Antiglobalism, a way to distort conservative discourse to the Kremlin's liking

Few things were as predictable as what was going to happen with the so-called "antiglobalism", a concept that has spread in recent years.

Antiglobalism: the risk of repeating the trap of antifascism and anticommunism
Russian ideologue Dugin called to “destroy Catholicism” and “organize assassinations”

Assuming the argumentative framework of Dugin's Eurasianism

In September 2022, I published here an article warning about one of the risks of so-called "antiglobalism", namely that of repeating the plots of antifascism and anticommunism. I warned then that the term "globalism" suffered from a certain imprecision, which made it prone to falling into the traps of eurasianism, the ideology of the fanatic Russian nationalist Alexandr Dugin, a mixture of communism, fascism, Russian nationalism and a deep hatred of Catholicism.

I warned then that I was too often seeing supporters of Dugin and Putin who would brand you a "globalist" if you rejected the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to their supporters, "antiglobalism" would be a rejection of a supposed process to abolish nations and national identities. Putinism has found in this argumentative framework the perfect vehicle to spread its anti-Western slogans, since "antiglobalism" often appeals to conspiracy theories that point to the "globalists" as the origin of all the ills of the West, in line with the Kremlin's theses.

A new political map in line with the Kremlin's slogans

Obviously, this discourse was not likely to be successful on the conservative right, as it is a rather crude simplification of the problems facing Western countries. Moreover, this discourse has a curious tendency to divert attention from the abuses of dictators like Putin and his allies, as well as being very conducive to connecting with the theses of extreme right-wing antisemitism. There are many of us conservatives who support the State of Israel and who reject tyrants like Putin and his allies.

In recent years, Dugin has travelled to various European countries, consolidating a network of organisations that are connected by this "antiglobalist" discourse. In many cases, these are small organisations, but they have gradually managed to gain a significant influence in some conservative political parties, placing in them or around them people who are in agreement with the thesis of Eurasianism and who admire Putin, or at least see him as a minor problem compared to greater "threats" such as NATO or the European Union.

In parallel to this process, "globalism" has gone from being a non-existent or marginal element in the discourse of some of these parties to becoming an obsession, so that the focus of these speeches was also placed on the aspects most conducive to an "antiglobalism" that was already actively promoted in 2019 by Russian state media such as Sputnik, which then published an article by pro-Russian analyst Alfredo Jalife-Rahme explaining what the strategy of this "antiglobalism" was:

"In the present situation, the necessary but insufficient category of 'left' and 'right' has been surpassed and has been replaced by the relentless struggle between 'globalists' and 'nationalists'."

The signs of this process of disfigurement of the conservative right

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin's propaganda barrage aimed at the West, seeking to win over the invaders and weaken Ukraine's position, have led to a change of discourse among a section of the conservative right. Ideological rivals are increasingly identifying themselves less with "socialism", "communism" or "Marxism", but rather with "globalism".

This is how we have begun to read messages attacking liberal-conservatives, presenting them as "boomers" (that is, supporters of an outdated discourse that must be replaced by young people more inclined to the "antiglobalist" discourse), messages saying that there is no longer right or left and that the old ideological differences are no longer meaningless, messages stating that the Cold War schemes are no longer valid (although Russia still has all the communist dictatorships as allies, as was already the case before the fall of the USSR).

Although they have continued to be used occasionally, as they are a way of capturing many right-wing votes, the denunciation of socialism has given way to a curious understanding between that right and the pro-Russian extreme left, as I already warned here in 2023. An extreme left that adores Stalin and supports North Korea, but whose representatives appear on prime-time television programs and at different events where they have the opportunity to generate sympathy in a part of the right that has accepted this scheme of globalism versus nationalism, without realizing that the Kremlin places Russia and its allies in the second group.

The abandonment of important causes of the conservative movement

In some cases, this antiglobalist right has been the protagonist of a complete abandonment of a very important part of the conservative ideology, such as what happened in France with abortion, whose classification as a constitutional right was supported by Marine Le Pen and the majority of her party's legislators, while it was hidden by "antiglobalist" media in other countries.

Something similar happens with Russia, whose pro-abortion law, promoted by Putin's party, is covered with a cloak of silence by the same people who present Moscow as the Third Rome and the Russian dictator as the great hope of Christianity. The same can be said of the fact that Russia is an ally of some of the countries that persecute Christians the most in the world, including North Korea, which is the country where this persecution reaches the highest and most atrocious levels.

In the end, the result of this whole process of disfiguring conservative discourse is an "antiglobalist" right that is getting closer and closer to the theses of Eurasianism, that is less and less critical of Putin's Russia or openly in favor of it and that supports positions that are favorable to the Kremlin's geostrategic scheme, as we are seeing these days with Trump's betrayal of Ukraine and the West, supported in an astonishingly uncritical way by many of his supporters in the US and Europe.

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Photo: Alexandr Dugin.Alexandr Dugin's Eurasianism is devouring the Western Right