-OpEd-
MADRID — We are witnessing the spectacular, and so far unstoppable, rise of fascism in all its forms. The latest act of this drama played in the United States, with the clear victory of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump in the November 2024 presidential election. His program — beyond the demagogy and grandiloquent statements — did not hide its intentions, which are in fact already materializing.
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This includes the abolition of basic social rights for women, occupation of institutions, persecution and expulsion of migrants, attack on policies that address climate change and unrestricted support for fossil fuels, suppression of basic constitutional guarantees, tax cuts for the rich and corporations and massive mobilization of resources toward business oligarchies, withdrawal from multilateral organizations and imperial aspirations (Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada) and intention to apply harsh protectionist policies.
This full-blown offensive, led by the most important capitalist power, will have consequences not only at a national level but also on a global scale.
A criminal U.S. president
Trump has been benefitting from the unreserved support of the heads of large companies (and not just big tech companies), who have provided him with unlimited financial and media support. He was accused of instigating a coup in 2021 to prevent Joe Biden from accessing the presidency. And he has several firm judicial convictions for document forgery and different sexual assaults.
The United States is now led by a criminal, who has not concealed his intentions. On the contrary, he has expressed them without any shame. Well, this character is resuming the presidency (this is his second term).
One very important fact, which the left should take note of, is that he is doing so thanks to broad electoral support from a substantial part of the workers most affected by the crisis and the globalization of the markets, as well as from the most vulnerable population groups, whose living conditions will certainly get worse with the application of Trumpist policies.
Some European governments — such as Italy, Hungary and Poland — have enthusiastically celebrated Trump’s election, as it could represent enormous support for their policies.
Meanwhile, others, such as Spain and EU institutions, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the forefront, have called for prudence and declared themselves willing to collaborate with the new U.S. administration, while defending the idea of Europe, as a reality and as a project.
Another Europe
But what kind of Europe proclaims itself as an alternative to Trumpism and the so-called illiberal democracies?
We can grasp at straws — we are used to it — in the face of fascism’s unstoppable rise. But I am convinced that appealing to the Europe that really exists or to more Europe (with a full stop on the one we already know) is not the right thing to do. In fact, this alignment, which is not new, is not preventing the extreme right from receiving increasingly broad electoral support and, in some cases — such as those mentioned above — from entering governments.
Today’s Europe, which we should focus on, cannot have another starting point. It is very far from that Europeanist dream (naive, deformed and self-centered) talking about progress, equality, convergence and human rights.
The growing power of oligopolies, the refusal to apply progressive fiscal policies, the occupation of public spaces by business elites, the failure in the fight against climate change, the increase in inequality in the distribution of income and wealth, the growth of military spending, the subordination to the aggressive strategy of NATO and the United States, the violation of human rights in matters of immigration, the indecent complacency with which the genocide against the population of Gaza is contemplated. Is that the Europe we are talking about?
Most major trade unions and left-wing parties have been unable to reverse these dynamics.
The reality I have just outlined in broad strokes, has nothing to do with the Europeanist flag that is presented as a counterweight to Trumpism. This drift has given and is still giving political space to fascism and to the right in general, generating disaffection and skepticism among broad groups of the population, to which contributes a way of doing politics, in form and content, that only counts on the population in electoral consultations.
Putting the icing on the cake are most major trade unions and left-wing parties that supposedly represent the interests of workers and the popular classes. Anchored in the institutional machinery of the possible and of dialogue without confrontation, they have been unable to reverse these dynamics.
If, in the face of rising fascism, the dominant position is “let us defend this Europe, the one embodied by liberal democracies,” if there is no convincing commitment to Another Europe, other economic policies supported by the mobilization of the popular classes, the battle is lost and the powerful coalition of interests — political, media, business, financial – committed to unrestricted predatory capitalism will prevail.
