As regular readers of this blog already know, I do not usually use the expression "far-right" in the same sense as many media outlets.
What are the extreme right and the extreme left, really?
In today's journalism, there is a custom of practically not talking about the "extreme left" and, at the same time, calling "extreme right" any organization or person that disagrees with the progressive consensus that has been assumed by the so-called centrism, represented in Europe by the European People's Party. In my opinion, those who deserve to be called extremists, both on the left and the right, are those who support anti-democratic regimes and those who defend approaches contrary to democracy.
In this sense, today the extreme left is much more abundant than the extreme right. In fact, far-left organizations such as Podemos, Sumar, the BNG, ERC, the Communist Party of Spain and others have no shame in displaying their support for dictatorships such as Cuba and Venezuela, while the extreme right that openly supports dictatorships (such as Russia) is extra-parliamentary in countries such as Spain (let us bear in mind that Vox, which is a democratic party, has been displaying a position openly opposed to the Putin regime).
The influence of Eurasianism on the far right and its ideological metamorphosis
However, even if it is marginal, the far right in the strict sense of the word does of course exist and is adopting increasingly surreal geopolitical positions. The most obvious one has been clearly exposed since the beginning of the large-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine. For the most part, the far right has adopted pro-Russian positions because it shares the anti-Americanism of the far left, as well as its rejection of liberalism, NATO, Israel and even capitalism.
Russian influence at that end of the political map is causing an ideological metamorphosis that would have astonished many right-wing extremists just a few years ago. Until recently, one of the hallmarks of the far right was anti-communism, a rejection of Marxism that is shared by many people on the right, the centre and even the centre-left. That hallmark is becoming increasingly blurred by the influence of the eurasianism of Aleksandr Dugin, an anti-liberal ideologue close to Putin who defends approaches that are a cocktail of fascism, communism and Russian nationalism.
The communist dictatorship of Beijing is also benefiting from this drift
The strongest tendency of the current far right is to claim that ideologies no longer exist and that the Cold War schemes are no longer valid, in the belief that the absolute enemy to be defeated today is no longer communism, but "globalism". A discourse that is also filtering into a part of the conservative right, giving rise to a paradox: at the same time as it denies the existence of ideologies, this part of the right insists on its criticism of socialism and liberalism, lumping together not only parties that call themselves liberal but in reality defend social-democratic theses, but also liberal-conservatives.
This trend is not only in Russia's interest, by bringing the far right and part of the conservative right closer to ideological coordinates that are close to Eurasianism and therefore more conducive to the interests of the Kremlin. The communist dictatorship in Beijing is also clearly benefiting from this trend, which means that many who previously felt a clear and resounding rejection of communism now no longer have any qualms about allying themselves with supporters of Stalinist and Maoist communism, presenting the "Anglos" as the new absolute enemies, in line with the slogans of Moscow and Beijing.
Attacks on Javier Benegas for criticizing the communist dictatorship in Beijing
You don't have to go far to find activists who praise Francisco Franco (a rabid anti-communist who would have abhorred the direction taken by much of the far right) and who at the same time do not hesitate to defend communist China. Just yesterday, one of Spain's most lucid journalists, Javier Benegas, published an excellent article talking about the crisis that the Asian giant is experiencing, exposing the poor management of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the data indicating that the economy of the Chinese territory controlled by Beijing is going down the drain.
As has happened before when a right-wing columnist dared to criticize the Putin regime, Benegas is receiving insults and attacks from defenders of communist China on Twitter. Significantly, among these defenders of the Beijing dictatorship there are extremists from the left and also from the right, in another example of how extremes meet. Once again, the anti-Western extreme right is so self-absorbed with the orders received from Moscow and Beijing that it is unable to admit reality, a reality that very stubbornly challenges the propaganda of two dictatorships that systematically use lies as a means of survival.
The effects of this drift: the case of Venezuela
One wonders how this will end. Will we see many far-right activists renouncing Franco's speeches in favour of Mao's "Red Book"? Or will they not even be concerned about the contradictions between the two and will simultaneously praise them, as some are already doing? One might also wonder how this trend will affect the extreme right's position on, for example, the Venezuelan socialist dictatorship, which is an ally of Russia and China. This explains why some pro-Russian propagandists remain deathly silent on what is happening in that Hispanic American country.
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Photo: Reuters. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
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