Far-right leaders are winning across the globe. Blaming ‘the economy’ or ‘the left-behinds’ won’t cut it | Richard Seymour
Far-right leaders are winning across the globe. Blaming ‘the economy’ or ‘the left-behinds’ won’t cut it | Richard Seymour
The economy matters, but the likes of Trump succeed by offering voters revenge for problems both real and imagined, says author and Salvage founder Richard Seymour
The rhythm of far-right successes began with Viktor Orbán’s landslide in Hungary’s 2010 parliamentary election. Since Narendra Modi’s victory in the 2014 Indian general election, it has scarcely paused: Trump’s first ascent to the White House, the Brexit vote and Rodrigo Duterte’s success in the Philippines all took place in 2016. Two years later, Jair Bolsonaro scored an upset in Brazil. Since the pandemic, the Brothers of Italy won the Italian general election in 2022 and Javier Milei took the Argentinian presidency in 2023. For most of this period, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud has ruled Israel in coalition with far-right parties. Even where it is not in power, the far right is gaining, as in France and Germany. In the long view, the defeat of Trump in 2020 and Bolsonaro in 2022 were predictable oscillations in a general pattern of ascent.
Why does the far right keep winning? Is it “the economy, stupid”, as James Carville put it during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential run? The idea that far-right voting reflects a protest by the economically “left behind” is quite popular.
There is a kernel of truth to this: the state of the economy was the single biggest motive for Trump voters in 2024. Liberals, snarking about the “vibecession” – the mistaken belief by the public that the economy is in recession – say GDP is growing and inflation is modest at 2.4%. But headline figures don’t reflect how most people experience the economy. Prices are 20% higher than before the pandemic and, more importantly, prices for essentials such as food are up 28%. Household debt was a major stress factor. Biden also cut a raft of popular benefits established during the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, most people don’t believe the headline figures.
I blame social media algorithms. Delete your YouTube history and see how fast it suddenly tries to radicalize you.
Right-wing propaganda is funded by capitalists on all aspects of social media in tandem with the aims of the Republican Party. Right now there really isn't any counterbalance
Yep, I see it with my own video feed. I'll watch a video with the faintest right wing connection, say something about a game studio struggling with trolls. Then I'll start getting videos suggested bitching about "woke games". I tell it not to suggest those videos and they'll go away for a little bit, but eventually it starts trying to creep them back in. The algorithm is constantly trying to push people to the extremes.
This is horribly true. I hardly ever use youtube. I only use it to see followups on the war on ukraine. The quality of the videos that are shown to me is repulsive. I cant understand how anybody could fall for that shit.
Titles like "<famous person> spoke the truth on <center left periodist> face: shut the fuck up, you are just a dirty communist" all in caps because they are obviously needed. Tons of titles like that. This shit is being crafted by someone.
Slava Ukraini
I don't have it and I keep being a non-radicalized idiot.
Neoliberalism utterly failing to staunch the ransacking of the working class due to capitalism
”Why is the right gaining momentum???"
The right wants nothing more than to accelerate the process, so I can't see how that connects.
To someone politically literate, that much is clear as day.
For the average person, they are easily tricked by false promises that the right will do the opposite. :(
Bad thing happens.
Side A says bad thing is actually good and wants to continue bad thing.
Side B says bad thing is bad but actually wants to continue bad thing.
Post-1989 globalist liberalism failed to improve QoL, pure and simple. Across the western world, people have watched international trade deals do nothing but siphon jobs and wealth out of their homes
The issue isn't international trade, you'd have these exact same problems with no trade happening at all. The issue is unregulated (or poorly regulated) markets. So many monopolies and duopolies, and the most extreme income inequality. They need to start taxing the fuck out of the billionaire class and breaking up corporations like it's an Olympic sport and they're going for gold. Bring back 90%+ taxes on the billionaires.
"Guns don't kill people, people kill people""the issue isn't liberal globalism, the issue is unregulated markets."Of course no one is arguing on halting all international trade but the same brainrot idealogy that encourages maximum globalism also encourages finding the least-regulated and most profitable trade partners. Until the entire globe can adopt a different paradigm, you can't reconcile those two components as not being inextricably linked. There's no possible scenario where global liberal capitalism doesn't produce unregulated, monopolistic, wealth-concentrating trade.
I like to believe this, too, but then I look around.
Giant houses, giant trucks, luxury goods, motorsport toys, boats, guns.... the people backing this stuff today are way better off than their parents were. 🤷♂️
Debt, debt, debt, and debt. Most people don't own anything in "their" home and probably never will.
Not to mention the fact that most of those (giant houses, trucks) are just people buying the only options on the market.
Fascism is capitalism in crisis. People are overwhelmingly disillusioned with the neoliberal status quo (for good reason). The problem is that neoliberalism always keeps the fascist monsters on the leash, while smothering anticapitalist movements entirely. In times of crisis like now, people look for an alternative to the same bullshit politics that got us here, and the only viable alternative is fascism. Lot's of people want the liberal parties to be a real alternative, but they are wholly beholden to capital, and thus unable/unwilling to represent a more humane radicalism as an alternative.
"Blaming the economy won't cut it."
blames the economy
I for one blame the misinformation machine, the radicalizing echo chambers, and the reactionary and inflamatory nature of social media that the internet has propogated over the last couple decades.
For the common people the economy isn't the countries GDP or some DOW Jones, or the value of their currency. Stock market values are useless for the middle and lower class when a small minority owns over 90% of them.
If left wing and progressives really want to address this issue then they need to stop using these kind of figures. They need to address what people actually care for. Everyday costs.
The left aren’t using those figures. Centrist neoliberals who the media class masquerade as the left use those figures.
They need to address what people actually care for. Everyday costs.
Costs versus wages is a better metric to target. Costs always go up unless there's deflation. Wages should go up to match.
The elites have been doing very well since 2010. They froze wage increases and broke the long standing history of them raising with inflation and pocketed an enormous amount of extra profit as a result. Most don't benefit from GDP growth now, they just get poorer due to inflation further eroding their stagnate wages. GDP hasn't been a measure that matters to the average person in 14 years.
Yup. If the elites (ie: economists, politicians, etc) don't start paying attention to the majority of us who are barely making it, why should we believe them when they say 'but the economy is doing well'?
But headline figures don’t reflect how most people experience the economy. Prices are 20% higher than before the pandemic and, more importantly, prices for essentials such as food are up 28%.
