New Acropolis: the esoteric neo-Nazis

// Translated from the Italian weekly UMANITA’ NOVA of 29/3/1992. Authors: Anarchist Group of Noto, Sicily . A phenomenon more discreet than the neo-skinheads or other street provocateurs of the extreme right, but no less worrying and dangerous, is that of several sects (with a more or less esoteric background) that exist, and in particular New Acropolis (NA), a neo-Nazi sect disguised behind the mask of a volunteer association with cultural, ecological and educational aims. Recently, ex-members of such a sect, familiar with the organization’s true face, have decided to reveal it to the public through various Italian publications (testimony-articles that appeared during 1991 in FAMIGLIA CRISTIANA, IL MANIFIESTO and SICILIA LIBERTARIA), some anonymously out of fear (well-founded, as we will see) of reprisals, others openly. From the testimony of Miguel Martínez (ex-leader of the sect), published in FAMIGLIA CRISTIANA, we learn that: “NA is a paramilitary group, of a neo-Nazi type and with a markedly racist ideology. Behind the façade of cultural, ecologist and educational effort, the reality of a rigid hierarchical organization is concealed, ruled by a dictator (Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi) who has slowly built a capillary structure present in more than 40 countries around the world... I belonged to NA for 14 years, giving my all to the ‘cause’. I reached the apex of the organization, assuming in the last year the rank of National Commander of NA in Egypt.” With the words of Martínez, of his wife (also a runaway from the sect), of Giovanni A. (who was an activist for 7 years and prefers to remain anonymous) and of the young ex-acropolitans who signed the letter published in SICILIA LIBERTARIA (# 87, April 1991), we can draw an almost complete picture of this sect. The sect was born in Argentina in 1957 and its founder (the aforementioned Livraga, who publicly calls himself “international director”) lives in Spain, where NA has its strongest structure. The group self-defines as “formed only by volunteers, freed from any religious or political bond” (hence the interest of a Catholic newspaper like FAMIGLIA CRISTIANA); in this respect, it is worth noting the so-called “Operation Giordano Bruno”, which occurred at the end of 1988, with the objective of systematically denigrating Catholicism among the association’s members (but also, we add, the objective of instrumentalizing that criticism for NA’s purposes); it professes to be “a promoter of an active philosophy that helps to look inside man, based on three principles: to constitute a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood beyond every distinction of race, sex, worship or social condition; to promote the comparative study of religions, sciences, arts and philosophies; to investigate the unexplored laws of nature and man’s latent capacities.” Martínez, quoting the Manual of the Leader (fundamental guiding text and strictly secret for all those responsible for NA), reveals the double face of the organization; in that manual it states: “New Acropolis is, externally, a cultural and humanistic organization, but it hides a concealed heart... It is a very rigid pyramidal structure hidden even from its base adepts, veiled as one veils a very strong light from the eyes of newborns.” And further: “Propaganda must not frighten nor produce an excessive impact. An apparently innocent invitation to attend courses and conferences is more useful than the violent display of symbols and enigmatic statements... A welcoming image of personal coexistence must be offered, without hinting that people are being called to change their lives and take on enormous sacrifices and efforts.” All this is confirmed by the anonymous ex-acropolitans who wrote to the editorial office of SICILIA LIBERTARIA: “The representatives, local or national, after having attracted potential new adepts through different courses, excursions and false active ecology, try to indoctrinate the future acropolitans religiously, until they render them incapable of any self-determination and unable to dissent from concepts supplied with psychological violence.” The letter continues: “Aberrant is this behavior on the part of the sect with regard to depressed or ethically motivated young people, young people who, convinced they can act for the good of our society, let themselves be easily conditioned, without effectively realizing the cynical and cold farce acted out before them... Another cause for concern for us is the finding of mental damage, from the psychological and moral point of view, due to the ‘violent’ behaviors practiced during the various ‘sacred sittings’, mythological feasts and transcendental ceremonies.” The anonymous Giovanni A. narrates: “The initiation of new adepts is very slow. It lasts even years. Every member gains access to each part of the secrets only by gradual passages, which also correspond to entry into the group’s various hierarchical