Federico Reyes Heroles
It might seem ethereal, but it is very concrete. The West refers to concepts central to a life of freedom: representative democracy, human rights, equality, and the separation of powers. From this emerged the social and political organization that has given humanity the most freedom and stability: democracy, always at risk. That is what is at stake in the world today: the ontological essence of the West and the values that, fortunately, have been spreading. They belong to the democrats.
The West resulted from a long civilizing march that slowly tamed the worst human instincts. It didn’t extirpate them; they are still there. The battle is never-ending. There’s Rwanda. But progress is undeniable, especially in the second half of the 20th century. Edgar Morin, the great French sociologist, published a reminder of this process’s recent and fragile nature in 2005, A Short History of Barbarism in the West. Since then, he has warned of its urgency: “… Homo sapiens, with his rational spirit, can at the same time be Homo demens, capable of delirium, of dementia”. Morin is clear Nazism, and Stalin’s reign embodies the paroxysm of dementia. The racism that led to the Holocaust was the great shame of humanity and the dictatorial system that ruled a third of the world, leading it to hell. Its descendants still cavort in North Korea, Laos, Cuba, and Albania. The mass destruction of man by man, the worst cancellation of fundamental human freedoms, was their legacy. Now we see the challenger co-ruler of the White House, Elon Musk, repeating the Nazi salute, followed by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and Mexican corypheus Eduardo Verástegui. A Michigan priest, C. Robinson, also joined in the worldwide provocation.
The fundamental controls on human insanity emerged after the Second World War, with the United Nations and the two dozen institutions responsible for assuming the global, supranational vision for the benefit of all. They are already part of our lives without us even realizing it. What would civil aviation be without the ICAO, international maritime navigation without rules, labor regulations without the ILO, or the alarms of the World Health Organization or the policies of the FAO – food and agriculture – and the Agricultural Development Fund? What would become of the world economy without the hated International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, or atomic energy unchecked? In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from UNESCO, which he considered an absurd expense. Fortunately, the country returned in 2023. Now, he is removing the leading scientific force from the World Health Organization. This weakens the organization and its capacity to respond to health crises. In 1948—when the construction of the multilateral organizations Trump hates began—an atmosphere of solidarity from rich countries towards poor countries was explicit. Quotas are based on that assumption. We are all on the same planet.
Thus, Trump abandons hundreds of thousands of people at risk – babies included – of contracting HIV. Zero tests, zero antiretrovirals, let the curse walk alone. The same applies to climate change: it doesn’t exist. The US can go it alone. What ignorance! USAID promoted democratic values. Kaput.
Now, it is threatening Ukraine to favor his ally, Putin. Forget Crimea; forget the invading Putin, who violates international agreements. Putin is a dictator; he contradicts the democratic principles of the West. With what moral authority can Trump blame Hamas for the horrors it commits—such as the “parade of corpses”—when he openly supports Netanyahu?
The far right is advancing in Europe, calling into question the equality of human beings. Migrants – for various reasons, from climate to security (Mexico) – are the favorite villains.
The West includes the UN, NATO, the European Union, and those who want freedom.
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