Gabriele Adinolfi is an Italian ideologue and essayist. He was one of
the prominent characters of the 1970's extraparliamentary right
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Adinolfi). A few months ago, he
published a book called 'La Tortuga' ('The Turtle') : with reference
both to the testudo (the latin word for 'tortoise') or tortoise
formation, a formation used commonly by the Roman Legions during
battles, particularly sieges : if the enemy shot arrows at them, they
would use their shields to surround their bodies and protect
themselves : this was known as 'the turtle' ; and to the Tortuga
island, a Caribbean island which was a refuge of pirates in
seventeenth century. "I have chosen to entitle this collection of
anticonformist thoughts 'The Turtle', he says in the introduction.
This was indeed the name of the island where a pack of adventurous and
free men settled down, strengthened and remained for a long time
strong and independent. During this time, no fleet, no power, no
conformism could break them down : the 'brothers of the coast' were
protective of their independence ; even when they obtained from this
or that powerful person their 'letters of marque', they never
subjected to someone else's discipline, following instead the rules of
the sea and of the island."
The actual book is made up of 250 articles or so : from A to Z : from
'Adam' to 'Zumalacarregui', a Spanish officer who fought in the ranks
of antinapoleonic resistance.
There are many references to Evola throughout the book. This is the
actual article :
'Evola Julius. His work is an existential metaphysics of the warrior.
It should be valued as such rather than for the very few political
statements he made, in the post-war years for most of them, on the
request of the neofascist upper crust of the 1950's and of the 1960's,
and which do not reflect his nature at all. His 'aristocratic'
criticism of mass movements and his historical pessimism, however, did
not prevent him from having a militant involvement, which was far more
political than it is claimed. Thus, the man, who was associated with
Farinacci (1) and with Codreanu and gave lectures to the SS-men, was
unexpectedly among the tiny group of faithfuls who greeted Mussolini
in Germany in September 1943, just after the latter was freed from the
Gran Sasso. Many have wondered why he was there, given that his lack
of trust in the Regime and in the Duce was no mystery, but the
possibility that the latter may have entrusted him already for a long
time with special intelligence operations and international diplomatic
missions should not be ruled out. Then, there is post-war Evolianism,
which provided a lot of ideological alibis to neurotic impotent
natural born losers ; but this is less Evola's fault than that of
staggering individuals who used him as crutches. Instead, the main
inspiration of his work lies probably in the emphasis he put on the
'heroic cycle' and on the heroic vocation of national revolutions. His
teaching rests in the ability to experience with metaphysical
detachment vicissitudes saturated with tension (something in which
only simple-minded people see a contradiction). So, even though he was
opposed to the Entente and supported Central Empires, Evola had
volunteered in the artillery in the Great War on a side that he did
not approve of, thus giving an example of active detachment, which is
respectful, focused, militant, wisely disenchanted, insofar as it is
free from desire and from the obsession with results. A poet, an
artist (painting and eros), a mountain climber and a metaphysician, it
is essentially in the search for the deep sense of existence and of
militia that the value of Evola and his ability to be radical should
be seen. In the radical right, precisely, it is this aspect of his
work which has left a mark rather than his political theories: so that
Evolians of the fiery years (2) very rarely were, and have become,
reactionaries ; more often, they had and still have fascinations for
anarchy or, more precisely, for Jünger's anarch."
(1) : see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Farinacci (Note of
the ed.).
(2) : the period which goes from the 1970's to the early 1980's and
which saw a wave of bombings and shootings, attributed either to the
far-right or to the far-left (Note of the ed.).