levels. The result, after some time, is that the effective members, called the Living Force, wear uniforms, give the Roman salute, study Plato’s conception of the State and the books of Evola (ideologue of neo-fascism) and of la Blavatsky (founder in 1875 of la Sociedad Teosófica , an esoteric movement that inspired the Nazis in the 1930s).” Martínez adds: “ The Living Force also performs paramilitary exercises and studies the forms of urban guerrilla devised by Fernando Schwarz (Livraga’s right-hand man). Those same techniques were experimented by some Roman acropolitans during the left-right student clashes in the 1970s, naturally mixing in with the crowd.” Martínez continues: “the first level of NA courses is very superficial. Only a couple of elements are insisted on: unpaid work as the full realization of man and the criticism of democracy, where it is obliquely insinuated that the best is the government of a wise man.” These basic concepts will be more developed in subsequent courses. After the first courses (which are paid), the leaders make a selection based on receptivity to ideological indoctrination. To those who pass the first phase the proposal is made to become ‘Godiva’ (an ancient sacred Hindu term, indicating the person in tension toward levels of overcoming), which marks entry into the Living Force ; at this point the acropolitan will wear a uniform (only for closed-door meetings), will give the Roman salute and will join one of the three bodies: the Male Brigades, the Female Brigades and the Security Corps (organized at an international level and in charge of punitive expeditions against defectors, which explains some ex-acropolitans’ interest in wanting to remain anonymous in journalistic accounts). The Living Force must dedicate itself entirely to the organization: marriage, children, family are tolerated as weaknesses to which the least possible time is assigned. The ultimate objective, hidden from the adepts unless they are leaders, is “to dominate the world.” At present, NA is only spreading and taking root in all countries; waiting for the occasion to reveal itself and move into action, with the objective of creating a dictatorship according to the Platonic ideal. Racism is an important ideological element for NA. Martínez says: “For the leaders, humanity is divided into seven races that go in order from the inferior, black, to the white, which in NA is defined generically as ‘Aryan’... The acropolitans believe in reincarnation through which, from life to life, one moves to purer races. Every race can be divided into subraces. The Hebrews are the lowest level of the Aryan race, while the least impure are the Anglo-Germans. NA is not constituted by the chosen race, which has yet to come. That will be the ‘Sixth Subrace’, the new man who will know how to rule the world with wisdom. The current acropolitans will serve only to prepare the route for the arrival of the superman.” Regarding the current rooting of the organization, in Italy there are known acropolitan headquarters in Rome, Viterbo (near which is the estate where the adepts carry out paramilitary exercises), Milan, Piacenza, Venice, Syracuse, Ragusa and L’Aquila. Worldwide there are about 10,000 adherents and about 600 in Italy (in 1991). At the top is Livraga (who boasts of having contributed to the 1971 coup in Uruguay and to Pinochet’s), surrounded by a close coterie: F. Schwarz, Argentine, who in 1968 founded the Ankh group in Buenos Aires, specialized in attacks on leftist students; Delia Guzmán, European coordinator; Roberto Angulo, National Commander in Bolivia; Didier Bernardet, number two in France, delegate of the French government in the high-tech company Aerospatiale; Héctor Realini, Italian-Argentine, Commander for Italy. Schwarz, Angulo and Realini make up the senior staff of the CIS, International Security Corps... (Note from CORREO A: In Venezuela, New Acropolis has operated since the 1970s. It currently has 8 premises in operation: the central headquarters in Caracas (a spacious mansion in the exclusive residential sector of La Florida ) and branches in Barcelona, Barquisimeto, El Tigre, Maracay, Maturín, Puerto Ordaz and Valencia. The leaders here are Ida Velarde (“National Director”), Joao Moreira and Jorge Contreras. It is difficult to make a national estimate of the number of members, since the sect rotates its people from one place to another and just as the presence of foreign reinforcements is noticed here, there will be an unknown number of Venezuelan brethren abroad. Throughout the country and by various means, the acropolitans continuously promote free conferences, as well as low-cost courses and seminars, excursions, concerts, events for children, etc. From the translation and from what is known about NA in Venezuela we are left with an important unanswered question: What power interests and financial backings sustain such a wide national and global network of premises and activities?... ) ( Correo A , # 19, pp.15-17; May 1992)