On Saturday 21 June, discover incredible footage on the production of Leni Riefenstahl’s 1935 film The Triumph of the Will, featured in the exhibition The 1930s: The Making of “The New Man.”
Exclusively at the National Gallery of Canada
In the history of the modern world, the decade between the Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929 and the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, stands out for its political tensions and contradictions in both Europe and North America. This troubling and complex period is reflected in its art, where tradition and modernity frequently clashed.
Politically, the decade was marked by the rise of totalitarianism in Europe. In Italy, Germany and Soviet Russia leaders appeared whose agendas—constructed on a pseudo-scientific foundation and claiming to lead the masses towards a brighter day by creating a kind of homogenous, ideal individual—were skilfully disseminated by ideological propaganda about the “New Man.”
On the artistic front, painters, sculptors, photographers and filmmakers were fascinated with biology, the science of life; intense work was done using biomorphic forms, the primordial egg and the cell, in an attempt to revitalize the values and norms of representation.
Revisiting the pre-WWII years by focusing on the interest generated by biology allows us to compare two areas on which it had an impact: the arts, where the idea of metamorphosis produced an aesthetic revival; and politics, where the struggle to bring about a eugenic and racist renewal had unprecedented consequences for society.
Take this unique opportunity to see over 200 works by eminent European and North American Artists. The 1930s: The Making of “The New Man” is the must-see exhibition of the summer at the National Gallery of Canada.
A White South African testifies: “There exists in South Africa today a racial hatred that I never experienced in my youth”
Edwin is South African and his origins can be traced as far back as the XVIth century, when Dutch and French Huguenots set foot in Southern Africa. He is 50 and left a teaching profession to work in computer programming. In an exclusive for Novopress France, he talks to us about White South Africans’ daily life since the fall of Apartheid. A testimony without make-up or concessions. A warning to white Europeans.
Novopress : How do you perceive the changes since the fall of Apartheid?
Edwin : Since the ANC took power, our daily life has been affected by many changes. The biggest single change was the creation of fear. Fear of crime, which has skyrocketed since the ANC government took over. South Africa now has the highest rape incidence in the world. People fear leaving their homes, on foot or in public or private transport. People fear sounds they hear at night and with good reason. My elderly father fears tending his lawn on the sidewalk as old people are a very popular target.It is not just Whites that live in fear. It is everybody. Even criminals prey on one another. Very often, the police appear to be inefficient, due to a lack of discipline and because corruption is rife.
Novopress : Have you been yourself victim of violence?
Edwin : Not personally but two of my friends have been murdered during robberies. Many of them as well as some of my own family members have personally experienced the “big 4″. In the old days we used to refer to the “big four” as the lions, elephants, buffalo and rhino which are a popular tourist attraction in South African game reserves. Nowadays the South African “big four” are commonly referred to as robbery, rape, car hijacking and murder.
Novopress : You were a teacher. What is your opinion on education in your country today?
Edwin : I had the privilege of a very good education. Today, South Africa features at or near the very bottom worldwide. Education standards have become a national joke. Private schools are very expensive. Education is one of the main reasons for White emigration.
When street artist Banksy’s pictures mysteriously appeared on the West Bank “partition wall” in 2005, they drew the world’s attention to the barrier in ways that dozens of protests and op-ed pieces could not.
Proposed in 1992 by former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the concrete and razor-wire wall was originally planned to follow the 350-kilometer Green Line (the 1949 armistice line from the Arab-Israeli war). Currently, the barrier runs over 600 kilometers as it winds to encapsulate Israeli settlements in the West Bank. For the Israelis, the wall represents increased security from terrorist attacks, as well as a way to consolidate the legitimacy of settlements. For the Palestinians, the wall symbolizes apartheid and economic oppression, separating thousands of West Bank residents from their workplaces, their schools, and their former farmlands. To the rest of the world, the wall represents a geopolitical impasse in the heart of the Middle East.
The Classical & Modern Habits of Mind
Mitchell Kalpakgian
Mitchell Kalpakgian, a Contributing Editor of the NOR, is an Adjunct Professor of English at St. Anselm College and Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is author of The Marvelous in Fielding’s Novels (University of America Press), The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature (Neumann Press), and An Armenian Family Reunion (Neumann Press).
In The Battle of the Books (1710), Jonathan Swift depicts a clash between the Ancients and the Moderns in the arena of a library where armies hurl tomes as missiles of destruction to annihilate their enemies. Ancients such as Aristotle, Homer, and Virgil clash with such Moderns as Bacon, Descartes, and Hobbes in this mock-epic battle in the King’s Library.
Local rooting & Technological rooting: two necessities for the same political Activism
In his work « Internet : séisme dans la culture » , Marc le Glatin unfolds the idea that the technological revolution that started at the end of the XX century is anthropological by nature. Thus, even despite our lack of hindsight, we can conclude, according to him, that ; “one could see it as a period, in humanity’s history, that is similar to the Neolithic era, when populations became sedentary, domesticating animals and plants”, engendering new manners of living together and communicating. It is true that the development of Internet networks has profoundly influenced the evolution of social relations and has opened up new possibilities of gathering information. Today, it is easy to circumvent the traditional transmission circuits imposed by big media and political leaders. For example: software that bypasses the use of normal TV channels by allowing the visualisation of its programs – via podcasting – free of mainstream advertisements, to the announcers’ dismay….. Or the broadcast on a large scale of cultural productions (music, literature, etc.) listed on the Internet, which raises alarm among economic powers that cling to their privileges and profits.
Beyond calling into question a global merchandising process, it is the whole mind-conditioning mechanism that can be bypassed by those that master the new technologies. One who has not integrated these elements into his/her militant logic has already lost the fight .
The Internet is like a gigantic notice board that everyone can consult and write on. The development of Web 2.0 resulted in a change of status for the web surfer. From being a simple information browser, one can become an integral part of the Net. Using various interconnecting platforms, the militant can easily be heard by publishing documents, videos and photos on blogs, interactive sites and alternative encyclopaedias. Therefore, a gramscist approach applied in the world of new technology, which led Jean-Yves Le Gallou - the President of the Fondation Polémia- to suggest the concept of ‘technological gramscism’.
The political struggle encompasses multiple and complementary forms. It would be as much a mistake to turn one’s back on this new technology in order to confine oneself to traditional activism as hoping to make things change only by our presence on the Internet.
On the contrary! The street and electronic networks should be felt as our political duties. While mastering new methods of action and alternative information structures, it is imperative that we remain on the ground, walk our towns and villages in order to be close to our people. Thus, priority is to take root locally. But taking root “technologically” must be emphasised as well because it is also on the web that we should call for Tradition”, our feet planted firmly in the ground but our hands in computer programming.
In the everlasting struggle for the defence of our civilisation, we have to associate - with a salutary enthusiasm – the peasants and the webmasters, the cathedrals and the rockets, the worker’s picks and the web surfer’s mouse. We shall be the Hoplites of the 21st century, fighting in the street as well as with our computers. Our present time offers to us a large choice of weapons, some of which forged by the very people we are fighting. Let us exploit the possibilities provided by the globalisation in order to engage in guerrilla warfare against it.
An identity activist is made of tradition and modernity. Learning to adjust our European unconscious, our values and our roots to both the street and new electronic means shall allow our identity to perpetuate itself, live and face the future.
The 1930s: The Making of “The New Man” 
Banksy Bombs
Mitchell Kalpakgian, a Contributing Editor of the NOR, is an Adjunct Professor of English at St. Anselm College and Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is author of The Marvelous in Fielding’s Novels (University of America Press), The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature (Neumann Press), and An Armenian Family Reunion (Neumann Press).