SUBMISSION TO OWN COMMON SENSE
In today's conditions, when mass media space is exposed to tight censorship, such works as Michel Houellebecq's "Soumission" become a real breath of fresh air.
In his novels Houellebecq exposes defects of modern Western society: feminism, consequences of the sexual revolution, consumerism, etc. His works dispel most of those desert mirages, had been created by representatives of the 1968 generation. The "Soumission" novel not only dispels mirages, but also points to some ways of finding an oasis. For a long time we can wonder about the main message, the writer has send us through his latest work. But most important is what the author realy said. First of all, the "Soumission" is a profound political analysis of the current situation in France and in Europe as a whole. A deep polithical analysis is impossible without appealing to ideological and spiritual issues.
Some might say that the novel is a literatural warning of the danger of total Islamization. Welbeck shows how the political dominance of left eventually turns into the establishment of an Islamic regime in France (and potentially throughout Europe). First, the leftists had opened the gates of Europe before the migrants, letting them into the European land. Then they introduced a brainwashing campaign, accustoming the indigenous French to "tolerance." Then the Islamic influence has reached such scales, that the leader of the Muslim party gets a chance to become president. His only real opponent in the upcoming presidential election is a candidate from the National Front. Following their traditional course on fighting imaginary "fascism," French socialists has supported a Muslim candidate, which provided him with a victory in the second round.
In fact, the "Soumission" is rather refers to an issue of the futility of modern European left and right-wing political forces like today's National Front, than the threats of Islamisation. The NF is depicted in the novel very realistic. After all, modern National Front isn't a right-wing party as such, providing that the one's policy should be focused on conservative values. On the contrary, we see a political force that is clearly focuses on the legacy of 1789 and is fundamentally secularist. Roughly speaking, the difference between the NF and the Socialists is small now. Everything that the NF could be capable of in case of M. Le Pen's success is to put some limitations upon the migration flow and to organize the Frexit. However, they are unable to stop the indigenous Europeans depopulation process, as well as to cope with the "spiritual crysis," that prevails in Europe (we can observe the affect of such sort of srysis in lifestile and thinking of the novel's main character).
In parallel, the image of the Muslim Brotherhood Party and its leader, Mohammed Ben-Abbes, sharply contrasts sharply with the hopeless Socialists and the NF. The Brotherhood does use "anti-European" rethorics. At the same time the political movement leadership belive that the European project has exhausted itself. Therefore, Islam, according to them, is called to build a new Europe. For Ben Abbes, the Roman Empire is a model. He seeks to involve Turkey and the Maghreb in the EU in order to restore the contours of the ancient empire in this way. What the Brother hood needs to build a new Europe is to clear the ruins of old civilisation: secularism, the crisis of the family institution, the general moral crisis, etc. The Islamic party is ready to do this very delicately, wisely waiting for coming of indigenous Europeans to Islam. After all, the temptation is really great, according to the autor. The model of the Islamic world, that has been depicted in the novel, is quite similar to the model of traditional Christianity. It combines higher religious meanings with appeals to the natural order. On the "Soumission" pages one can find the critique of thiose degenerative features, that modern Chrisitianity has acquired because of constant compromises with today's extreme liberal elites. However, there are many similarities between the Christian and Islamic cultures (with the exception of polygamous marriages, which are fundamentally unacceptable from the Christian point of view). As Thomas Aquinass wrote: grace does not override the nature of man, but completes it.
As a president, Ben Abbes does not limited to the tasks of smooth Islamization of youth through the education system and the the involvenet of the Islamic countries to the EU project. In contrary, he is carrying out reforms that are in favor of natives. One of the main slogans of these reforms is "to return a leading place and due respect to a family, as a main link of our society." He even proved himself a supporter of distributism - an economic theory built on the basis of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. Being aimed at protecting smallholders and maximizing the economic self-sufficiency of each particular family, the distributionist policy had been taken positively by the inhabitants of France, regardless of confessional affiliation. "The main political measures adopted by the new government were, on the one hand, to end state subsidies for big business - which Brusseles had always fought in the name of free trade - and, on the other, to adopt policies that faored craftsmen and small-business owners. The measures were an instant hit: for decades, every young proffesional in the country had dreamed of starting his own buiseness, or at least of becoming his own boss" (page 165).
We can conclude that the Muslim Brotherhood Party is in fact defending a European conservative-revolutionary project. Houellebecq emphasizes that in the value plane, the Brotherhood is very close to the European Identitarian movement. They are distinguished by only two things. First, the Identitarians are hostile to Islam as an alien religious tradition (though, unlike leftists and liberals, they share many similar values). Secondly, it is essential for the Identitarians to revive an ethnic and cultural identity of Europe. Eventually, some of the right have made concessions to their convictions, believing the Islamists are able to help in bringing Europe out from spiritual crisis. Rober Redige, who who had drawned the main character into Islam. Noticible, that a dissertation, written by Redige in youth, was devoted to two such important figures in the history of right-wing philosophy as Rene Gennon and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Houellebecq's book is not about the danger of Islamization. It is about how to avoid Islamization. In order to resist the expansion of Islam, Europeans themselves should act as modern Muslims. By opposing Islam with modern pseudo-European liberal values as "the traditions of secularism," feminism, etc., contemporal European elites are only deepen the crisis and pave the way for the caretakers of the Islamic project, whcih in real life most likelly wouldn't be so loyal to the legacy of traditional Europe as Ben Abbes was. "Only the fatherland itself is enough - it should be linked with something more powerful, with mysterious mysticism" - says one of the heroes of the novel.
