One year of government: the advance of authoritarianism under the flag of freedom

A year after assuming the presidency, I feel that there is still a debate about the characterization of the government of Javier Milei which is usually justifiable in some cases and somewhat naive in others. Let’s recap.

Milei gave his inaugural speech with his back to the National Congressperhaps we did not see it so clearly at that time, but the passage of time and the concatenation of similar events sheds clarity.

Subsequently, he continued to take steps of contempt towards the Legislative Branch. With the Omnibus law and the DNU 70/23 sought to concentrate excessive power in the Executive, undermining the control and work of the National Congress.

Added to that, President Milei took it upon himself to insult all those people who do not think like himand they have a different view of the world. In Milei’s words, the legislators (representatives of the people) “are rats”, 85% of the journalists (those who do not interview him) “are stuffed”, anyone who does not agree with his economic vision is ” a degenerate prosecutor”, and every opposition political leader is attacked by him and his entourage of officials + trolls.

Their “forces of heaven” presented themselves as “the armed arm of the President”, his “praetorian guard” in an act loaded with an aesthetic reminiscent of Mussolini’s Italy. No one from the Government came out to raise differences with the message of its followers. In these cases, silence authorizes.

Now I wonder What should we call such leadership? I believe that it must be done without doubts and without detours, there is only one way to call it: fascist.

Fascism is not just an ideology anchored in the past; It can be reborn under new forms and leaderships that, disguised as modern discourses and the defense of the free market, replicate authoritarian, antidemocratic, autocratic patterns. In Argentina, Javier Milei represents a contemporary example of this phenomenon. His leadership, characterized by contempt for institutions, the imposition of a single vision of reality and the persecution of any view that does not agree with his ideas, shows clear features of that practice. And his particular link with Congress and with the voices that are expressed there is a clear example of that.

The German philosopher Hannah Arendt He described as fascist those leaders who seek to eliminate pluralism, political discussion and diversity of thought for the unification of society in a single vision: their own. And this is precisely what you are looking for Javier Miliei, eliminate any space for dissent and concentrate power absolutely.

That’s how things are. For a year now, Argentine democracy has been under a model that is neoliberal economically, ultra-conservative, violent and inhumane socially, and fascist politically. The government seeks to impose an economic model focused on deregulation, privatization and inequality. Socially, Libertad Avanza goes deeper, attacks social rights won over decades, promotes violent discourse that stigmatizes minorities, reinforces regressive stereotypes, and represses those who democratically seek to express their position. But it is on the political level where Milei reveals his true authoritarian nature, seeking to empty Congress, close one of the powers of the republic, empty it of political discussion.

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The President gave his speech with his back to Congress and continued throughout the year taking steps of contempt towards the Legislative Branch.

However, one year after Milei’s inauguration there is another clarity: that of the construction of a political alternative that respects plurality, the rights of the Argentine people and human dignity; that builds a better horizon in the world of work, productive and economic; and above all things, once again raise the flags of a full democracy, built between bonds of solidarity, hope and love for others.

The invitation is to feed hope, to convene all those who think that limits can be placed on this government. There is another way of doing things, far from authoritarianism, hatred and aggression. For the historical mandate of those who fought so hard for a sovereign and more just Argentina, let us go out to persuade, to convene, to convince. paraphrasing Bertolt Bretch “Let us not accept what is habitual as a natural thing. In times of disorder, of organized confusion, of dehumanized humanity, nothing should seem natural. Nothing should seem impossible to change.”

President of the Block of National Deputies for Union for the Homeland