Pieter, even in today newspaper they have an important article about Steven Bannon messing in Eurepe. If not you I would have no idea it is such a bad problem
With support from Steve Bannon, a medieval monastery could become a populist training ground
www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/with-support-from-steve-bannon-a-medieval-monastery-could-become-a-populist-training-ground/2018/12/25/86dac38a-d3c4-11e8-a4db-184311d27129_story.html?utm_term=.779435bae204COLLEPARDO, Italy — Inside the stone walls of the Trisulti monastery, for more than eight centuries, monks have lived in quiet seclusion, praying, reading and concocting medicinal remedies with herbs from the surrounding forest.
But now, only one 83-year-old monk remains. A longtime chef-gardener still lives there, as well, along with several dozen feral cats. The other resident at Trisulti is the newcomer: a 43-year-old Briton who is one of Stephen K. Bannon’s closest associates in Europe and who hopes to transform the monastery into a “gladiator school for culture warriors.”
One recent morning, Benjamin Harnwell, the Bannon acolyte, grabbed his ring of keys and moved from one building to the next, through hidden passageways and into frescoed rooms, where he said the next mission at this site was about to take form.
Soon, he said, the monastery would be filled with students who wanted to master the tools of populist politics. The halls with centuries-old oil paintings would serve as classrooms where students could learn “the facts” — the worldview espoused by Bannon, who, since being booted from the White House and Breitbart News, has turned to fomenting right-wing populism in Europe and beyond.
Can a place where monks once upheld vows of silence now produce the next generation of Matteo Salvinis and Viktor Orbans? Harnwell is still recruiting teachers. He hasn’t yet received accreditation. He has yet to test whether students will want to venture up into the Apennine Mountains for such an education.
But if all goes well, Harnwell said, a new generation of leaders will spend time here and then descend back down the mountainside road, returning to Rome, to other European capitals or to Washington, helping to ensure that Bannon’s version of a revolt might last for decades to come.
“You can see it, with a little bit of imagination,” Harnwell said.
Tourists explore the monastery pharmacy, where old medicine bottles are nested in the walls and the frescoed ceiling dates to the 18th century. (Ginevra Sammartino/for the Washington Post)
Harnwell envisions turning the monastery’s grand halls, adorned with centuries-old oil paintings, into classrooms. (Ginevra Sammartino/for the Washington Post)
An elaborate miniature nativity scene includes faux running water and figurines baking bread and cobbling shoes (Ginevra Sammartino/for the Washington Post)
The project two hours outside Rome reflects both the grandiose ambitions and religious underpinning of Bannon and his allies, who feel the West has been weakened by a corrupt, globally minded set of elites and by the decline of traditionalist Christian values. As they see it, the monastery is a fitting setting for their plans: situated far from the mainstream, studded with reminders of history.
“Nothing we’re doing is just in the moment,” said Bannon, who has personally helped to fund the academy while also offering consulting to nationalist parties through his new Brussels-based group, The Movement. “It’s deeper — to be passed down.”
The site became available because the resident monks were thinning in number and couldn’t manage the upkeep. The Italian government issued a request for tender. Harnwell stepped in, offering annual rent payments of 100,000 euros. He said the monastery would continue to serve as a space for “cultural activities.” It will offer courses devoted to the ideologies of both Bannon and Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, who is known as a fierce fighter against euthanasia, the death penalty and abortion.
COLLEPARDO, Italy — Inside the stone walls of the Trisulti monastery, for more than eight centuries, monks have lived in quiet seclusion, praying, reading and concocting medicinal remedies with herbs from the surrounding forest.
But now, only one 83-year-old monk remains. A longtime chef-gardener still lives there, as well, along with several dozen feral cats. The other resident at Trisulti is the newcomer: a 43-year-old Briton who is one of Stephen K. Bannon’s closest associates in Europe and who hopes to transform the monastery into a “gladiator school for culture warriors.”
One recent morning, Benjamin Harnwell, the Bannon acolyte, grabbed his ring of keys and moved from one building to the next, through hidden passageways and into frescoed rooms, where he said the next mission at this site was about to take form.
Soon, he said, the monastery would be filled with students who wanted to master the tools of populist politics. The halls with centuries-old oil paintings would serve as classrooms where students could learn “the facts” — the worldview espoused by Bannon, who, since being booted from the White House and Breitbart News, has turned to fomenting right-wing populism in Europe and beyond.
Can a place where monks once upheld vows of silence now produce the next generation of Matteo Salvinis and Viktor Orbans? Harnwell is still recruiting teachers. He hasn’t yet received accreditation. He has yet to test whether students will want to venture up into the Apennine Mountains for such an education.
But if all goes well, Harnwell said, a new generation of leaders will spend time here and then descend back down the mountainside road, returning to Rome, to other European capitals or to Washington, helping to ensure that Bannon’s version of a revolt might last for decades to come.
“You can see it, with a little bit of imagination,” Harnwell said.
Tourists explore the monastery pharmacy, where old medicine bottles are nested in the walls and the frescoed ceiling dates to the 18th century. (Ginevra Sammartino/for the Washington Post)
Harnwell envisions turning the monastery’s grand halls, adorned with centuries-old oil paintings, into classrooms. (Ginevra Sammartino/for the Washington Post)
An elaborate miniature nativity scene includes faux running water and figurines baking bread and cobbling shoes (Ginevra Sammartino/for the Washington Post)
The project two hours outside Rome reflects both the grandiose ambitions and religious underpinning of Bannon and his allies, who feel the West has been weakened by a corrupt, globally minded set of elites and by the decline of traditionalist Christian values. As they see it, the monastery is a fitting setting for their plans: situated far from the mainstream, studded with reminders of history.
“Nothing we’re doing is just in the moment,” said Bannon, who has personally helped to fund the academy while also offering consulting to nationalist parties through his new Brussels-based group, The Movement. “It’s deeper — to be passed down.”
The site became available because the resident monks were thinning in number and couldn’t manage the upkeep. The Italian government issued a request for tender. Harnwell stepped in, offering annual rent payments of 100,000 euros. He said the monastery would continue to serve as a space for “cultural activities.” It will offer courses devoted to the ideologies of both Bannon and Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, who is known as a fierce fighter against euthanasia, the death penalty and abortion.
he project two hours outside Rome reflects both the grandiose ambitions and religious underpinning of Bannon and his allies, who feel the West has been weakened by a corrupt, globally minded set of elites and by the decline of traditionalist Christian values. As they see it, the monastery is a fitting setting for their plans: situated far from the mainstream, studded with reminders of history.
“Nothing we’re doing is just in the moment,” said Bannon, who has personally helped to fund the academy while also offering consulting to na
tionalist parties through his new Brussels-based group, The Movement. “It’s deeper — to be passed down.”
www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/8JMjv7m4aZzA2Bbpyu3tTJ9iTuQ=/1484x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NRQNPPH35II6RIL6CYVXCLUPYI.jpgThe site became available because the resident monks were thinning in number and couldn’t manage the upkeep. The Italian government issued a request for tender. Harnwell stepped in, offering annual rent payments of 100,000 euros. He said the monastery would continue to serve as a space for “cultural activities.” It will offer courses devoted to the ideologies of both Bannon and Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, who is known as a fierce fighter against euthanasia, the death penalty and abortion.