Expiration of the anti-Nazi vaccine

For the first time since the defeat of Nazism, the AfD, the far right, could govern a state in federal Germany. In other words, the taboo of Nazism is collapsing overwhelmingly: with 44% of the vote and 39 seats, while the CDU goes from 40 deputies to 16. The humiliation of the German Christian Democrats is so resounding that submitting to the adversary would be a definitive surrender in the current times, with the risk of being absorbed. And paradoxes of history, everything will depend on the BSW, an eccentric and marginal left-wing party opposed to immigration, willing not to contribute to blocking the far right. A gesture that would not cease to be indicative: a left-wing party would join the growing trend on the European right of giving recognition to neo-fascism. That is to say, the reactionary impulse crosses borders: it has already swept enough on the right, now it only remains for the left to join in. In any case, whatever happens, one thing is certain: the taboo of Nazism, which had been established in the postwar period, is dissolving in Germany, which would thus join the shift towards the far right like almost all of Europe.

In an article in the Financial Times, this weekend Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor warned of the dimension of the challenge we are living: "The dangerous alliance of three factions: religious fundamentalists, tech accelerators, and ethnonationalist militancy". A disturbing mix. When the Vice President of the United States J.D. Vance says with joy that he would not be surprised "if the Antichrist were walking towards us", it seems to me that there are few doubts that democracy is in danger, even where it has a long history. And the passivity with which this drift is experienced is disconcerting, which coincides with the absolute blurring of the left, increasingly unrecognizable, and the penetration of authoritarianism into the liberal space.

The signs leave no doubt: if Germany has broken a taboo that protected it, in France the far right is one step away from the presidency of the Republic, the tutelary institution of the regime, and everywhere – in Spain, for example – the right-wing parties that aspire to govern are surrendering themselves to the far right, without wanting to realize what has happened in other not-so-distant places, like France and Italy, where the neo-fascists have overtaken the right-wing parties and are leaving them out of the game. On the left, there are few left. And yet, it seems there should be space to craft a discourse that breaks the inertia, as Pedro Sánchez did in the first part of his term.

What is happening? Well, the message coming from the American elites is taking hold: that the freedom (of some) is incompatible with democracy. A poisoned slogan that connects directly with nihilism, the source of any authoritarian drift, the belief on the part of a powerful sector of society that they are allowed everything and that the democratic framework of basic rights for everyone –with the corresponding requirements typical of the welfare state– is uncomfortable for them. And it leads them inexorably to favor more or less sophisticated authoritarian forms and to deny the authority of the state and, therefore, they seek impunity and discourses that frame people. From different –and often contradictory– interests and traditions, powers with great political and media influence prefer the framing of people under the myths of the fatherland or belief, which leave them in impunity. And right now the right-wing radicalization of a good part of the electorate has to do with this dynamic, which leads to the surrender of the liberal rights, which give way to post-democratic authoritarianism. A current that seeks to frame the citizenry based on the digital framework, at least until it shows its fissures.

The triumph of the AfD is spectacular because it demonstrates that the anti-Nazi vaccine has expired. And it is at the same time a warning that should not go unnoticed. Democracy is in danger and as of now it is accelerating towards domestication. Can we expect voices and proposals from the liberal democratic and socialist space to stop this drift? At the moment, there is more resignation than anything else. And the taboo of the far right is falling irreversibly: seeing the PP overwhelmed by Vox and Junts by Aliança Catalana is distressing. And, nevertheless, there are reasons to think that they will meet with disturbing naturalness.