1. Portraits. The immigrant hunt organized by the far right in Torre Pacheco is yet another warning of the threats to democracy. And it's no small feat. The targeting—elevated to persecution—of people who come from abroad to survive, to find work unavailable in their places of origin, has become an alibi upon which the far right builds and attempts to legitimize its xenophobic discourse and aims: Spanishness as a self-evident characteristic of people, as a condition for recognition of people, a mechanism for patriotic unification. As always, using the weakest as scapegoats—and using lies as an argument for legitimization. This case, like so many others, stems from one fake: from the image of the attack by some young ultras, those who are now outraged, on an elderly person from Alicante. The narrative is in reverse, with an obsession with constructing a portrait of the enemies and turning the fight against them—filled with hatred, but also expressive of one's own weakness—into a political priority.
It is Vox's discourse, evidently, that points to emigrants as culprits who come to take jobs in order to politically speculate on the discontent of certain social sectors; and, thus, construct their patriotic, sexist, and authoritarian discourse, which proclaims the hegemony of men in society and the subjugation of anyone who questions their triad. We all know that hatred and resentment are a force to be reckoned with in society and that they are instruments of mobilization in critical circumstances. And it's undeniable that we are at an extremely delicate moment, in which the liberal societies of industrial capitalism and the institutions that governed them—liberal democracies—are in clear decline. They are struggling to evolve to meet the demands of a perhaps different economic and communication system. Social media is overwhelming society; it's hard to grasp their scale and prevent them from neutralizing the democratic system.
If it hadn't been made clear enough, Donald Trump has the virtue of making this clear, with his macho, self-importance, devoid of any respect or consideration for others. And, therefore, he leaves no excuse for ignorance, unscrupulously leading the twilight of democracy. And this is the issue that should be the priority right now and that, for the moment, is driving the sad spectacle of a European political class in a state of neglect that is irresponsibly paving an unstoppable path to the far right. Liberals are discovering authoritarianism, conservatives are insisting on patriotism, social democracies are becoming less differentiated, and the left is fading. And we're surprised that the far right is setting the pace right now.
2. Networks. We return to the same old passions: hatred of the other, the imposition of good and evil on one's own, expressed in ways that are increasingly less differentiated from their past manifestations; updated variations of fascism, we call post-democratic authoritarianism. And the far right is growing while liberals, Christian democrats, and social democrats are fading away. In a politics that is increasingly played out on social media, which, as we all know, also have owners—and more powerful ones than those who formally command. It is increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from lies, noise through repetition is increasingly prevalent, and those who make a virtue out of denying limits are gaining more and more appeal.
A discourse that also carries a high risk: denying some problems to emphasize others has the consequence that pointing out evil serves to distract us from the real problems and capitalize on the discomfort this generates, projecting people onto enemies that are not ours. No, immigration is not to blame for Hispanic problems. On the contrary, immigration, which is necessary and contributes, and, among other things, performs jobs that others don't want to do, is used to fuel the base passions, the neurotic tendencies we all have, the search for someone to blame for our miseries, and in this way, the destruction of democracy. "The result," as Quinn Slobodian says, "is a strengthening of the executive branch to the detriment of the rule of law," and a contamination of the legislative and judicial branches.
Journalist Mariane Pearl says: "The human condition cannot afford fatality." And yet, it seems as if at this moment a single impulse dominates the political scene: an authoritarian tendency that is causing the number of democracies worthy of the name to rapidly decline. We don't have to look far; look around us: Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. Who is setting the pace? Because the right after the other is yielding to the extreme right and giving it a free pass. And Feijóo talking about saunas as if nothing were happening. Spain seemed to have escaped, and now it's here. It seems memory doesn't count. Are Europeans surrendering to fate?
