In 1864, communist, anarchist, socialist, and labor union groups in Europe came together to coordinate strategies and policies in what became known as the First International. “The conquest of political power has become the great duty of the working class […] The experience of the past teaches us how the forgetfulness of fraternal ties between the workers of different countries is punished with the common defeat of their isolated efforts. […] “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” read the movement’s manifesto written by Karl Marx.
A century and a half later, a very different international is taking shape and strength in Europe and the rest of the world. Rising nationalist and far-right forces unite to combat “globalism” as a common enemy. In a digitalized society and from his privileged position next to the president of the United States, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, has emerged as the engine and fuel of this ‘reactionary international’—a concept that has been used for some time in the academic and that political leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and Pedro Sánchez have recently adopted to denounce the businessman’s agenda.
The technology magnate has begun to apply the same strategy that helped Donald Trump win the elections with other far-right forces in European countries and is using the algorithm of his social network X to his advantage to impose his vision on the rest of the world. . Musk himself has boasted of modifying the algorithm to multiply the visibility of his tweets. Last week he promised a new change to the social network to “promote more informative and entertaining content.”
“There is an international far-right that, despite their great differences among themselves, feel part of the same political family, share most of their ideological references and key proposals, participate in the same forums and networks and have the same enemies. , which are progressivism, globalism, the left or what they call cultural Marxism and dictatorship of the single thought,” Steven Forti, historian specialized in extreme right and author of the book ‘Democracies in Extinction’ (Akal), tells elDiario.es. . “Musk is a recent member of that international and serves as a driving force and link in it,” he adds.
In addition to his publications in and as it did with Donald Trump – Germany holds elections on February 23 and AfD is second in the polls. That conversation with the then-candidate for the US presidency was full of praise for Trump and became a litter of lies.
Another of the main objectives of the richest man in the world has been the United Kingdom, also governed by the Labor Party. Musk has called for prison for the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and has even managed to take over the agenda and political discourse in the country by accusing the Labor leader without evidence of being complicit in a scandal of sexual rape of minors. Musk has also called for the release of Tommy Robinson, one of the best-known far-right activists in the United Kingdom.
In Spain, Trump’s advisor has recently retweeted information from a Polish account related to the populist radical right in which he talks about the percentage of immigrant prisoners convicted of rape in Catalonia. Vox, for its part, has applauded Musk’s agenda. “We see progressives very nervous with social networks that they do not control and cannot impose censorship on what they do not like, on any opinion contrary to globalist mantras,” José Antonio Fúster, spokesperson for the far-right group, said on Tuesday. “The time of globalism and the progressive dictatorship is over.”
He has also supported Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, with whom he is also negotiating an important €1.5 billion contract to obtain secure satellite communications, and has praised the policies of Víktor Orbán, with whom he met last month during a visit by the Hungarian leader to the Mar a Lago complex, in Florida.
“The technology magnate already exercises global political power from the power that gives him control of the most powerful megaphone in digitalized society, and with a very determined ideological agenda,” Carme Colomina, senior researcher specialized in the European Union, tells elDiario.es. , disinformation and global politics from the CIDOB think tank.
“Digital moguls have long served as what Renée DiResta calls ‘invisible rulers,’ but Elon Musk, with his ability to influence from the Oval Office itself, has become the most brazen, loudest and most influential personification of that executive power. which, in his case, is no longer invisible,” he explains. “Elon Musk presents himself to the world as an alternative visionary, defender of freedom of expression that, however, is built with falsehoods and incitement to hatred. X is no longer just a social network, it is a propaganda device with the capacity to algorithmically amplify certain content.
“Now, Musk applies the same manual that elevated Trump to promote different conservative and far-right formations in countries traditionally allied with the United States. We are facing an unprecedented concentration of power in the hands of those, precisely, who control the public sphere where we should be able to inform ourselves to be aware of it,” concludes Colomina.
Outside Europe and the US, Musk has also insulted the former Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and has shown his support for the controversial conservative and anarcho-capitalist candidate, Pierre Poilièvre, who some analysts compare to Donald Trump. In Latin America he has reinforced Javier Milei and has faced Lula da Silva’s Brazil. Brazil’s Supreme Court concluded that The tycoon refused and the judges ordered the closure of the platform in the country. Musk ended up giving in to the demands and the social network is now operational in the country. “Brazilian justice may have given an important signal that the world is not obliged to put up with Musk’s far-right anything goes just because he is rich,” said President Lula.
The fight against ‘globalism’
“Musk has a double objective on his agenda. In addition to his economic interests as the richest man in the world, there is an ideological question,” says Forti. “Musk has veered in the last four years, especially since COVID, from libertarian positions and even favorable to an open society, to very reactionary and clearly extreme right-wing positions, thinking that the Western world is disappearing and even defending almost racial segregation in some tweets he made a couple of years ago,” he adds.
“He feels part of this far-right international that has common enemies and that, according to them, is fighting to save the Western world from disappearance.”
At a rally held one month before the US elections, Musk declared: “I am against globalist power, the UN should not have much power, who voted for them? I don’t. “We should not have any type of international treaties that restrict the freedom of Americans and minimize interference from the federal government.”
“It is a paradox that Musk establishes himself as one of the most audible voices in the fight against ‘globalism’ and that he does so, precisely, while exercising global political power, which grants himself the right to demand the dissolution of governments and the liberation of far-right activists and promoting ultra formations and candidates on both sides of the Atlantic,” says Colomina. “The problem is that the more disruptive X has become, the weaker and more divided the European Commission appears to be in applying its own legislation and putting certain limits on it.”
Carlos Corrochano, professor of Critical Theories of International Relations at the Sciences Po University in Paris, said in a interview in elDiario.es that “the reactionary international is not necessarily built on great shared convictions, but on the certainty that there is a common enemy and the need to operate in a coordinated manner. It also responds to a certain civilizational anxiety that pushes them to this union despite the differences that can be seen, for example, with the theory of the great replacement.”
Many have compared Musk’s figure to the role played eight years ago by Steve Bannon, Trump’s ultra strategist who went on to try to lead a first version of the far-right international with The Movement. “Elon Musk is a much more powerful man than Steve Bannon and has achieved much more than him, forging relationships with far-right leaders. When Bannon landed in Europe, his The Movement project failed miserably,” says Forti. “Musk is much more than Steve Bannon.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
