The Far-Right and the Construction of the Red Enemy in Latin America |
The global rise of far-right parties and governments is a transnational phenomenon that impacts domestic politics and global governance (Abrahamsen et al. 2024; Anievas and Saull 2023; Pinheiro-Machado and Vargas-Maia 2023; Sanahuja and Burian 2023). “Far-right” is used here as an umbrella concept to refer both to right-wing movements and parties that contest normative elements of liberalism—ranging, depending on the specific case, from rejection of multiculturalism and cultural plurality to opposition to representative democracy (Mudde 2019; Pirro 2022). Mudde (2019) divides these groups into the radical right, to represent those who run for elections and accept representative democracy, and the extreme-right, to encompass those who contest democracy itself. Presently existing literature identifies their strategies as involving the discursive construction of enemies. Those are identified in globalized managerial elites and their perceived national allies – especially immigrants, but also other historically marginalized groups, such as Black and LGBTQIA populations (Abrahamsen et al. 2024; Anievas and Saull 2023). In many cases, a nativist discourse is constructed, in which elites and immigrants are read as anti-national (Mudde 2019).
However, this diagnosis derives primarily from case studies from the Global North. Do cases relating to the Global South diverge from or confirm the same perspectives outlined above? What new insights does Latin America bring in the establishment of enemies by the far-right? In this text, we seek to throw light on the specificities of the discursive formation in Latin America, arguing that the discursive construction in the region centres on identifying left-leaning politics as the primary opponent, rather than the managerial global elites. The red enemy appears here as a singular research finding to explain the particularities of the far right in the region, distinguishing itself from examples in the Global North. In this vein, the text shows empirically how far right leaders construct discursive equivalences that make collective action possible in spite of national specificities. The analysis is conducted through two case studies: i) the Madrid Forum, with an analysis of documentation produced by the institution, and ii) the Brazilian editions of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), with an exploratory analysis based on journalistic accounts of such events.
The far-right and the construction of the enemy
The academic discussion on the global emergence of the far-right points to their populist discourse as a common facet. Populism is understood as a political strategy based on the discursive construction of a “people”— articulated as homogeneous and pure — in contrast to the elites — presented as corrupt. The narrative structure constructs a dyad of “us versus them”, proposes a discursive connection between the leader and its electoral base, and seeks “national regeneration”. Based on this narrative, and by building transnational forums, far-right groups foster the idea of unity on a global scale. While building global connections, the expressions of the far right are also plural and localized. In this context, the existence of “discursive equivalences” allows for their mobilization and collective action on a global scale. In the words of Abrahamsen et al (2024, 20):
[…] the contemporary Right has succeeded in developing an opposition between a global managerial elite and diverse ‘people’ in multiple geographical locations. This takes many forms, but it is a key discursive structure that anchors the construction and mobilisation of the radical Right across diverse contexts.
The authors view radical right actions as seeking to form provisional transnational alliances between heterogeneous groups that, in common, identify an enemy in the globalized and “anti-national” elites. In their view, far-right narratives are not univocal, but rather find equivalences for global convergences, through which they perform unity and a shared critique of the international order (Abrahamsen et al. 2024). From this, they identify connections between groups and governments in the Global North and South, forged in opposition to a supposed Western universalism and the defense of an international order permeated by multipolarity and grand civilizations. Thus, they seek to create global alliances with the aim not only of weakening international liberalism but also of replacing it with a common sense based on national and local “traditions” (Abrahamsen et al. 2024).
Similarly, Anievas and Saull (2022) point out how criticism of global governance is constitutive of these rights, as well as the construction of a securitizing rhetoric that presents the Other, the foreigner, as an enemy. In the view of these authors, “Enemy Others can take a variety of forms from ethnic, religious, and racial minorities to liberal ‘globalist’ elites, socialists and communists” (Anievas and Saull 2022, 3). However, they also argue that the contemporary far-right narrative is constituted from the contestation of the international, opposing cosmopolitanism, “immigrants or transnational corporations – that are seen as encroaching upon and corrupting the national economy, along with its’ suspicion of international organizations ‘governing’ the world economy” (Anievas and Saull 2022, 4). Nevertheless, understanding the specificities of the far-right in the Global South is essential for a better understanding of the phenomenon, since they reflect into their political action and conception of global governance. In these countries, the far-right emerged in a context marked by recent economic growth and coexists with important legacies of the authoritarianisms that predominated throughout the 20th century (Pinheiro-Machado, Vargas-Maia, 2023). The causes – as the consequences – of their surge in the Global South may be different than what occurs in the Global North.
In Latin America, as highlighted by Sanahuja, Nilson, and Burian (2024), the far-right came to power after a period of progressive and left-wing policies, commonly defined as the “pink wave”. The progressive cycle was heterogeneous, combining both center-left and moderate-left governments and regimes that challenged capitalism and downplayed liberal democracy. The contemporary right-wing narrative involves both contesting the political phenomenon of the “pink wave” and seeking alliances permeated by a certain degree of subordination with groups from the Global North. Therefore, in Latin America, far-right narrative constructs in opposition to left-leaning politics, labeling as “cultural marxism” issues relating to diversity and inclusion policies, especially feminism and anti-racism. Based on a specific narrative, they create subordinated........