User:Apisite/Michele Olzi
Michele Olzi is currently teaching assistant to the chair of Political Theory and to the course of Religion and Media at the University of Insubria (Varese and Como). His interests include political theory, collective imaginaries, history of ideas, history of religions, religion & media, new religious movements, “technognosticism,” hyper-real Religions, religions and politics. He is a member of the organizing and scientific committee of the annual conference of Foro di Studi Avanzati Gaetano Massa. He edits the online journal La Rosa di Paracelso.
Quotes
[edit]- How deeply Romanian and other authorities who persecuted Bivolaru misunderstood the whole idea of sacred eroticism is astonishing. Beyond the false accusations lies a total lack of understanding of the transcendent component of MISA’s eroticism. Nor has there been any effort by the opponents to consider how erotic elements are present in other religious traditions. However, the whole history of sacred eroticism shows how the connection between eroticism and religion and/or spirituality was often misperceived and misrepresented.
- "MISA and Gregorian Bivolaru: A New Book by Massimo Introvigne", Bitter Winter (June 24, 2022)
- As citizens, individuals are entitled to affirm their rights. Rights are not just mere ideals, abstract concepts, or values. Values need to be translated in active policies with rigorous standards of political life.
- "“What About My Rights?” Freedom of Religion or Belief, Human Rights, and the Tai Ji Men Case", Bitter Winter (December 2024)
- According to leading Italian political scientist Norberto Bobbio, freedom of opinion and expression (and of association) strongly influences political participation and decision-making processes. Free public debates between political actors are essential in the political life of a community. The possibility of dissent in any public political or mediatic confrontation is the core of a democratic system of governance.
- "Living by the Truth: Freedom of Expression, Media Manipulation, and the Tai Ji Men Case", Bitter Winter (May 2025)
- In contemporary debates on social justice, Honneth has focused less on the mere violation of formal rights and more on the social conditions that make individual and collective autonomy possible. According to his theory, autonomy is not a natural attribute of the subject but the outcome of successful processes of socialization grounded in relations of recognition. Society can thus be understood as an order of recognition: a set of practices and institutions that promise individuals the confirmation of their moral and social worth.
… According to Honneth, social struggles emerge when disrespect is experienced as a moral injustice rather than as mere misfortune. In this sense, Tai Ji Men’s resistance can be understood as a claim to dignity and to recognition as legitimate bearers of a form of life within the social order.- "How Social Injustices Are Generated: Tai Ji Men and Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition", Bitter Winter (February 2026)