Mario Candeias: Understanding the Rise of the Radical Right
Decisive is whether
everyday experience is shaped by practical solidarity or by competition and
isolation. It is not impossible that a successive practice of solidarity could
be more attractive than the imagined self-empowerment of the radical right, without
any solution for everyday problems. It is about a “generalized capacity to act”
on the path toward a common and solidary disposition about our own conditions
of life – “taking back control,” but “for the many, not the few.”
see also
A whiff of evil
Interview with Enzo Traverso on post-fascism, left melancholy, and the memory of defeat
Bangladesh 1971: the forgotten template of 20th century war - by Gita Sahgal
A “helpless
antifascism” focusing too much on the radical right and its agenda, rushing
from one counter-demonstration to another, defensively concedes the chosen
terrain of struggle. We have to develop our own agenda and shift the terrain
with concrete organizing around everyday social problems with connective class
politics, focused not only on the antagonist from above and from the radical
right, but creating its own broader basis for a lived solidarity for all
It is the time of
monsters. The organic crisis of the old neoliberal project has also brought
forth the rise of a new radical right. Yet these monsters are quite different
from one another: we have strong men like Trump, Kurz and Macron – political
entrepreneurs shaping a new authoritarianism from positions of governance.
Theresa May and Boris Johnson act quite similar, with less success, but unlike
the others they are established representatives of authoritarian elite
right-wing conservatism.
They all share an anti-establishment discourse, although they have strong capital factions backing them. The authoritarian-nationalistic regimes in Poland and Hungary (or Turkey) are distinct, and are in turn different from the radical right like the Front National, Geert Wilders’s PVV or the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the Austrian FPÖ and Italy’s Lega – both operating from a position of government. Very different from them, in turn, is the Five Star Movement. How can we understand these formations’ differences and commonalities? This question must be addressed to identify specific tactics and counter-strategies in the concrete countries (see Wiegel 2018).
They all share an anti-establishment discourse, although they have strong capital factions backing them. The authoritarian-nationalistic regimes in Poland and Hungary (or Turkey) are distinct, and are in turn different from the radical right like the Front National, Geert Wilders’s PVV or the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the Austrian FPÖ and Italy’s Lega – both operating from a position of government. Very different from them, in turn, is the Five Star Movement. How can we understand these formations’ differences and commonalities? This question must be addressed to identify specific tactics and counter-strategies in the concrete countries (see Wiegel 2018).
Here, I will try to
tease out a more fundamental question: how can we understand the reasons behind
the rise of the radical right? Many different explanations exist, most of which
are valuable in explaining certain aspects. But they exist in parallel at best,
sometimes even in conflict with one another. So is there a specific relation
that we could flesh out theoretically?.. read more:
https://socialistproject.ca/2018/10/understanding-the-rise-of-the-radical-right/#more-2393see also
A whiff of evil
Interview with Enzo Traverso on post-fascism, left melancholy, and the memory of defeat
Bangladesh 1971: the forgotten template of 20th century war - by Gita Sahgal
Book
review: Is 'Adults in the Room' by Yanis Varoufakis one of the greatest
political memoirs ever?
Sigmund
Freud is out of fashion. The reason? His heroic refusal to flatter humankind
Body pleasure & the origins of violence
Body pleasure & the origins of violence
Ignorance
is Strength-Freedom is Slavery-War is Peace (George Orwell, 1984)
The destructive origins of capitalism: The 'military
revolution' in 16th century Europe. Robert Kurz
