![Anne morelli -1489117119](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Anne_morelli_-1489117119.jpg)
Anne Morelli (born in 1948, also known as Anne Mettewie-Morelli) is a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
historian of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
origins, specialized in the history of religions and minorities. She is currently assistant director of the Interdisciplinary center for study of religion and secularism ("Centre interdisciplinaire d'étude des religions et de la laïcité") of the
Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where she is a teacher.
Career
She directed in 1995 a book about ''The Great myths of the history of Belgium, Flanders and Wallonia'' ("Les grands mythes de l'histoire de Belgique, de Flandre et de Wallonie"), a global attempt by
new historians
The New Historians ( he, ההיסטוריונים החדשים, ''HaHistoryonim HaChadashim'') are a loosely defined group of Israeli historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history, including Israel's role in the 1948 Pal ...
of Belgium to deconstruct
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
myths e.g. created by the official
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
for
nation-building
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. According to ...
purpose.
Philosophy
Morelli is an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
and considers herself as belonging to the
far left.
Anne Morelli is particularly known for her opinions on
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
s or new religious movements. She believes that churches are different from cults only through their relationship to power, and that they are "
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
institutions" as well as prisons, hospitals, barracks, boarding houses and some companies.
In 2005, during the 36th annual conference of the International Association of Labour History Institutions in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
, she said at the international conference of
anti-globalism
Globalism refers to various patterns of meaning beyond the merely international. It is used by political scientists, such as Joseph Nye, to describe "attempts to understand all the interconnections of the modern world—and to highlight patterns ...
that no movement has ever achieved a change without using violence. Morelli was part of a group which welcomed
Pierre Carette
Pierre Carette (born 21 September 1952 in Charleroi, Belgium) was the leader of the Belgian extreme-left terrorist group Communist Combatant Cells or CCC. Although Carette was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment for terrorist attacks, he was rele ...
, the main leader of a terrorist group active in 1984-1985,
Communist Combatant Cells
Cellules Communistes Combattantes (CCC; Communist Combatant Cells, also known as Fighting Communist Cells) was a Communist Belgian urban guerrilla organization.
The cells were active for less than two years in the mid-1980s; primarily engaged in ...
, when he was released from prison after 17 years, an unusual long imprisonment in Belgium.
Anne Morelli has summarized and systematized the contents of
Arthur Ponsonby
Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (16 February 1871 – 23 March 1946), was a British politician, writer, and social activist. He was the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria and ...
's classic on war propaganda in "
ten commandments of propaganda", which constitute 10 of the essential
techniques of propaganda.
#We do not want war.
#The enemy alone is to be blamed for the war.
#The enemy is inherently evil, resembling the devil.
#We defend a noble cause, not our own interest.
#The enemy commits atrocities on purpose; our mishaps are involuntary.
#The enemy uses illegal weapons.
#We suffer small losses, those of the enemy are enormous.
#Artists and intellectuals back our cause.
#Our cause is holy, it has a sacred character.
#Whoever doubts our propaganda, is a traitor.
[Project Gutenberg Australia]
/ref>
Publications
* ''La Presse italienne en Belgique (1919-1945)'', 1981
* ''La participation des émigrés italiens à la Résistance belge'', 1983
* ''Fascismo e antifascismo nell'emigrazione italiana in Belgio, 1922-1940'', 1987
* ''Les grands mythes de l'histoire de Belgique, de Flandre et de Wallonie'' (dir.), 1995
* ''Rital-littérature. Anthologie de la littérature des Italiens de Belgique'',1996
* ''Lettre ouverte à la secte des adversaires des sectes'', 1997
* ''Les émigrants belges : réfugiés de guerre, émigrés économiques, réfugiés religieux et émigrés politiques ayant quitté nos régions du XVIe à nos jours'' (dir.),1998
* ''Les religions et la violence'' avec Lemaire Jacques et Suzanne Charles, 1998
* ''Le racisme, élément du conflit flamands-francophones ?'', 1998
* ''Principes élémentaires de propagande de guerre (utilisables en cas de guerre froide, chaude ou tiède...)'', 2001
* - with Alain Dierkens, 2002
* ''Les solidarités internationales. Histoire & perspectives'' with Gotovitch José, 2003
* ''Histoire des étrangers et de l'immigration en Belgique: de la préhistoire à nos jours'' (dir.), 2004
* ''Rubino, l'anarchiste qui tenta d’assassiner Léopold II'', 2007
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morelli, Anne
1948 births
20th-century Belgian historians
Belgian women historians
Living people
Belgian people of Italian descent
21st-century Belgian historians