Long time without posting
I'm terminating a revision of the Volume 1, of my series "The transition from Western-Modernity to After-Modernity", that is titled "The interactive continuum of the cultural field of societies". I have been plunged in this work for the last 6 months, 7 to 9 hours daily, 7/7. But this did not insulate me from what is going on in the world. I still read, and watch videos, 5 to 6 hours on average everyday. This informs my illustrations of the theories I write about with contemporary examples.
While reading the revision of the chapter titled "4.2.4.2. Late-Modernity and Western exceptionalism" I thought that it neatly sums up my views about the present Geopolitical situation so I decided to share it on my blog.
The revision of Volume 1 will be available sometime within the next 2 weeks.
Have a nice read and if you happen to agree with what I write please share this article with your friends.
laodan
The fusion, of the values of the Franks in the Christian creed from the 7th to the 9th centuries, affirmed the Western belief in the self and in the exceptionalism of Christian societies. The Enlightenment and High-Western-Modernity later reinforced this belief and to this very day Westerners are still unconsciously imbued with such ideas as being superior to “the others”.
But times have changed. China has risen. And as Alain Peyrefitte had astutely forecast “When China awakens the world will shiver”.
Merely a few decades, after its plunge in the maelstrom of Western-Modernity, the giant is already beating the West at its own game. In the new Geo-Economic context, that follows China's rise, Western exceptionalism is no longer helping the West to adapt to the changing interrelations between nations.
The fact of the matter is that Late-Western-Modernity has been entangled in the following dynamics
Late-Western-Modernity and Western exceptionalism
The fusion, of the values of the Franks in the Christian creed from the 7th to the 9th centuries, affirmed the Western belief in the self and in the exceptionalism of Christian societies. The Enlightenment and High-Western-Modernity later reinforced this belief and to this very day Westerners are still unconsciously imbued with such ideas as being superior to “the others”.
But times have changed. China has risen. And as Alain Peyrefitte had astutely forecast “When China awakens the world will shiver”.
Merely a few decades, after its plunge in the maelstrom of Western-Modernity, the giant is already beating the West at its own game. In the new Geo-Economic context, that follows China's rise, Western exceptionalism is no longer helping the West to adapt to the changing interrelations between nations.
The fact of the matter is that Late-Western-Modernity has been entangled in the following dynamics
1. A shift of the center of gravity of the economy-world
The center of gravity of the economy-world has moved to China which has been expanding its seeding of growth to ASEAN. But in its obstinate refusal to accept, the new reality of China's rise, the West is willingly destroying the world-order that it had built over the last 75 years !
Faced with this contradiction the governance-world has become powerless as its failure to stop the televised genocide of the Palestinians is attesting for all to see. The void, of working international decision-making mechanisms, is now allowing Israel to commit the worst crime against humanity that could be. And this happens in plain sight while the West is publicly siding with Israel !
The “Non-Western-World”, which represents 85% of the world population, is dumbfounded by the crass hypocrisy of those same Westerners who have been constantly lecturing them over the past 70 years about the universalism of their democratic governance and human rights.
Aghast and angrier by the day, that such a barbarity is tolerated by their own governments, the citizens of the “Non-Western-World” are growing acutely aware about the urgent necessity to consolidate the BRICS+ into a true “United Nations of the South” (UNS). Both Gaza and Ukraine incontestably demonstrate that countering the blatant amorality of Western Judeo-Christian nations will necessitate the close unity of all “Non-Western-Countries”.
To appease their populations the governments, of the countries of the South, are now aligning to join the BRICS. China’s economic success instilled hope that “There Is Definitely An Alternative” to Western hegemony and one Southern country after the other got inspired to search for its own way toward industrialization.
Under TIDAA all the necessary conditions, to create a true UNS, are converging in the present moment.
But the determinant question in this moment reads as follows. Will China have the foresight to guide the countries of the South into a true UNS to ensure that “violence is ended by just means” (1).
Only time will tell if “benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and honesty” are guiding the assembly of a true UNS whose mission will be to pacify the world. “China has always played the role of mediator, trying to create harmony between conflicting agendas”. This is certainly true and it is why today China is the sole nation which has the potential ability to pull “Non-Western-Countries” on the path of a UNS, whose first mission will be to ensure that “violence is ended by just means”, while nevertheless keeping it open to a repenting West in the future.
2. The side-effects of Modernity
The side-effects of Western-Modernity are there for all to see and they are numerous !
Climate change is the best known but it is only one among a multitude. The most important side-effects of Western-Modernity are : — the detachment of the technical capitalist rationality of Western-Modernity, from the order of the universe, and humanity’s subsequent blind submission to scientism and technologism — the sinking, into hyper-pauperization and societal atomization, of the countries that are most advanced in their conversion to post-modernity, — the peaking of mineral, metal, and energy resources — the chemical poisoning of air, land, and water that sickens life — climate change — etc.
3. The great convergence of Late-Modernity
Today the side-effects, of Western-Modernity, are converging and starting to unleash interactions that release uncontrollable feedback loops. As a consequence the Geo-bio-chemical state of the earth is on the verge of passing a threshold that will plunge life in a new Geo-bio-chemical state that could devastate the complex and fragile systems of its habitat !
