NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW ON-LINE

This is a 64-page A4 publication edited by Prof. Ignazio Corsaro. It is produced in English, with minor space for other languages, not less than twice a year and its theme is human estrangement. As such it is the journal of IMISE (the International Movement for Interdisciplinary Study of Estrangement) which hosts papers concerning various fields of culture for its conferences, held internationally at academies and universities. For the uninitiated it is necessary to throw more light on this theme, which is wide-ranging in subject and history, and attracts many learned papers from scholars. I quote from the MANIFESTO:

Estrangement means to become a stranger, and a stranger is one who belongs to another country. However, even within his own country, one can be a stranger due to his own estrangement from the people he lives with, or from the situations he endures within himself . . . Life is a sequel of either physical or psychological estrangements . . .

Adherence solely involves the sharing of an interest in human beings cultural values and drives . . . it keeps urging intellectuals to re-consider Hamlet's prophetic message: 'There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so'.

Some negative aspects of estrangement are: detachment that leads to selfishness, narcissism or self-destruction, disassociation from human environment for the exploitation of it, inclination to self-assertion. Some positive aspects are: detachment that minimizes emotional factors, appeases peer pressure, enlarges horizons, increases awareness; mental therapy that discharges inner frustration and revolt; self-defence against other people's physical or psychological aggression; detachment from the domineering instinct.

There is much to beneficially digest in the long multi-course meal of ideas in Lo Straniero, although I would have thought that the estrangement policy, carried out widely, leading to a utopia of truth vis-a-vis church groups, institutions and clans, all of which have their own axes to grind, in turn leads to an army of personal idealists who would need to rebuild such groups necessary for civilisation as we know it, and suffer the same opportunist ideology in the cause of pragmatistic direction. Are we purifying milk from a sacred cow in order to sustain another? Or do we just kill off the cows and the fabric of civilisation itself in the cause of utopian behaviour?

This 64 page A4 size magazine, now in its eighteenth year, offers critical discussion on the subject of estrangement. The aim of the magazine is laid out in the MANIFESTO, where it says it hopes to

develop the study of estrangement, which is connected to the analysis of human life and the conflicts caused by divergence in religion, politics, sociology and any other field of culture.

is not affiliated to any religious, political or financial organizations.

I wonder, is there any concept apart from or like "man" (manhood or humanity) that has historically had a very unfortunate, strange and at the same time an interesting fate?

The magazine appears incredibly uninviting, whether one is interested in the subject of estrangement or not. Apart from the few illustrations at the back, the abundant text was asphyxiating. The subject of estrangement in the hope of improving life could be interesting, and might be more so if presented in a way that welcomes all. This issue seems focused only on a scholarly readership, making it difficult for the less scholarly to enjoy.