On the Banality of Evil: Whitewashing Authoritarian Populists
Photo by davide ragusa on Unsplash
Years ago, as I had just moved to Accra and was getting acclimated to the hot days and the new environment, I remember spending hours reading in my room, enthralled by Hannah Arendt’s book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. This book reported on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the major ochestrators of the Holocaust, exploring how evil – monstruous acts – can be carried out by ordinary people, as was the case in Nazi Germany, a prime example of cruelty rooted in othering and dehumanization.
Such cruelty unfortunately is not a remnant of the past. I don’t think there are words to capture the cruelty inflicted by Iranian leaders, one of the strongest authoritarian regimes of our time. As many across the world are demonstrating in solidarity of the brave women and people of this country who are standing in power and risking their lives for their freedom (this past weekend tens of thousands demonstrated in Berlin and across the world in favor of the revolution) other political leaders also stand together, but in a much more different movement.
Far-right leader of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), Giorgia Meloni, has now become the first female Prime Minister of Italy.
There is absolutely nothing surprising about Viktor Orbán, of Hungary (officially considered an electoral autocracy now), congratulating Giorgia Meloni’s access to power. Or in the far-right Vox of Spain joining in the celebrations.
But it was Ursula Von Der Leyen’s tweets that reminded me of Hannah Arendt’s book and her writing on totalitarianism. To be clear: I am not saying that we can equate today’s rise of the far-right with the history of Nazism, but have we turned a corner in the whitewashing and mainstreaming of authoritarian populists in Europe?
Above: tweets by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen congratulating Giorgia Meloni on her appointment and expressing her will to work together to address “critical challenges of our time.”
Let’s not be naïve. Giorgia Meloni was democratically elected in fair and free elections. Ursula von der Leyen serves as the President of the European Commission and has to engage with the elected leaders of all European countries. One of the parties of the new Italian government is a member of von der Leyen’s party group at the EU. Engaging with Meloni is inevitable, and in a world of realpolitik, a game that all will play.
All parties involved know what’s in it for them. Meloni has tempered her discourse and taken a stronger stance as a pro-EU, pro-NATO, and pro-Ukraine leader, especially in light of the increasingly outlandish pro-Putin proclivities of his partner in government Silvio Berlusconi. She is even appointing pro-European personalities to key positions. The Italian government needs the EU if it wants to have good (or less bad) economic prospects. The EU wants to retain a united front vis-à-vis Russia and stability in the markets in a time of a foreseen recession. An unstable rogue Italy would impede that.
But the path to supporting authoritarians is not preordained, our leaders have choices in the support they show and how they do so.
Leaders help us make meaning of what is going on in the world by promoting narratives that frame what things are, what things can be. Those narratives are promoted through speeches, stories, and yes, nowadays, also tweets.
Von der Leyen and others, in how they are communicating publicly, are taking a stand. Grandiose statements in favor of EU values are not enough if accompanied by normalizing and whitewashing authoritarians. Authoritarians, in turn, are very successful at promoting their narrative of the world, one that hinges on othering.
In times of turbulence, as historian Joshua Tait says:
“The combination of disruption, transformation and pain creates the conditions where right-wing, often illiberal discourses of heroism, golden age and the threatening Other creates real meaning for some, even as it draws boundaries around communities.”
Even if realpolitik requires engagement, one cannot help but wonder at the expense of whom? Because Meloni will temper her discourse on the EU or NATO, but will she do the same when it comes to migrants, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion?
To distance itself from the fascist origins of her party, Meloni differentiates between two groups who have been at Fratelli, the post-fascists (which she says she does not belong to) and the “rebel tribe”, of which she is part of: anti-establishment, for the people. Members of Fratelli speak of liberal ideas like “human rights” but also launch conspiracy-theorist attacks on “globalists” and “LGBT lobbies.” It calls itself non-racist but also promotes “great replacement theory” and warns of the “extinction of Italians.” It condemns Fascist antisemitism but demonizes George Soros and publicly ruminates on whether Mussolini did good things, too.
Further north, Ulf Kristersson, leader of Sweden’s conservatives, has been named Prime Minister with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats. The roadmap he unveiled seems heavily shaped by the agenda of the authoritarian populists, for example proposing to curb the number of refugees resettled in Sweden.
