The State of the World

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Afp
La Jornada Maya

Martes 30 de octubre, 2018

Last week, in my article [i]Dystopia[/i], I expressed my concerns about the world today.

It seems that everyone has an obsession with Donald Trump that stands little chance of ebbing in the foreseeable future.

Either Trump, or those who would like to emulate him, continue to dominate headlines, leaving the rest of the political spectrum in many countries seemingly invisible to the American conscience.

This week, as a deranged Trump supporter sent pipe bombs to former Presidents Obama and Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, and eleven other prominent Democrats, Trump brayed that this “pipe bomb thing” was detracting from the good news that his administration has and that the climate of hatred and division that currently exists in the United States is the fault of the mainstream media.

In Trump’s view, calling out his lies is fake news and should not be allowed. If he had his way, the media would be muzzled and, in his own words describing the obedience of North Koreans toward their leader, people would sit up and listen respectfully when Trump speaks.

[i]FOX News[/i]’s Lou Dobbs went a step further claiming that the bombing incidents were committed by Democrats seeking to discredit Republicans in the days leading up to the mid-term elections. How sad for him and other apologists when a rabid Trump supporter, well known among Trumpistas, was arrested and charged with a number of federal counts.

With respect to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump attempted to defend the Saudis as long as he could. He claimed that, as in the recent case of accusations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it was a case of “guilty until proven innocent”. When his own Defense Secretary James Mattis came out and called the Saudis on this heinous crime, Trump finally criticized the quality of the Saudi cover-up.

And following the disgusting attack by a known right-wing extremist on a Pittsburgh synagogue that claimed eleven Jewish lives, Trump tried to fault the Jewish congregation for not having an armed guard on duty (forgetting that the attacker shot and wounded three well-armed police officers). As is his wont, he never apologizes for his own speeches in which he fuels the sense of hatred and division that is threatening or claiming innocent lives in the United States.

As many of you know, there are thousands of people fleeing the violence in Central America heading towards the United States through Mexico in search of refuge. Once again Trump and his vice-president claimed that the lines of women and children had been infiltrated by Middle Eastern terrorists (without offering or even claiming to have a shred of proof), and that Venezuela is financing this massive movements of migrants.

If we think that the United States is the only country in the world in which the inmates seem to have taken over the asylum, think again.

No region is immune.

In Brazil, an extreme right-wing President has been elected.

Jair Bolsonaro has promised to sell off all indigenous lands insisting that they assimilate or die in the process, to shoot criminals indiscriminately, and has waxed eloquent about the virtues of military dictatorships. He promises to leave the Paris Climate Change Agreement, although Brazil’s Amazonian jungle is the major creator of oxygen on earth. He promises to open the Amazon region up to the development and exploitation of extractive industries in this region – the lungs of the world.

He has claimed that the Brazilian military dictatorships should have killed its opponents in the seventies and eighties (like the Argentine military did), and has a Congressman son, Eduardo, who claims that if the Supreme Court objects to Bolsonaro’s policies, the military will simply close it down. Indeed, Eduardo Bolsonaro is reported to have met with Trump confidant Steve Bannon and both seem to be on a similar page against what they call “cultural Marxism”.

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and is poised to join the ranks of the United States, Turkey, Hungary, Nicaragua, Venezuela, the Philippines, and others whose governments have weakened or destroyed democratic institutions and the free press to consolidate power in the hands of one leader and his followers.

Such moves by Bolsonaro (should they see the light of day) could well throw Latin America into a tailspin since his MERCOSUR partners, although on the right of the political spectrum, have avoided saying or doing anything that could damage their own democratic credentials.

In Canada, journalist Daniel Leblanc of the Globe and Mail reported on October 28, 2018 that Conservative opposition leader Andrew Scheer claims that the media are biased towards the ruling Liberals and all progressives, in a tone reminiscent of his coreligionist to the South.

Like Trump, Scheer is busy creating a narrative of division and suspicion as he prepares to challenge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2019.

Another senior Conservative parliamentarian, Michelle Remphel, accused the Prime Minister this week of condoning bestiality and thus placing Canadians in danger. Where this came from no one knows, but it is reminiscent of Trump’s predilection to lie outright to fan the flames of his right-wing core. Throw the mud against the wall and see what sticks seems to be the prevalent strategy at play here.

No region is immune.

Those who would oppose such developments in the United States or in other countries would do well to come out to vote in large numbers on election days everywhere. The autocrat’s followers are closely knit and will do the leader’s bidding. Unfortunately, the same is not true for those who prefer democracy to autocracy.

The 2016 U.S. elections and the recent BREXIT vote in the United Kingdom demonstrated the danger of staying home on Election Day.

To all of my U.S. friends who care about democracy and its longevity, please go out to vote on November 6th. Absent your vote, not only the United States, but also the rest of the world, could well continue on the downward slope towards illiberalism and authoritarianism.

And we will all lose.

[email protected]