Germany: Fascism is not to be trifled with
1. Firmness. The German Christian Democrats (CDU-CSU) are facing the far right (AFD) and their leader, Friedrich Merz, is committed to forming a coalition government with the Social Democrats (SPD) to prevent the neo-fascists from coming to power. This is the formula for announcing the result of the elections with a desire to ease tensions. But it can also be said in another way: the far right has doubled the votes from three years ago and is in second place, while the Social Democrats are sinking with the worst result since the end of the Second World War. And the outlook is no longer so reassuring. However, Friedrich Merz, despite being considered a representative of the most conservative sector of the German right, unlike his European colleagues has had no doubts about going for the left to form the governing majority. History tells its story. And the German right is not in the mood for frivolity. It seems that Angela Merkel's firmness continues to weigh: fascism is not to be trifled with. Let the European right learn from this, starting with the Spanish one.
Let's get into the details: the elections confirm the reactionary storm sweeping through Europe and the bewilderment of the European left in general, and of social democracy in particular, which seems to be losing its footing in this accelerated phase of transition from industrial to financial and digital capitalism. Facing this episode with the left weakened in much of Europe is not obvious. In other words, the Trump effect, as an expression of the new strategy of the economic sectors that are taking the initiative, is finding its expression in Europe, where more and more people are laughing at him every day, and it is foreseeable – if there is no setback in the United States, which is hard to imagine right now – that it will determine the times to come. Merz's choice expresses a laudable sense of responsibility. Germany does not give in to the nihilistic frivolity that leads Washington.
2. Disorientation. And yet, if things are going this way, it is because the left in general and social democracies in particular cannot find the thread to weave a space that gives confidence to sectors of the middle and working classes that feel out of the game, and that can be carried away – at least until the destructive consequences become palpable – quite often, between economic simplicity and the promise of patriotic redemption. They will find it, and some are beginning to suffer it, like the American administration workers that Trump and Musk are firing every day, without them knowing how or why. The public scene is moving away from everyday reality, which leaves many people who are sensitive to what tells them the biggest story bewildered and who are condemned to enter a phase of deep frustration.
3. Challenges. What will the coalition government do? How much influence will an overwhelmed social democracy have that appears disoriented in the face of those who voted for it? In any case, the three main statements of a truly democratic agenda that does not give in to unbridled economic powers that deny the idea of limits are clear: countering the Trumpist revolution, stopping Putin in his attempt to break European resistance, and recovering and promoting a European agenda of its own. And if it is true that Merz's appeal is not a question of posture, of formal appearance, and that he is really determined to advance along the path of a transversal coalition, it will require a decision and commitment of magnitude with the citizens on both sides. Because, right now, the great problem of democracy is the confusion, the desperation of large sectors of the population, which leads the unleashed right to point to immigration as the culprit of all evils.
A situation like this cannot be faced with the hatred and insolence that is the motto of Trump and those who accompany him, with social networks as an instrument to make effective the denial of the truth and with the imposition of the delusions of those who believe that democracy is an obstacle to freedoms. If Europe does not recover its pulse and set the pace without complexes, if social democracy continues to be out of place, if there is no resistance to Trumpist delusions, in four days it will be blurred on the path that marks the new theo-technocratic despotism. And be careful, Macron has already gone to Washington to roll out the red carpet for Trump.
