In the name of raison d'état, as a sacred principle, rights are violated and freedoms are seized that, under normal circumstances, no one would dare deny. Law enforcement officers and secret agents of fiction, like Harry the Brute or James Bond, displayed unorthodox methods to confront criminal scum. Each in their own style, from brutal violence to glamorous service to Her Majesty. But the "licence to kill" of flesh-and-blood personnel, from the CIA to the GAL, was secretly exercised through the maneuvers of the deep state, without legal coverage.
The rule of law implies the separation of powers, so that the executive branch does not run rampant, and the right to due process, without uncontrolled raids or extrajudicial killings. But democracy is not just a matter of procedure. At its core lies human dignity as an inalienable value and the primacy of the public interest over private gain. Public safety and national defense are the perfect excuse to perpetrate abuses under a veneer of legitimacy. Conceptual ammunition for cognitive warfare, parallel to the declared war, preached by the apostles of necropolitics, like Trump or Netanyahu. The idea that anything goes against the enemy is an old one. Classical fascism excelled at the magnification and demonization of the enemy, even in its fabrication. It is frightening that the same dogs, with different collars, continue to bite. Against "illegals" (without papers, not criminals), raids are ordered wherever they are looking for work, not trouble. Against an inflated crime rate, based on a lack of real data, the National Guard is being deployed in Washington and other Democratic strongholds. Against drug trafficking, "extrajudicial killings"—indiscriminate murders, not "irregular" actions—are being carried out in third countries…
Meanwhile, under the guise of civil self-defense, there is a sector that openly demands a license to torture. In Israel, soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian prisoner—beaten and sodomized with a pointed object, almost to death—in the sinister prison camp of Sde Teiman They were released amid displays of support from ultranationalists. Conversely, the head of the army's legal services who leaked the video has been dismissed and arrested for protecting the internal investigation from interference. This case is not the only one, but the latest, in a strategy of mistreatment targeting healthcare personnel. It undermines the international consensus that national security can never be invoked to prevent the disclosure of human rights and humanitarian law violations. According to the Tshwane Principles (in which, among others, two UN special rapporteurs participated), information that cannot be buried includes: a full description of the acts or omissions, the dates and circumstances in which they occurred, and the records where they are documented; the names of those responsible and the chain of command; the causes of the violations; and the failure to prevent them. Nor can the laws that authorize the state to take a life be kept secret, nor the protocols regarding deprivation of liberty, including the reasons for and conditions of detention and the methods of interrogation. There is nothing we should know!
To get the full picture, the approval for "prophylactic" physical violence must be followed, upon its return, by the license to steal. There is a pragmatic view that considers corruption a lesser evil. The expression "robba, mas faz("clothes, but it gets things done") was coined in Brazil to explain the limited electoral punishment of dishonest politicians in light of economic progress. The theory holds true in any context where information is scarce or unreliable—in the hands of polarized media—and where no alternatives are in sight ("they're all the same"). It also reflects the collective mood when only those with powerful parents or patrons or a political party that sponsors them get ahead.
Now, of all things, the "clothes but protects us" mentality is triumphant, an approach Trump unabashedly champions, as he demonstrated regarding the bribery and influence-peddling accusations plaguing Netanyahu. "A few cigars and champagne... who cares?" he exclaimed, while staging the peace agreement with Palestine. Integrity and decency are no longer subordinated to efficiency, but to a higher good: national defense. Corruption becomes commonplace, and anyone who speaks out is ridiculed, even suspected.
The US and Israel serve as a testing ground for how rights can be shattered in the name of security. At the same time, they challenge us to consider the consistency of our convictions. We might hope that the ripple effect won't reach us, but I fear that's overly optimistic. Data shows how the population, in a context of permissive leadership, is more lenient with abuses of power. It's every man for himself. Nor has the experience of the Franco dictatorship inoculated us against ultra-conservative extremism. Even in democracy, bodies have been buried in quicklime, detainees have been tortured (Spain has accumulated eleven condemnations from the Strasbourg Court), and false evidence has been fabricated against political opponents. In Catalonia, Irídia is pursuing more than fifty lawsuits for police repression. Even today, members of the armed forces are bound hand and foot by professional secrecy when it comes to reporting abuses. And the Spanish law to protect whistleblowers (2023) leaves out the reprisals they may suffer when the infringement affects classified information or contracts that compromise "essential interests" for the security of the State"A minefield."
For the narrative of security and defense as absolute goods to triumph, it requires exaggerating the danger and deflating dissent. This is the direction we are heading. Fear is a malleable emotion that hinders judgment and nullifies compassion. The dilemma of what should prevail in any human community is fundamental and eternal: the rule of force or the force of reason.
