THIS. The rise of political media consultant culture, which began to reach public consciousness at the bitter end of the ’60s and metastasized in the ’90s, has spawned something new and different: transnational networks bent on subverting democratic institutions in ways that are both opportunistic and systematic — like shadow banking or piracy but for politics. National legal mechanisms for addressing them are hopelessly inadequate: we see this with Leave UK, with Trump–Russia, with Salvini in Italy, Bolsonaro in Brazil, and more — and that list will grow and grow until we find ways to deter and defeat these people. But the mechanisms we’ll need will pose a serious challenge to some of the most basic tenets of leftism and progressivism: gauzy ideas about self-determination, sharp lines drawn between civil and military spheres, and even universal human rights. There are precedents for dealing with forces that subvert states: war crimes trials (Nuremberg not ICTY) and truth-and-reconciliation / lustration, for example. But for these networks, which are learning to move quickly to capture entire nations, those ponderous processes won’t be enough: the basic challenge is to make it absolutely, blood-curdlingly terrifying to play these games.
Nitasha Kaul added 2 new photos to the album: Rio, Brazil.
August 21, 2019
Reached Rio on a rainy night, flight delayed for hours, troubles at hotel check in, period, had to go looking food at midnight. But, all that I can manage.
What bothers me is meeting the cabbie, a Bolsonaro supporter in Brazil. Every single thing he said in the course of our conversation, was exactly phrase for phrase similar to my experience with Modi supporters in India.
This is what I call the right wing global political project of our times - an electorally legitimated misogynist authoritarianism, claiming a monopoly on nationalism, pretending to challenge neoliberalism while profiting from it.
It is transnational, it is here, and unless we grow a lot of goodness, understanding, solidarity and knowledge, it is successfully on course to destroying people and the planet.