The return of oclocracy
"Demagogy as an instrument of political debate would lead to the destruction of politics"
Polybius (200 BC)
Since 1945, there have been four successive waves of the far right in Europe: neo-fascism 1945-55, right-wing populism 1955-1980, the radical populist right 1980-2000, and the extreme right version 2.0 from 2000 to the present day.
Today, this last macro-category encompasses a wide range of movements and parties extending from the south of the continent (Vox in Spain, the French National Rally, the Italian League) to the far reaches of Scandinavia (the Danish People's Party, the Sweden Democrats, the Norwegian Progress Party, the Party of the Finns).
Outside Europe, one can include in this bloc the Brexit Party, Trumpism, Bolsonarism and Mileism (Javier Milei's new president of Argentina). Neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups would be left out of this mega-category because of their direct ideological link to inter-war fascism and because they assume violence as an indispensable tool in their political strategy. Governments and political movements that support Duterte in the Philippines, Modi in India, Erdogan in Turkey and Putin in Russia would also be left out. These fall more into the category of what might be termed "Competitive Authoritarianism", which bases its legitimacy on formally free but fraudulent elections.
Two essential differences distinguish this fourth wave from the previous three: on the one hand, far-right parties have ceased to be a minority; and, on the other, traditional right-wing parties have begun to consider them as allies and adopt some of their postulates and behaviour. Such is the case of the Danish DF, the Dutch PVV or the Orthodox People's Rally in Greece. Some have even come to govern, such as the Hungarian Fidesz and the Polish PIS.
Another characteristic of this fourth wave in Europe is that these parties have managed to bring their favourite issues into the public debate, including immigration, citizen security, Islamophobia, Euroscepticism, national sovereignty and gender. The classical right has not only followed in their footsteps, but also put these ideas into practice when it came to government. This new development, according to Cas Mudde, has blurred the lines between the mainstream and the radical right, and in some cases between the radical right and the left, as in the case of the Czech Republic and Denmark.
Outside Europe, three of the world's most populous democracies have been governed by far-right leaders: Modi in India, Bolsonaro in Brazil and Trump in the United States.
Some causes of the rise of the far right in the fourth wave:
Among these we cite:
-El 11-S de 2001.
-The great economic recession of 2008, which made people very wary of their future. Sociologist Beatriz Acha qualifies that the typical far-right voter tends to identify with the losers of globalisation.
The refugee crisis of 2015 is seen as the most important cause and catalyst for the anti-immigration demonstrations that have become commonplace on the streets of Europe and America.
-The fear of rapid changes in the world of work, communications and technology that have generated a real cultural and values backlash according to Pippa Norris and Russell Hochschild.
-The failure of the traditional parties to deal with the problem of immigration.
The main features of the ideology of the far right:
It is worth noting that it is much better defined by what it rejects than by what it proposes. The Spanish historian José Luis Rodríguez Jiménez believes that rather than presenting a programme, the far right presents itself as the saviour in any crisis situation, real or invented, and as the alternative to the supposed failure of liberalism and democracy. Nevertheless, it is possible to speak of some distinctive features, among them:
-The rejection of natural law stemming from the Enlightenment era.
-Antipluralism and the refutation of democracy.
-A conspiratorial view of history.
-Insistence on national identity and cultural traditionalism.
-Economic protectionism.
-Anticommunism.
-Xenophobia.
With such a reductionist spirit, and sustained by social networks (and the internet in general) that multiply fake news, the threshold between truth and lies has been shrinking with alarming speed, facilitating the entry of inflammatory rhetoric, profanity and gratuitous insult into homes without shields or filters, conditioning future generations and trivialising evil.
According to an MIT study, false information circulates six times faster than truthful and reliable information. Some pundits have even gone so far as to consider that, if there used to be compatibility between democracy and the conventional press, this compatibility has already been broken by the new digital media. The first to publish is right!
On a political level, it can be said that the time of "fair play" when the loser of an election thanked his voters for having voted for him, congratulated the winner and offered him a hand to work together for the good of the country is now a thing of the past.
This fair play, these good manners synonymous with good manners and the respect of millions of citizens who had opted for other political options, have disappeared. Today, those who win not only want to win but to crush, and those who lose are reluctant to admit it.
In the face of citizens' scepticism about the effectiveness of democracy and its ability to represent them properly, the new lumpen described by Marx and Engels, just like those of yesteryear, without class consciousness, without any participation in the real change of societies and easily manipulated by the carnivorous elites, idolise this type of politicians and give them wings. It is not surprising that these new "wretches" embrace rantings and chimeras such as the "anti-establishment candidate" and "change of cycle", live with corruption, internalise it and see it as normal.
With Brexit it became clear that it is enough to lie, to throw imaginary numbers around to leave the European Union and to scupper a political and economic project that is more than logical and relevant. In Israel, we have a number of hotheads who do not hesitate to call the Palestinians animals, in the Netherlands a politician who wants to kick out the Moroccans, and in Spain, a number of rude specimens of the right and far-right who have turned politics into a stage for baldos and denigrations.
These are mere examples, and God knows there are plenty of them in every country.
In any case, this year 2024 elections will be held in more than seventy countries around the world where 4 billion citizens will be called upon to choose their top leaders. A possible re-election of Trump in the United States is likely to create a tremendous shock wave, further entrench the avalanche described above and make the 21st century the century of populist nationalism par excellence.
All this shows that the memory of human beings is even shorter than expected and that after three or four generations we are ready to stumble over the same stone and repeat the same mistakes. Barely seventy years after the Second World War, the Nazi salute is once again trivial.
Moreover, this far-right trend will be long-lasting for three essential reasons:
1 - The growing defiance of citizens against the elites, the system and the state.
2 - Fear of globalisation.
3 - Fear of the loss of national identity and therefore of immigration.
How to rebuild trust in the institutions of the state, how to talk about the same facts, the same narratives and remedy the fact that everyone remains locked in their own bubble and their own discourse?
Finding answers to these two questions may be the key to avoiding or at least mitigating the impact of such a drift. The current situation of inflation, economic crisis and the return of violent conflicts is not the most suitable for such feats, so it is likely that humanity will once again go "droit au mûr". Later it will realise - once again - the atrocity of radicalism and murderous identities.
One thing is remembrance and another thing is remembering, Machado said.