Around the world, the far right is gaining strength, particularly through a series of electoral victories.
Far-right Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele was re-elected last year, enabling him to continue a program of militarisation and mass incarceration.
Argentine President Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, continues unleashing a neoliberal assault on the country accompanied by increasing military and police suppression of resistance.
Donald Trump is the latest far-right leader to add to the list, winning the United States presidential elections in November following a campaign of promises to deport millions of migrants, expand fossil fuel extraction and attack LGBTIQ rights. What challenges does this advance of the far right pose to leftist organising and resistance?
Israel Dutra is a Brazilian sociologist, the Socialism and Liberty Party’s (PSOL) Secretary for Social Movements and a member of the Socialist Left Movement, a revolutionary tendency within PSOL. He spoke to Green Left’s Ben Radford about the recent local elections in Brazil, Trump’s return and the challenges of resisting the far right and confronting the climate crisis.
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What did last year’s elections in Brazil mean in relation to the far right?
Last October’s municipal elections presented a contradictory situation. On the one hand, right-wing groups of various shades emerged victorious, winning more mayorships and councillor positions. On the other, [former far-right President Jair] Bolsonaro, as the leading figure of the far right, became weaker, as he no longer holds sole hegemony over the political landscape.
The far right is still strong but more disorganised. Bolsonaro retains popular support among his followers, with about a quarter of the population still backing him, but he hasn’t even secured legal approval to run in the next election.
The situation was contradictory — quantitative gains for the right, including some far-right victories, but mostly populist right-wing groups playing a parochial, opportunist political game.
A few weeks after the election, Bolsonaro was implicated in a far-right plot to assassinate [President Luiz Inácio] Lula [da Silva], the vice president [Geraldo Alckmin] and the chief justice of the Supreme Court [Luís Roberto Barroso]. The plot was led by [former defence minister, General] Walter Braga Netto, his running mate in the last presidential election.
Bolsonaro faced a significant setback with the dismantling of this plan, but now people are very concerned because Trump’s victory changes a lot, especially for Brazil.
How does Trump’s return strengthen the far right’s momentum?
The far right is in a period of consolidation, and Trump’s victory undoubtedly bolsters their position. This requires strategic reflection — not just on how to combat the far right online and on the streets but also on the strategies for envisioning a different world, an alternative future.
For about a year now, the Brazilian government has been trying to regulate big tech companies, while [Elon] Musk, aligning himself with a more Trumpist stance, has now teamed up with [Jeff] Bezos and [Mark] Zuckerberg, making the situation even more troubling.
Centrist and centre-left administrations also pave the way for discontent, frustration and resentment among the most marginalised layers of the working class, which must be won back over.
Intellectuals like Nancy Fraser have emphasised the importance of recapturing these disenchanted sectors, who are voting for figures like Trump out of frustration with Democratic policies.
Thus, the left must undertake a thorough examination of its strategies and begin a grassroots approach, maintaining legitimacy while forging a path of change that re-establishes connections and solidarity with the oppressed across the globe.
Palestinian networks and solidarity is somewhat the flagship of the struggle against the far right, as it’s a cause that should unite all democratic people worldwide.
As we speak, a ceasefire agreement is being reached in Gaza, which, while providing some respite and cause for celebration, also highlights one of the darkest phases in world history. What [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is doing represents the worst of the far right — genocide. This motivates us to pursue international coordination against the far right and its devastating impacts.
Another key issue is the environmental crisis, which cannot be left without a comprehensive plan.
The United Nations recently issued a declaration stating that all worst-case predictions for global warming are being surpassed, with climate change accelerating far more rapidly than scientists had previously predicted.
We are facing a civilisational crisis. The situation could deteriorate significantly, driven mainly by oil giants, mining corporations and large landowners that form the backbone of the far-right’s intellectual and operational base, and who are often climate deniers.
Our challenges aren’t just short-term political battles, but strategic struggles for the future of humanity. I believe there are two central axes: combating the far right; and finding a solution that, as [Walter] Benjamin would say, pulls the emergency brake of civilisation to address the climate crisis.
How has the left in Brazil organised to confront the far right?
Bolsonaro won the 2018 elections and we endured a harsh pandemic, but during this period anti-fascist mobilisations played a crucial role. The Black movement in Brazil, inspired by Black Lives Matter, led significant anti-fascist and anti-Bolsonaro protests in 2020 and 2021.
While Lula’s narrow victory over Bolsonaro [in the 2022 presidential elections] was important, he is not someone considered part of the radical left; he is not even aligned with PSOL. Lula belongs to a reformist sector with a liberal vision of society. However, he was instrumental in Bolsonaro’s defeat, which combined action on the streets with the ballot box.
If Bolsonaro had won, he could have moved toward a more authoritarian regime, passing restrictive laws and potentially outlawing left-wing parties and unions.
Lula’s government, however, remains a centrist administration with contradictory policies.
Within PSOL, there are two main orientations: one more supportive, the other more independent [of the Lula government].
As PSOL, we maintain an independent stance but defend Lula against far-right attacks. For example, when the far right tried to [criminalise the struggle of] the MST [Landless Workers’ Movement] through a parliamentary commission, it was PSOL with [federal MP] Sâmia Bomfim that opposed them.
But when the government tries to impose socially liberal economic measures, like the national budget package [freezing public spending], we oppose them.
This dual approach is delicate, as the far right is also trying to oppose the government, although in a demagogic way. But the truth is that the far right is not even anti-system, it’s the worst part of the system.
What are the challenges facing those resisting the far right?
The people who lived through the 1930s and 1940s managed to stop [Germany’s Adolf] Hitler and [Italian fascist Benito] Mussolini, at a high cost of blood and violence. It wasn’t [British Prime Minister Winston] Churchill who did it alone — it was the organised, clandestine resistance of people within those countries.
Similarly, liberation from colonialism wasn’t achieved peacefully but through massive mobilisations taking place simultaneously across different regions. Vietnam, in some ways, was the same.
Today, this task falls to us, not only in supporting Palestine, but also in standing against the resurgence of the far right.
This will only be achieved through courageous and determined mass mobilisation, just like the resistance that stood firm in the past. A resistance that was incredibly strong — seen in the actions of the Jews in the Warsaw ghettos, the socialists and democrats in France, the Republicans in Spain and the insurgent people who fought against the great colonies and empires. We face a monumental task and, in some ways, hold a historical debt to those liberators of the past so that their struggles were not in vain.
Mussolini met his end, as did Hitler. I’d argue that this is the challenge for our generation. What Trump and his allies aim for is not just a methodology of civil war against the people that primarily targets immigrants but then moves on to everyone else. They want to break the social contract that was established throughout the 20th century as a result of the struggles between the working class and imperialist bourgeoisie. Our task is not only to preserve this social contract but to crush these forces that are the expressions of capitalism’s decay.
We will only succeed if we achieve a social majority, because the far right — through social media and fake news — is attempting to sow division, inciting the poor to fight against the poor. They encourage white workers to resent immigrants, claiming that they take jobs and unfairly benefit from social services.
We must regain the social capacity of the working class. Demographically, the true beneficiaries of the far right’s agenda represent a very small, closed circle. In contrast, we, the working class, number in the billions.
Clearly, something is wrong if we are failing to ensure our forces outnumber the fascists. They don’t have a magic formula. Yes, they have a significant financial and communication apparatus, but we are the majority — those who live by the sweat of their labour.