And meanwhile, Orbán continues to promote Russian propaganda.
If it doesn’t stop at Orbán and it doesn’t stop at Meloni, and others are comfortable being propped by the far-right to access power, where does it stop?
In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt writes: “the net effect of this language system was not to keep these people ignorant of what they were doing, but to prevent them from equating it with their old, ‘normal’ knowledge of murder and lies.”
Aberrant acts were normalized, routinized, separated from old understandings of right and wrong. If we normalize and embrace authoritarians, they cease to be perceived as the threat they are, acts that before were outrageous now become normal, acceptable, watered down versions of what could be.
Perhaps we are in a time of transition. In a guest essay on how “Globalism Failed to Deliver the Economy We Need”, columnist Rana Forohaar seems to believe so:
“Fortunately, the pendulum of the political economy eventually swings back, and philosophies that have outlived their usefulness give way to new ones. Seismic shifts in the socioeconomic agenda are rare and transformative. We are going through such a shift now. The world is beginning to reset — not to the “normal” of conventional neoliberal economic models but to a new normal.”
Fortunately, authoritarian populists are not the only ones in the business of meaning making (even though given their simplifying approach, they might have the upper hand). I really enjoyed reading Brian Stouts latest publication in his wonderful newsletter “Building Belonging”:
“Humans have a visceral need for roots: to belong both to place and to other people. In rejecting the ethno-nationalist answer, we must offer aspirational identities that are post-racial, post-nationalist… and post-patriarchal. I think the starting point must be a return to land: understood as bioregional, organized around natural boundaries, not geopolitical borders. Identities are malleable: we become what we practice. We can act our way into these new identities by practicing solidarity. Solidarity is what makes belonging real.”
And in case you are feeling despair, in the words of the wonderful writer Maria Popova in her 16 Life-Learnings from 16 Years of The Marginalian:
“Don’t just resist cynicism — fight it actively. Fight it in yourself, for this ungainly beast lays dormant in each of us, and counter it in those you love and engage with, by modeling its opposite. Cynicism often masquerades as nobler faculties and dispositions, but is categorically inferior. Unlike that great Rilkean life-expanding doubt, it is a contracting force. Unlike critical thinking, that pillar of reason and necessary counterpart to hope, it is inherently uncreative, unconstructive, and spiritually corrosive. Life, like the universe itself, tolerates no stasis — in the absence of growth, decay usurps the order. Like all forms of destruction, cynicism is infinitely easier and lazier than construction. There is nothing more difficult yet more gratifying in our society than living with sincerity and acting from a place of largehearted, constructive, rational faith in the human spirit, continually bending toward growth and betterment. This remains the most potent antidote to cynicism. Today, especially, it is an act of courage and resistance.”
In Other News:
The far-right grand coalition architect wannabe Steve Bannon has been sentenced to 4 months in jail four for failing to comply with the subpoena of the House committee investigating the January 6 events
Freedom House reports that global internet freedom declined for the 12th straight year and that authoritarian governments are stepping up censorship and other tactics to suppress freedom of speech. Read more in the latest report here.
Where does our plastic end? Much of Europe’s plastic waste ends in Turkey, threatening local communities and workers. The EU is now discussing its new EU waste management directive, which has climate and human rights implications within and outside the EU’s borders.
Earlier this month the 51st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) concluded in Geneva. Here you can read about the major outcomes and relevant dialogues as they relate to the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), atrocity prevention and populations at risk of atrocity crimes.
This article on how Power Causes Brain Damage is a few months old, but in the context of this piece seems pertinent. Apparently leaders lose mental capacities—most notably for reading other people—that were essential to their rise, leading to an empathy deficit.
Connecting the Dots: Musings on Bridging and Belonging is a bi-monthly column by Míriam Juan-Torres. In it, Míriam reflects on current events, connecting the trends and considering the specificities across countries, applying a bridging and belonging lens and translating concepts from academia for a wider audience. In Connecting the Dots, Míriam carefully curates readings and resources to further expand our understanding and shed light on the complexities of our time. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on the latest of the Democracy & Belonging Forum's curated analysis from Miriam and more.
Editor's note: The ideas expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the Othering & Belonging Institute or UC Berkeley, but belong to the authors.