by Yorgos Mitralias
“It is our moral duty to defend the legacy of our western civilisation. The West is in danger…We must stand together, establishing channels of cooperation throughout the world. We could call ourselves a right-wing international, a network of mutual assistance made up of all those interested in spreading the ideas of freedom around the world“. This call for the founding of a far-right International must be taken very seriously. Firstly, because the man who uttered these words is not just anyone: he is the President of Argentina and the darling of fascists and other right-wing extremists the world over, Javier Milei. Then, because among those who applauded them were former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, the leader of Vox and the Spanish Franquists Santiago Abascal, the strategist of international neo-fascism Steve Bannon, and above all the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump. And also, because this appeal was launched during the recent meeting in Buenos Aires of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the very powerful and inescapable organization of American reactionaries, which is becoming increasingly international and far-right radical. And finally, because eminent figures from the global far right, such as Italy’s meta-fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban, have already spoken out in favor of the creation of such an International.
But that’s not all. What makes this appeal even more credible, and therefore even more alarming, is that international big business is now showing increasing interest in, if not support for, Milei and his ideas, which until recently were considered far-fetched and extremist. Take, for example, Britain’s The Economist, the flagship of the international financial press, which a few days ago had no hesitation in praising Milei and his economic “exploits”. So much so, in fact, that the same Economist went so far as to advise Trump to forget his protectionism, follow Milei’s example and apply during his new presidency the…shock therapies of Argentina’s very libertarian president. And to be honest, Economist’s praise seems to find a following, as Trump’s victory means that Milei, until recently a pest, is now gaining favor in the right-wing press of European countries…
However, it’s safe to assume that this sudden turn by Europe’s mainstream media in favor of Milei’s policies isn’t due to ideological affinity alone. Clearly, it is also due to the fact that, as a good libertarian, Milei advocates total freedom of trade, i.e. a policy diametrically opposed to the aggressive protectionism preached by Trump. This protectionism obviously frightens the European bourgeoisie, all the more so as Trump is multiplying his threats to impose exorbitant tariffs on their products.
In fact, it is precisely Trump’s protectionist policies that should divide the international far right, making it impossible for it to unite all its forces in a single International. For example, it’s hard to see how Trump’s America and Putin’s Russia could coexist in the same International for long, when Trump is threatening to impose 100% tariffs on products from BRICS member countries, if these countries, including Russia, adopt policies that “de-polarize” the global economy and undermine the supremacy of the dollar. On the other hand, Milei, who is opposed to all protectionism and should therefore align himself with the Brics, has already categorically ruled out Argentina joining the Brics, which do not share his libertarian policies at all.
However, these very real difficulties in building a Brown International should not lead us to believe that its creation is doomed to failure. For, even divided, neo-fascists and other right-wing extremists still have the wind in their sails, coordinating, going on the attack and threatening our rights, our freedoms and our lives as never before in 80 years. In fact, as we wrote more than two years ago, in August 2022, “Not since the end of the last world war has the threat of a reinvigorated, aggressive and almost universally rising far right been felt as much as today. Why is this so? Because, contrary to what happened during the last six or seven decades, this threat no longer comes from a few small groups or even small parties of nostalgic people from the interwar period, but from a new, unabashed right-wing that governs or is about to govern even countries that are catalogued among the greatest powers in the world!” (1)
However, this is no time for resignation or defeatism, as one piece of good news after another shows that nothing is lost yet, and that those on the ground continue to fight, sometimes successfully. For example, the French radical left is thwarting Macron’s anti-democratic plans by bringing down the Barnier government. Or, above all, the South Korean people and their exemplary mobilization, who not only aborted the reactionary, war-mongering president’s coup d’état, but also went on the counter-attack. And most of all, the people (in arms) of Syria, who brought down the butcher Assad Jr. and his regime, one of the most barbaric, bloodthirsty and reactionary of the last half-century.
More than two years ago, we wrote that “the very real prospect that Putin could join forces with a re-installed Trump II in the White House in two years’ time should be taken very seriously by anti-fascists and democrats around the world who need to prepare their fightback as soon as possible. With or without a Brown International, the far right is now an existential threat to us all“. Unfortunately, although this prediction – described by some as “catastrophist” at the time – has come true, the international left continues to underestimate the danger, and is proving as incapable of mobilizing to confront the neo-fascist threat as the left (communist and social-democrat) of the ’30s.
Yet the Milei appeal, a decisive step towards the creation of the Brown International, should remind us that time is running out as never before in the last 80 years. So, are we going to see history repeat itself and fascist barbarism triumph without our reacting before it’s too late?
Note
1. Towards the Brown International of the European and global far right?: https://www.cadtm.org/Vers-l-Internationale-Brune-de-l-extreme-droite-europeenne-et-mondiale