Letter FromnEuropenby Thomas MolnarnKingdoms of the FuturenThe invitation to the first symposiumncame fi’om my old alma mater, the FreenUniversity of Brussels, founded bynliberals, freemasons, and socialists, allnunited in their opposition to the CatholicnChurch, embodied by the 15thcenturynUniversity of Louvain. Nostalgiandrove me to the once well-knownnquartiers, or rather what remains ofnthem now that Brussels has ceasednbeing the cozy, petit-bourgeois capitalnof a small country but has insteadnbecome Europe’s bureaucratic capital,nwith high-rise office buildings amongnthe many still remaining one- or twostorynhouses. My host was the sociological/politicalnCenter of Studies, a partnof the Free University, itself now splitnbetween Flemings and Francophones.nThe topic of the symposium wasnintriguing: “the end of politics,” brilliantlynintroduced by Prof. MauricenWeyembergh. The day before the conferencenbegan, Weyembergh explainednhis theory to me over a cup of coffee innone of the 14th-century inns of the stillnbeautiful Grand’ Place. Politics is thenconflict between us and them, its essencenmutual exclusion of the othernclass, nation, empire, or interests.. Withnthe emergence of technology and thenplanetary state, the coalesced mankindncannot be far in the future, and thentechnocrats are working on the “exclusionnof exclusion” — a leveled state ofnaffairs where, since all interests will firstnbe reduced to the basic and thennsatisfied, the concept of “others” willnbe eliminated.nNow in the United States, wherentechnology and the various techniquesnit encourages are at home, we are notnworried about this alleged closing ofnthe political (and with it, the cultural)nhorizon. But Europeans are obsessednwith it, fearing that their multiformnpolitics and cultures will meld in annimpersonal magma — Kafka, Dostoyevsky,nAldous Huxley, and JacquesnEUul to whom Weyembergh owes annadmitted debt, all warned of this peril.nThe participants in the symposiumnrepresented various approaches to thisncentral concern, and were dividednabout half and half between hope andnalarm, Weyembergh playing the Socraticnrole by provoking both agreementnand dissent. Pierre Birnbaumnfrom France spoke of the “culturalncode” of every nation that protects itnfrom too deep a penetration by foreignninfluence — thus the us and themnwould remain constants. Anothernspeaker referred to my critique of utopianismnlinked to heresies, and drewnthe conclusion that religions representnthe nuclei of inimitable affirmations,nand that therefore they opt for “ecumenism”nin periods of decline only.n(At which time other religions andnchurches — intolerant and exclusive —nBSliHnA Nation of Immigrants March 1989 -Whatnimmigrants have given to America: GradynMcWhiney on the effects of Celtic culture in thenold and modern-day South, and Jean BethkenElshtain on the German sense of publicneducation. Evans Johnson on the new politicalnuses of comic books, John Shelton Reed on thenpleasures of smoking, and Stanley Diamond onnthe case for making English our official nationalnlanguage. $2.50nAll Booked Up January 1989 -This issue looksnat the business of ideas and literature in America.nThe Perspective strongly suggests that we arendealing with an intellectual cartel controlled bynan old-boy network in New York. Also, the plusesnand minuses of writers’ unions, an anecdotalnpiece about the bad text editing done on editionsnof the classic writer Joyce , and the ethics of booknreviewing. $2.50nBACK ISSUE ORDER FORMnEach issue $2.50 (postage & handling included)nTitle DatenQty.nA Nation of ImmigrantsnAll Booked UpnUtopia UnlimitednAmerica: As Others See UsnName .nMarch 1989nJanuary 1989nDecember 1988nNovember 1988nemerge.) Weyembergh’s pregnantnproposition about the “end of politics”nwas, in the end, refuted. But the justifiednfear of technology, a new andndangerous ideology, remained. Itsnmonsters are now darkening the skylinenof old Brussels.nBelgium prepared me for the othernsymposium where I was now heading;nBelgium, where the linguistic and ethnicnconflict is so serious that the Walloonsnrefuse to learn Netherlandish innschool, and the Flemings set up institutionsnof their own where French isnbanned. Brussels can no longer arbitrate,nas was the case in my studentndays; the sole mediator remains theninstitution of monarchy and the pres-nUtopia Unlimited December 1988 – RobertnNisbet in “Our Stumbling Giant” talks about thenidealistic moralism of the Reagan administrationn. . . Paul Gottfried looks at the Utopiannassumptions underlying much of modernnacademic history . . . Curtis Cate writes fromnParis on the 20th anniversary of the Sovietninvasion of Czechoslovakia . . . R. E. Liebnwrites from Nova Scotia about a last invasion ofn”flower children.” $2.50nAmerica: As Others See Us November 1988 -nErik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn investigates thenpeculiar brand of American liberalism. JohnnLukacs looks at 150 years’ worth of Americannmanners. Leon Steinmetz tries to read betweennthe lines of “Pravda.” Andrei Navrozov revivesnthe reputation of artist Leonid Pasternak. K. L.nBillingsley reviews a “performance” by VladimirnPosner. $2.50n. AddressnTotal EnclosednCity. , State Zip.nx$2.50 =nMail with check to: Chronicles • 934 N. Main Street • Rockford, IL 61103 CB489nnnCostnMAY 1989/51n