Federico Reyes Heroles
I resort to the title of Octavio Paz’s visionary 1983 book. The end of the Cold War, the advance of science, human rights as new motors of the civilizing process, confronted with dictatorships in Latin America and Africa, the eternal conflicts in the Middle East, and “the progressive erosion of the notion of authority, whether governmental or paternal”. Paz turns to French historiography, long and short cycles. There were reasons for optimism; there were also reasons for the opposite. We live in a cloudy time.
How can we imagine that a rich lout who attempted a coup d’état in one of the oldest democracies on the planet, accused of multiple felonies, could return to the presidency of the USA? How to explain Netanyahu’s criminal attitude in denying humanitarian aid access to Gaza. Viktor Orbán, the great strategist of extortion, advises Trump. Who could have imagined that a cavernous right wing would emerge in the Netherlands, as in other European countries? Rob Riemen, unfortunately, got it right – The Art of Being Human – and alerted us. Let us not fool ourselves: it is fascism. The deterioration of Paz’s authority has led to the collapse of a minimum ethic of government, of liberal values that are the foundation of freedom. We are witnesses. It is fascism.
I watched the scenes with astonishment. State police armored vehicles around the beautiful building in Cuernavaca. Reason: the presentation of the book -is excellent despite the introduction- “Against authoritarian regression”. Author: Graco Ramírez, a reference of the left for half a century. It is an account of the origins and ideals of the groups and parties that promoted the opening. They do not recognize themselves in the 4T. A month ago, a well-known private cultural center in the CDMX canceled the space for the presentation. It took place in the Coyoacán municipality. In June 2023, Paco Calderón and Max Kaiser released a text, witty and solid at the same time. The title, Lo que diga tu dedito. A citizen’s manual for the undecided or disappointed. The great Paco’s cartoons and simple but essential texts on how a republic works. So much for that. The time of the presentation was strange. The place -inside the Bosque de Chapultepec- was closing early. Strange. To shake off the thorn. With the generosity of the Club de Industriales, the meeting was very successful and pleasant. Lorenzo Córdova, Pamela Cerdeira, and this writer. Paco and Max, and now Graco. Recidivism, not coincidence.
They were books and public acts, but there is more. In private, the owners of the media talk about the pressures. Lower the tone, put one of our own as a permanent guest, and the reminder, in Orbán’s best strategy, of his “other” interests. There are the changes in the television and radio spaces, the pens expelled from national newspapers. There is a minimal map of oppression that we must not normalize. Coordinated by Roger Bartra, a manifesto was published last March. The axis: equity in the treatment of the media towards campaigns. There were understandable reactions of certain annoyance. Great journalists such as José Cárdenas, whose spaces are crossed by plurality, did not accept the observation. But little was said about the significant distortion. Gálvez and Sheinbaum may be allotted the same time. But Lopez Obrador -with an official megaphone- campaigns illegally every day. Fairness? Last week, once again, AMLO lashed out against Ciro Gómez Leyva unfairly and unlawfully. It is not normal; it is fascism.
Fascism begins with the persecution of ideas and those who expose them. Václav Havel published a shocking essay, The Power of the Powerless, in 1978. The persecution of embodied ideas is the beginning of the fire. We are living it every day. Let us shake our heads. Let us remember Bergman’s The Serpent’s Egg. Beyond parties and sympathies, freedoms are at stake.
Cloudy time.
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