Fear, ignorance and resentment: the Molotov cocktail that wants to set our society on fire

Cap Roig"We are in an era of manifest mistrust: it seems we do not know where things are headed, or perhaps we do not want to know, and all this generates discomfort and restlessness," said philosopher Josep Ramoneda to Esther Vera, director of the ARA, and Xavier Mas de Xaxàs, journalist for La Vanguardia, the two speakers at the closing conversation of the Cap Roig Meetings of the La Caixa Foundation, held this weekend.

"Our great current problem is social equity," pointed out Esther Vera, before listing some of the other challenges of the present: "We find ourselves in the midst of an extraordinary technological change. Inflation does not stop growing. People have increasingly more problems related to housing. The perception that we are in a world that is getting worse is shared by many people, and there is a generalized disbelief towards public affairs and democracy that, if we do not do something, will lead us to years of fascism or the far right in which all the progress that has been made until now will be called into question."

Mas de Xaxàs agreed with Vera's diagnosis. "There is a growing concentration of economic, political, and technological power that is increasing inequality in liberal democracies," he said, before recalling that "the current technocratic oligarchy," in which figures like Elon Musk and Sam Altman stand out, is "an ally of the authoritarian power" of leaders like Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin, to which "capital is also added." "The essayist Giuliano da Empoli describes these political leaders and technocrats as predators," recalled Esther Vera. Both favor the minority that interests them, often creating their own version of reality: "Since journalism questions them, they use influencers to expose their ideas in a unilateral and univocal way, or they explain them themselves."

An unsustainable welfare state

With inequality skyrocketing, "social tension is rising," noted Xavier Mas de Xaxàs. "We are subjected to great psychological, dialectical, moral, and physical violence," he added before appealing to the massive protests on Saturday in France against the rising cost of living, which ended with vandalized public buildings, looted businesses, and more than 2,000 detained. "This explosion of rage is started by 14 and 15-year-old students, who consider that schools lack resources and are no longer a social elevator, and it is continued by the people most affected by price increases," asserted Vera. "In France, social democracy has not met expectations and there is a welfare state that, with debt at 130%, is unsustainable."

For Xavier Mas de Xaxàs, a way forward would be to move "towards a post-capitalist society," because the current economic model has run its course. Esther Vera believes it is necessary to recover "part of the credibility of public institutions" to regain some of the lost equity. The big problem is that the short-term solution that many citizens are considering is supporting far-right parties. "It is rising in central countries of the European Union like Germany and France," commented Mas de Xaxàs. "And it will happen here at home too. I think we haven't hit rock bottom yet." Esther Vera has appealed "to common sense and critical sense" to try to curb this threat. "At this moment, fear, ignorance, and resentment are being fueled," she said in relation to the Molotov cocktail that could set our society on fire. "If we continue like this, we are heading towards the destruction of what we have, and when everything is razed, we will see that perhaps we weren't so bad off and that it was worth rebuilding instead of destroying."