How to combat your child's fascist arguments

BarcelonaPau (fictitious name) was taken aback when, speaking about immigration, his 15-year-old son told him that he would never want to have a partner "from outside" or for his sisters to have one. "I didn't know how to argue why, but I was implicitly saying that this is our house and that immigrants lack the same rights. And our family is not suspected of extreme ideas, quite the opposite," explains Pau. Days later, a teenage friend of his son also spoke ill of immigration. Pau was alarmed. "It made me think and worried me," he admits. Elena (also a fictitious name) has never heard opinions in this sense and the atmosphere is rather feminist and progressive. the rise of the influencers. A survey from just a few days ago showed, for example, how young men are the least in favour of democracy and 16% were in favour of a dictatorship. The same survey showed a conservative tendency among younger men, as other surveys already show: 30% are right-wing, a percentage higher than the 10% of younger women.

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Parents and teachers are concerned about the rise of far-right ideas among young people. But how can this be combated? What can families do?

The first piece of advice from the experts consulted is to avoid confronting each of the ideas expressed by the son or daughter. "These will be messages that will fall on deaf ears," says Miquel Àngel Essomba, a professor of pedagogy at the UAB. "You have to listen to their concerns and what political solution they are looking for with respect and empathy," says psychologist and psychotherapist Roger Ballescà, who adds that the positive side of this situation is that young people are beginning to show interest in political organisation. Paco Abril, a sociologist and professor at the University of Girona, expresses the same opinion: "Rather than confronting, it is about recognising the discomfort they may have and why they feel that way and from there establishing a dialogue that is as sincere as possible." Finally, Vanessa Rodriguez Pousada, a professor of psychology studies at the UOC, advises that "the situation should be faced calmly and, above all, avoid sermon or phrases like you have no idea Because what they will do is make the young person not feel heard and that will further reinforce their thoughts."

The best way to combat this type of speech, experts add, is to return their argument in the form of questions, such as: Why do you think that? Where did you get this information? "Questions that help you reach age-appropriate conclusions that, at a minimum,, "They will make you think and you will realize that what you have heard on TikTok is not exactly like that," explains social-feminist psychologist Gemma Altell. To whom you have asked three or four times the because One idea or another, says Essomba, creates a magical effect: "that of generating doubts." Let's imagine, the pedagogue exemplifies, that a son defends throwing out all immigrants arguing that they take jobs from those from here or are criminals. "We apply his idea and ask him to explain to us what kind of Catalonia we would have or who would work in the jobs they do. Generating future imaginaries also puts his present imaginary into crisis, and even more so taking into account that fascism has many naive proposals that do not hold up when you bring them to reality," says the UAB professor.

The political power of the networks

Abril, who gives talks and workshops, both in primary and secondary schools, on equality, feminisms and new masculinities, notes that anti-feminist and anti-gender discourses are taking hold among young people due to the influence of social networks and influencers have on them. "They are easy speeches that touch a lot of the fiber at a time, such as adolescence, when they feel lost," he argues. The feminist advance of women also unsettles them "and they feel that they must claim the power that they believe they are losing," he adds. "These political speeches are much less complex than the moderate ones because a dictatorship also has a much easier organization than a democracy, which can seduce a teenager," agrees Ballescà. In fact, the extreme right knew how to connect with the young public. "They have been skillful in appropriating the vocabulary and ways of doing things of the left but with a reactionary discourse: from appropriating terms like freedom to demonstrate," explains Gemma Altell.

Now what is cool Among young people – adds Abril – it is being far right, just as, explains Essomba, it was "sexy" at the time to defend freedom among those who are now the parents of these young people. "Most of them were born in the last years of Franco's regime or the first years of post-Francoism and for them freedom is key. Their children are not interested because they already have too much freedom and what they are looking for are precisely limits and fascism sets them," the UAB and Ballescà pedagogue agrees.

Abril recognizes that perhaps there has been "bad pedagogy" about what equality and feminism are, since some workshops can be very "punitive" and the boys have felt attacked. "Another equality workshop...", the students lament. In this sense, Altell proposes carrying out pedagogy in other environments and contexts such as sports activities. "Keeping them captive in a classroom and telling them 'now we'll talk about equality' is already difficult, and we have to go to other places where young people are already and work and transmit values through coaches or monitors," suggests this psychologist. Get down to more practical things and not give abstract speeches.

Other resources

Experts also agree that giving them information about fascism to combat their ideas is of little use. "It is a belief that is more emotional than rational," says Ballescà. "It is very difficult to engage in a dialogue based on reason," says Abril. On the contrary, watching a film with support can help in some cases. "It should be a reflective accompaniment, which allows the adolescent to explain what they think is good and what is not," says Ballescà. However, adds the UOC psychopedagogue, this material should be used in "both directions" because the son or daughter can also have access to videos that defend their ideas. "You can watch them together to ask them questions like where they got them from, where the person speaking comes from... all of this will generate a debate that will allow us to share what they see and suggest a film ourselves."

Another element that must be taken into account and that can push young people to defend fascist arguments, according to most experts, is the "intrinsic rebellion" that they have during adolescence. "They seek to differentiate themselves from their parents in order to form their own identity," says the UOC psychopedagogue. "Young people always go against the current," adds Abril. Added to this is the fact that there are children who defend fascism simply because their family is also far right and that is what they have experienced at home. "In the end, young people are a reflection of adults and fascist ideas are also present in the adult world," Ballescà and Essomba agree.

Teaching recent history

The latest data showed that more than 30% of young people do not believe in democracy. "And this is very worrying because there is a total lack of knowledge of what a dictatorship means and totalitarian discourses are permeating a polarised society like the one we have," says Paco Abril. There are fewer and fewer witnesses of the Civil War and it is difficult for teenagers to know history first-hand. "They do not know Francoism or who Franco was and for young people a totalitarian system is, at most, an abstract concept," says Altell, who proposes that history be taught in school from the most recent to the oldest to ensure that this part of the curriculum is taught. "Without underestimating the Roman Empire, it is more important to tell recent history because it has more impact on future lives," he points out. In any case, the experts conclude, young people are very polarised, and while it is true that far-right positions are increasing, there are also young people who are very involved and committed to social movements.