Open the Window

Far Right and Far Left authoritarianisms come to the same thing in practice: oppression of the civil liberties of individuals, and elevation of those in charge above the rule of law. In Hannah Arendt’s account of the matter, both are totalitarianisms that use the same methods of control: strictly policing thought and action to crush opposition, impose conformity to the prescripts of the ideology, and subordinate individuals to the will of the leadership which describes itself as ‘the state’ or ‘the collective’ and pretends to be acting on the latter’s behalf.

There are of course differences between Far Right and Far Left authoritarianisms, chiefly in economic terms. The former not only protects private property but facilitates its accumulation in the hands of its leaders and their supporters, indifferent to the plight of those disadvantaged by the structures (taxation and distribution) designed to funnel the money in one direction. Far Left polities abolish private property and centrally control production and market activity. Accordingly Far Right polities keep and increase social hierarchies and their differing degrees of privilege and subordination, while Far Left polities divide society into two just two ‘classless’ classes: the Party and the rest.

Another notable difference is the place of religion in the two systems. Far Right politics is often allied with religious movements and use them as one of its instrument of control. Far Left dispensations are typically hostile to religion and suppress it.

Given that neither general form of authoritarian polity is at all appetising, what is there to choose between them? Well: historically the Far Right versions place racism and nationalism, moralism, religious hypocrisies and pieites, militarism and social hierarchy among is ornaments. The Far Left claim to be dedicated to universal values, internationalist ‘brotherhood of man’ aspirations, abolition of class, displacement of money as the sole metric of value, and creation of a utopian future – which, as ideals, have a relish to them which makes one wish they were achievable without the help of secret policemen, torture chambers, and the grey mire of oppressed uniformity.

The truth is, one does not wish to live in either Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Russia, the two named being the poster boys of the putatively opposed ideologies, because – to return to the essential point – both have the same net effect of depriving people of civil liberties and the protection of impartial laws that the people have a say in enacting via democratic processes.

The pressing question for us at this precarious juncture of history, when Trump, Orban, Milei, Erdogan and Modi are moving their countries in authoritarian directions, and Far Right parties are on the rise in many of the quondam ‘liberal democracies’ such as Germany, France, the UK, even Australia, is how to oppose the strategies they use to get into power. These consist in what I call the 6 Ds: distraction, deception, diversion, division, distortion, disinformation. ‘Populism’ is the method that uses the 6 Ds: separate ‘the People’ from ‘the Others’ (e.g. immigrants, foreigners, the ‘elite’ in society), blame the Others for the People’s problems (housing, jobs, pressure on health and education services) and exacerbate uncertainties and anxieties, especially economic ones, with simplistic slogans, misinformation, and outright lies. Promote a sense of crisis, promise the People much better things if the Others can be defeated, and then – once in power – ensure that the media, the judiciary, the professors, the constitution, the electoral system, the school curriculum, etc. etc., are reorganised to keep the new leadership in power and the populace under its thumb. Easily done, by the way; cancel media licenses for newspapers and TV stations that disagree with the new regime; pack the benches of the law courts with compliant Party appointees; ban opposition movements by designating them as ‘terrorist organisations’ – and so on: oh, one can easily employ existing tools to change things very swiftly. It’s happening all around us right now.

A key feature of the machinations employed by would-be authoritarians to get into power is: moving the Overton Window so that the view from it is all ‘immigrants flooding in!! taking our jobs!! jumping ahead in the queue at the doctor’s surgery!!’ and making this the focus of the alleged problems and the promised solutions. Moving the window back to where we can see from it the things that really matter – central among them our agency, our personal autonomies, our freedom from coercive overlordship by bullies, our retention of significant choices, our possession of responsibilities and the chance to meet them ourselves – is vital.

So: the strategy in response is to recognise what is happening, call out any of the 6 Ds on spotting it, keep the information flowing and resistance connected, and never submitting. What we stand to lose, in losing our rights, is ourselves.