English: New
Acropolis
Nederlands: Nieuw
Akropolis| English: New
Acropolis |
Nederlands: Nieuw
Akropolis |
Madrid/ D. G. - Francisco Esteve, a teacher of 40 years old,
head of the department of Philosophy in the Institute Carlos Bousoño, of
Majadahonda neighbourhood in Madrid, has got himself in bad trouble because of
his xenophobic
lessons.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Education started an investigation, based on the
complaint by parents and students of this institute against Francisco Esteve,
for teaching 'racist' theories to students of 14 years old. Some of them
confirmed that those theories proclaimed the intellectual inferiority of blacks
to whites and of women to men, and
that the teacher included this in the class of Psychology, taught in First
Baccalaureate year, in spite of these theories not being included in the book on
this subject.
'He explained the differences of the races, sexes and classes,
and said, smiling, 'that the results of tests showed that the intelligence of
blacks was 30 points inferior to whites, and that the difference betweent the
normal and the feeble minded is also 30 points', one of the students told. '
When speaking of women, he declared that we had qualities for book-keeping,
expression and editing, while the qualities of men were unlimited', the same
girl told; nevertheless, she emphasized that ' the teacher had not said that
these were his own theories, or whether he agreed with them.'
Other students thought it was good for objectivity when lectures were
extended with these data; although the majority criticized their inclusion in
the program and even described them as 'denigrating, unconstitutional, and
against human rights'.
Nevertheless, everyone at this Institute - where no person in charge wanted
to make declarations and the entrance was closed to mass media- came to agree on
objecting to the higher marks, given by Esteve to those students of Second
Baccalaureate year who had participated in a conference by New Acropolis on
'Philosophy in practice'.
'When we learned about his racist theories, we
decided to investigate what New Acropolis was, and the police and the Ministry
of Education confirmed to us that it was a paramilitary and neo-Nazi cult', a
student explained to Efe, showing documentation supporting his point. According
to his data, New Acropolis was founded in Argentina in 1957; and hides, behind
supposedly pseudophilosophical doctrines, an internal neo-Nazi organization,
with a military hierarchy, using courses to pick up followers, who dress in
uniforms, practice shooting, and bring the [Fascist] Roman salute.
There is that much indignation among the students that their representatives
in the School Council already consider adopting criminal law measures against
the teacher, while the Association of Parents of Students asks for his
expulsion.
The territorial assistant director of Education, Jose Campo, confirms that
yesterday morning two inspectors had a meeting with the directors of the
Institute, the representatives of the parents of the students and the
controversial teacher. The people in charge of the Institute gave us his
telephone number, which, however, did not reply.
Oscar Iglesias, Secretary General of the Socialist Youth League in Madrid,
declared that 'considering what happened at the Institute at Majadahonda, with
once again a teacher teaching fascist ideology, it is necessary to expel him,
and, once and for all, our minister of education, who does not have that job in
order to do nothing, should stop being astonished by this type of facts, and
saying that there is freedom of education; but should act firmly against these
incidents spreading gradually.'
The specialized journalist, Pepe Rodriguez, accused the sect of neo-Nazism, and paramilitary pro-Fascism; and he included, to prove it, a photograph of the premises of this association including old firearms for collections. The police acted and registered the centers of New Acropolis. A criminal law complaint was lodged. But neither the police, who found only a pistol, nor the judges, were able to prove the neo-Nazism of the sect in court. Who are New Acropolis really? They were founded in Argentina, a country very fond of esoterism, in 1957, by Jorge Livraga Angel, who passed away in Madrid in 1991, and his wife Ada Albrecht. They defined themselves as a school of philosophy and are strongly tied to the famous Madame Blavatsky, a leading figure of occultism in the nineteenth century, contemporary of Mary Baker Eddy, Ellen G. White, Alice A. Bailey and Annie Besant. New Acropolis states that their members, because of their arcane and philosophical knowledge, are going to belong to a superior race.
Essential in this is the subjection to the occult Master, who possesses a real 'hodgepodge' of doctrines, from reincarnation to Egyptian occult wisdom, including military paraphernalia, and a path of initiation, linked to the Pilgrims' Way to Santiago de Compostela. Though they are cautious not to attack religion, ('it is not the opium of the people; on the contrary, it is the panacea'), and are very anti-Marxist, they have all the characteristics of a cult: unconditional submission to the leader; impossibility of internal criticism, and segregationist elitism. It turns out that the founders are divorced; this divorce led to a rupture within the cult.
Pedro Miguel Lamet
Newspaper article, Saturday 15 February, 1997
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