The technical capitalist rationality of Western-Modernity is definitely bearing full responsibility for this predicament. In light of this, humanity urgently needs to rally behind a new knowledge paradigm, that privileges life and this implies a strict respect of “the order of the universe” and “the First Principles of Life”.
But what is decisive today is that point 1 is converging with point 2 and this produces the nature of Late-Western-Modernity. This means that the present destabilization by the West, of the world order it created in the wake of the 2nd World War, is converging with the occurrence of the convergence of the multiple side-effects of Late-Western-Modernity.
This implies that humanity is no longer able to focus on finding viable solutions to the problems that are causing its predicament !
But as soon as the Geo-bio-chemical state of the earth passes its threshold we will no longer have any way to avoid the synergy between these factors. Their convergence is already shaping the path of life. How could such a process of transformation, at the heart of our human habitat, not definitely destroy the Western pretense at being exceptional ? As strange as this may sound the fact is that the West has still not gotten the news. In its hubris it continues to believe that its ways are the only game in town and, in the footsteps of Thatcher, it continues to believe in TINA (There Is No Alternative).
Think for a moment what the Chinese are concluding from their observations of this madness of the West.
But as soon as the Geo-bio-chemical state of the earth passes its threshold we will no longer have any way to avoid the synergy between these factors. Their convergence is already shaping the path of life. How could such a process of transformation, at the heart of our human habitat, not definitely destroy the Western pretense at being exceptional ? As strange as this may sound the fact is that the West has still not gotten the news. In its hubris it continues to believe that its ways are the only game in town and, in the footsteps of Thatcher, it continues to believe in TINA (There Is No Alternative).
Think for a moment what the Chinese are concluding from their observations of this madness of the West.
They have inherited from their 5,000+ years old system of governance a political philosophy and a political theory (2) that allowed them to manage with absolute success the entry of their country into Western-Modernity. And now, that they are on the verge of consolidating their guiding role over the working of the new center of gravity of the economy-world in East-Asia, Western propaganda is in overdrive taxing China of genocide in Xinjiang, of muzzling its population, while stealing Western technology !
But this adolescent outcry will not stop the grand-mother of all civilizations to continue abiding by the rules of the system that is so rapidly propulsing it to the top of the world economy. If China succeeds to guide all nations of the South, on the path of a UNS, the new rules of the game of Geo politics and economics will be debated by them all and the old Western rules that contradict the new ones will be abandoned. In a spirit of magnanimity the West will nevertheless be invited to join the United Nation of the South when it comes down from the high of its present madness.
Faced with this prospect the evening sun of Late-Western-Modernity is going down while madness overtakes the Western night. In its dreams not only does the West want China, to submit to Neoliberalism and Postmodernism it would also want to write its laws. How preposterous is that ?
Zhang nevertheless committed the mistake of letting himself trap in the propaganda of the West. The genocide of Palestine, with the support of Western countries, has now unmasked the true nature of Western values. In the world's present void of values of China’s Traditional Culture can certainly provide invaluable resources to construct the next mainstream value system by ensuring “that unjust violence is ended by just means”. Here is how Zhang posited China’s participation in constructing the world’s “mainstream value system” :
2. “The Governing Principles of Ancient China”. Volume 1. Volume 2. Volume 3.
But this adolescent outcry will not stop the grand-mother of all civilizations to continue abiding by the rules of the system that is so rapidly propulsing it to the top of the world economy. If China succeeds to guide all nations of the South, on the path of a UNS, the new rules of the game of Geo politics and economics will be debated by them all and the old Western rules that contradict the new ones will be abandoned. In a spirit of magnanimity the West will nevertheless be invited to join the United Nation of the South when it comes down from the high of its present madness.
Faced with this prospect the evening sun of Late-Western-Modernity is going down while madness overtakes the Western night. In its dreams not only does the West want China, to submit to Neoliberalism and Postmodernism it would also want to write its laws. How preposterous is that ?
Notes
1. These sentences are quotations from Zhang Lihua’s excellent article : "China’s Traditional Values and Modern Foreign Policy", Carnegie Endowment for Internal Peace, by Zhang Lihua. 2013-01-15.Zhang nevertheless committed the mistake of letting himself trap in the propaganda of the West. The genocide of Palestine, with the support of Western countries, has now unmasked the true nature of Western values. In the world's present void of values of China’s Traditional Culture can certainly provide invaluable resources to construct the next mainstream value system by ensuring “that unjust violence is ended by just means”. Here is how Zhang posited China’s participation in constructing the world’s “mainstream value system” :
“Traditional Chinese values such as harmony, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and honesty should be integrated with contemporary values such as freedom, democracy, human rights, rule of law, and equality. This fusion of traditional and contemporary should be combined with the Marxist values that China follows—namely, the realization of development, freedom, and liberation of human beings and the establishment of more advanced values. In this way, traditional Chinese culture can provide invaluable resources to construct the current mainstream value system.”
2. “The Governing Principles of Ancient China”. Volume 1. Volume 2. Volume 3.
At the beginning of the Zhenguan Era, Emperor Taizong (599–649) of the Tang dynasty decreed that Qunshu Zhiyao (The Compilation of Books and Writings on the Important Governing Principles) be compiled. The result was a collection, titled Qunshu Zhiyao, carefully excerpted from 14,000 books and 89,000 scrolls of ancient writings—500,000 words in all, and covering sixty-five book categories—dating from the era of the Five Legendary Emperors to the Jin dynasty.
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