Who has normalized a left that hates those who reject a dictatorship?

For years, many have been sold a narrative in which the left is synonymous with democracy and tolerance and the right with dictatorship and hatred.

María Corina Machado and those who are always on the sinister side of history
Six Spanish political parties support dictatorships, and all six are left-wing

It's a story as false as it is stupid, since for a long time, a large part of the left has supported tyrants and criminals like Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara, anti-democrats who established horrendous dictatorships and violated the most basic human rights. That is the left that yesterday acted like the girl in "The Exorcist" when it learned the news of the Nobel Peace Prize for María Corina Machado, the leader of the democratic mobilization in Venezuela against the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.

These reactions have served to reveal what the left really is: a part of the political map where admirers of dictatorships proliferate, without deserving even the slightest criticism from that other part of the left that calls itself "moderate." A few months ago, I explained here that in the Spanish Parliament there are six parties that support dictatorships, and all six are leftist. How many Spaniards are aware of this fact? How many believe that when talking about dictatorships we should think of the right and not the left?

Seeing the attacks against María Corina Machado, we should also ask another question: Who is normalizing a left that hates those who reject a dictatorship? This is a left that calls democrats who fight for freedom "fascists" while supporting dictators like Nicolás Maduro. How is it possible that this left, friends of dictators, has a better public image in the eyes of many than the democratic right?

The political left itself is largely responsible for this situation, but not the only one. Many media outlets, even some that are neither socialist nor communist, have been exhibiting a bias that favors this anti-democratic left. Take a simple look at the media outlets you regularly follow and note some significant details. For example, many media outlets refer to the "far right" to refer to democratic parties that defend their ideas through legal and peaceful means and without supporting any dictatorship, but very few media outlets refer to the "far left," not even to describe parties that support dictatorships or that justify violence for political ends.

This same bias can also be observed in academia and publishing, where the left has held a clear ideological hegemony for decades. In fact, in this field, it's common to suffer cancellations if you hold ideas that oppose those of the left—ideas that are completely legitimate but are frequently treated as if they were intellectual taboos simply for questioning the ideological dogmas of a left that refuses to be contradicted.

However, a considerable part of the responsibility for this situation falls on parties, politicians and ordinary citizens who are not on the left, even some who place themselves on the right but who falter when it comes to fighting the battle of ideas and do not dare to call things by their name, whether out of fear (because we have a left that does not hesitate to justify all kinds of reprisals against those who disagree), lukewarmness or intellectual laziness, since to arm oneself with good arguments one must invest time and effort, while to let oneself be watered by leftist dogmas one simply goes with the flow of the dominant current.

Of course, things are changing, and a growing segment of society has lost its fear of the left. Social media has done much to break the monopoly the media held years ago regarding the debate of ideas. That's why the left is obsessed with controlling social media—that is, with censoring it. I encourage you to rebel against the still-dominant discourse that wants to convince us that outside of the left, everything is "far-right" and that the far left doesn't exist. We mustn't accept any lessons in democracy from the left that supports dictators and spews its hatred against a brave freedom fighter like María Corina Machado.

---

Photo: Engin Akyurt.