The only constructive alternative to the submission to Islamisation is the submission to own tradition, or rather to common sense. Of course, a full-fledged religious rebirth of Europe is desirable. But for the beginning it is necessary to return at least to the basic principles of the natural law, to revive the value of the family, to abandon the idols of fake "equality" and liberal individualism. Dmytro Dontsov once wrote an article entitled "Own tradition or an alien's battering ram." Houellebecq's novel bears quite the same sence: it is about the need to rely to own tradition as the only alternative to the Islamic battering ram.
In fact, the "Soumission" is rather refers to an issue of the futility of modern European left and right-wing political forces like today's National Front, than the threats of Islamisation. The NF is depicted in the novel very realistic. After all, modern National Front isn't a right-wing party as such, providing that the one's policy should be focused on conservative values. On the contrary, we see a political force that is clearly focuses on the legacy of 1789 and is fundamentally secularist. Roughly speaking, the difference between the NF and the Socialists is small now. Everything that the NF could be capable of in case of M. Le Pen's success is to put some limitations upon the migration flow and to organize the Frexit. However, they are unable to stop the indigenous Europeans depopulation process, as well as to cope with the "spiritual crysis," that prevails in Europe (we can observe the affect of such sort of srysis in lifestile and thinking of the novel's main character).
In parallel, the image of the Muslim Brotherhood Party and its leader, Mohammed Ben-Abbes, sharply contrasts sharply with the hopeless Socialists and the NF. The Brotherhood does use "anti-European" rethorics. At the same time the political movement leadership belive that the European project has exhausted itself. Therefore, Islam, according to them, is called to build a new Europe. For Ben Abbes, the Roman Empire is a model. He seeks to involve Turkey and the Maghreb in the EU in order to restore the contours of the ancient empire in this way. What the Brother hood needs to build a new Europe is to clear the ruins of old civilisation: secularism, the crisis of the family institution, the general moral crisis, etc. The Islamic party is ready to do this very delicately, wisely waiting for coming of indigenous Europeans to Islam. After all, the temptation is really great, according to the autor. The model of the Islamic world, that has been depicted in the novel, is quite similar to the model of traditional Christianity. It combines higher religious meanings with appeals to the natural order. On the "Soumission" pages one can find the critique of thiose degenerative features, that modern Chrisitianity has acquired because of constant compromises with today's extreme liberal elites. However, there are many similarities between the Christian and Islamic cultures (with the exception of polygamous marriages, which are fundamentally unacceptable from the Christian point of view). As Thomas Aquinass wrote: grace does not override the nature of man, but completes it.
As a president, Ben Abbes does not limited to the tasks of smooth Islamization of youth through the education system and the the involvenet of the Islamic countries to the EU project. In contrary, he is carrying out reforms that are in favor of natives. One of the main slogans of these reforms is "to return a leading place and due respect to a family, as a main link of our society." He even proved himself a supporter of distributism - an economic theory built on the basis of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. Being aimed at protecting smallholders and maximizing the economic self-sufficiency of each particular family, the distributionist policy had been taken positively by the inhabitants of France, regardless of confessional affiliation. "The main political measures adopted by the new government were, on the one hand, to end state subsidies for big business - which Brusseles had always fought in the name of free trade - and, on the other, to adopt policies that faored craftsmen and small-business owners. The measures were an instant hit: for decades, every young proffesional in the country had dreamed of starting his own buiseness, or at least of becoming his own boss" (page 165).
We can conclude that the Muslim Brotherhood Party is in fact defending a European conservative-revolutionary project. Houellebecq emphasizes that in the value plane, the Brotherhood is very close to the European Identitarian movement. They are distinguished by only two things. First, the Identitarians are hostile to Islam as an alien religious tradition (though, unlike leftists and liberals, they share many similar values). Secondly, it is essential for the Identitarians to revive an ethnic and cultural identity of Europe. Eventually, some of the right have made concessions to their convictions, believing the Islamists are able to help in bringing Europe out from spiritual crisis. Rober Redige, who who had drawned the main character into Islam. Noticible, that a dissertation, written by Redige in youth, was devoted to two such important figures in the history of right-wing philosophy as Rene Gennon and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Houellebecq's book is not about the danger of Islamization. It is about how to avoid Islamization. In order to resist the expansion of Islam, Europeans themselves should act as modern Muslims. By opposing Islam with modern pseudo-European liberal values as "the traditions of secularism," feminism, etc., contemporal European elites are only deepen the crisis and pave the way for the caretakers of the Islamic project, whcih in real life most likelly wouldn't be so loyal to the legacy of traditional Europe as Ben Abbes was. "Only the fatherland itself is enough - it should be linked with something more powerful, with mysterious mysticism" - says one of the heroes of the novel.
The only constructive alternative to the submission to Islamisation is the submission to own tradition, or rather to common sense. Of course, a full-fledged religious rebirth of Europe is desirable. But for the beginning it is necessary to return at least to the basic principles of the natural law, to revive the value of the family, to abandon the idols of fake "equality" and liberal individualism. Dmytro Dontsov once wrote an article entitled "Own tradition or an alien's battering ram." Houellebecq's novel bears quite the same sence: it is about the need to rely to own tradition as the only alternative to the Islamic battering ram.
by Igor ZAGREBELNY
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