-1960). This in turn explains the inherent anti-plurality of Tribune governance, the less voices there are advocating and defending these social trends, the threat to social cohesion and ostensibly the Republic itself are mitigated.
The Tribunes’ weaponization of terms like democracy and the Republic frustrate their left-wing critics profoundly, many see it as a trolling of democrats owing to their backsliding, gerrymandering and thuggish behaviour, but in Etruria it is not so. The Tribunes genuinely believe that they are defending Etrurian democracy, which they claim before 2016 was crumbling under the weight of degeneracy, anti-religion and corrupt policies. The Tribunes are in fact resurrecting the First Republic’s view of democracy and elections as the source of power for a highly centralised, powerful and authoritarian state the delivers on its promises for its supporters, defends the nation and upholds Etruria’s exceptional status within the eyes of God. The First Republic’s response to those who did not vote for them in the often vibrant, yet colossally chaotic elections was to throw them into the sea, burn them at the stake or behead them, the Tribunes will not be doing this of course. Instead, they rely upon the sheer weight of the federal government to berate and bully. It is a holdover of the First Republic’s approach to majoritarian politics, in many ways what we are seeing in Etruria through the rapid federalisation of powers, institutional capture and backsliding is the construction of a totalitarian democracy, best exemplified by Interior Minister Gianfranco Galizia’s disturbing claim that Etruria is a dictatorship of 16.8 million people, because they voted for the Tribune government in 2021. Again, this is a legacy or rather a reproduction of the First Republic’s view that the majority’s vote is sacrosanct, by virtue that they voted of their own free will, a gift from God and it is the duty of the state to pursue the policies backed by the people regardless of opposition or criticism because failure to do so would mark the failure of the Republic. Fioravanti best described this in article printed in 2021 saying, “the duty of the Republic is to respond to the people, enforce the people’s will and protect the people. The will of the people cannot be questioned, critiqued or undermined for the will of the people is also the will of God. The arrogance of opponents, the minority in protesting the popular will is the force we must destroy.” The Tribunes’ desire to build some political nirvana around the majority will poses a threat to the longevity of Etrurian democracy, the dichotomy between the “faithful and patriotic Etrurian” (Tribune voter) and the “liberal-left nihilists” (its opponents) also threatens a descent into outright authoritarianism in the defence and enforcement of elections. This is not the work of men and women who desire an imitation of Functionalist Gaullica, it is those who desire a resurrection of the Etrurian First Republic, when the entire nation was devoted to the will of the Kingdom of Heaven and sought to seize the mantel of God’s chosen nation by force.
The conflation of nationalism with the Catholic identity, the pursuit of spreading an ultranationalist exceptionalism through the wider public, taken together with the Tribunes’ view of democracy and the Etrurian Republic should provide worrying reading for policy makers in the liberal democratic east of Euclea. The resurrection of the “sacred mission” and the need to save Euclea from the “nihilists who wage war on God, on the family on Adam and Eve” poses a direct threat to the EC, no doubt to take form in funding and electoral advice for far-right parties across the East. No doubt after its 2021 election victory, the pursuit of its dogma will become ever more apparent, and with figures like Fioravanti and Archbishop Ricordati, the Tribunes will able to rely upon thinkers well connected to key figures and policy makers.
