‘Liberalism Much More Dangerous and Harmful than Satanism,’ Dugin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 28 – Aleksandr Dugin, the influential advocate of neo-Eurasianism, says that liberalism is “much more dangerous and harmful than satanism,” a remark that suggests at least some in Moscow would like to ban some invented “International Liberalism Movement much as it recently banned a non-existent “International Satanist Movement.

            Doing so, precisely because these groups don’t exist and so the powers that be can define what constitutes “liberalism,” there is a danger that Dugin’s words are the opening salvo of an attack on liberalism in Russia, one that could result in increased persecution. (On such bans and their use, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/07/banning-groups-that-dont-exist.html.)

            Dugin made his comments in the course of a roundtable discussion of “Russia as the Center of Orthodox Civilization.” He specifically contrasted Western civilization based on liberalism and Russian civilization based on Orthodox Christianity and the traditions of Russian statehood (business-gazeta.ru/article/678746).

            “A distinctive characteristic of Western civilization,” he says, “consists in the fact that it seeks to escape from its roots and constantly distances itself from them … “Our civilization in contrast constantly returns to its origins … That is, “the West proceeds by the denial of its roots while we do not.”

            That makes Russian culture a model for emulation by others and thus a universal civilization while the West is not universal despite its pretensions to being on because it keeps rejecting its past in the name of a future that its past does not define, the Russian neo-Eurasianist says.