26 March 2023

BOLIVIA, A VERY LATINAMERICAN COUP.

 BOLIVIA, A VERY LATINAMERICAN COUP. 

Tais  Yáñez

Originally published in Freedom, and Organise, the magazine for the Anarchist Federation UK. 2019


FACT. What just happened in Bolivia is a coup d’etat if we consider the dictionary definiton which is "the sudden, violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group. The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements. "

It is being said the former president Evo Morales resigned so he was not overthrown. It is also said he committed fraud and that is why he left. It is also said it is not a coup because Evo himself called it ‘civic and police coup’ as oppose to military cup. Wait.

This view is quite simplistic and does not go deep into the history of Bolivia, how the elections were held, and votes counted, and what was achieved in 13 years 9 months and who benefited and who did not, and who took power, how and what has happened I Bolivian streets since then.

During what his opponents call ‘dictatorship’, Evo Morales Ayma,  the first Indigenous president ever in Bolivia, and South America, reduced poverty from 35% to 15%, increased the minimum wage 127%, and very importanly, nationalised natural resources including natural gas and lithium, redistributed the lands among indigenous peasants, and made healthcare universal and free.  Also, Bolivia was named by the UN as free of illiteracy, and unemployment levels fell.

Bolivia held elections on the 20th of October. After the count of the overall votes he was declared victor with 47% against Carlos Mesa, right wing, with 36%. The latter immediately challenged this supported by the Church, and the governments of the USA, Brazil, and Argentina’s soon to be ex president, Neo-liberal, Macri, with the complicity of the American States Organisation (OEA) whose General Secretary, Luis Almeguer said in press conference on 12th of November that what was happening in Bolivia was not a coup and the military was not involved. All of this should should ring bells.

Evo Morales agreed to have international observers after his opponents accused him of stealing the election. On 2th of October he called for a second election. In the streets, there were clashes between supporters and police and opponents. Evo Morales was forced to resign to avoid bloodshed and was offered political asylum by Mexico who sent a plane to Paraguay for him which he boarded on the early hours 12th of November.

But that is not all that happened. During all this time, right-wing opposition gangs kidnapped family members of cabinet ministers and forced them to resign, burnt Evo Morales’ sister’s house, looted his own home, and burned the homes of some politicians loyal to the regime, and Patricia Arce, mayor of Vinto, was attacked, asasulted and publicly humiliated by an angry right wing mob. Ordinary people, mostly indigenous supporters, were also attacked, and graffiti appeared saying ‘Indios out” and “Bolivia free of “Indios” and the Wiphala flag, a symbol of unity of Original Nations has been burned and taken from police officers uniforms.

The perpetrators of this coup, some alleged quite simplistically is the USA. The European left forgetting that Latin American is a continent still colonised mentally and in all aspects of life. We do have agency and reactionary and fascist powers of our own that do not really need US support, even f they do look for it and they do get it.

That the CIA has backed every single coup in our continent since the 50’s is a given, however it is a fact that the plots come first from within. The USA usually provides money, weapons and a blessing.

The perpetrators of this very Latin American Coup D’Etat, which started being arranged as early as July 2019 , according to audio and documents seen by the new progressive elected government of Argentina to be made public soon, are many.

Carlos Mesa, the neo- liberal candidate to presidency, a privateer of course, but he is not leading this. The real brain behind this is Luis Camacho, a multi millionare religious fundamentalist which much to lose in a plurinational nation led by a socialist president. His family profited from the sale of Bolivia’s natural resources and health insurance. He is also a fascist leader of the separatist Union Juvenil Crucenista,(UJC) whose young members seems to have taken a leaf from the SS and Hitler Youth book. There are pictures of them sieg heiling, in fact.

The role of the evangelical churches in this coup and the far right in the whole continent must be mentioned too. The UJC are fanatics and there is now also an army of Christian youth in Argentina with fascist leanings, too. The Catholic church, as they have done historically in Latin America, are either keeping quiet or actively preaching to keep the oligarchy in power.

Important to mention the fact that the coup happened just a week after Evo Morales stopped a multimillion deal to exploit the country’s lithium resources.

Camacho entered the Palace of Government as soon as Evo had resigned waving a flag, and donning a bible. A sign of things to come. He has made speeches quoting the bible and has vowed to bring it back to governmental circles.

In terms of the army involvement, the Chief of the Armed Forces, General Williams Kaliman called for Evo to resign and after he did, the general gave a speech consecrating the army to Jesus Christ. They have also attempted to bribe Evo Morales’ security with 50 000 dollars to hand him in before he had to flee.

The army, too, have being asked by the police force to assist them in the streets to control the thousands of people who support Evo and who have pledged to revolt if he is not reinstated. I am talking about Indigenous organisations, Community leaders, Farmers and doctors.

Tais Yanez. 2019

Originally published in Freedom and Organise, the magazine for the Anarchist Federation UK. 


Contacts in Bolivia now have reported to me that their friends have been arrested or attacked by young fascists or the police, with video evidence, and, oddly, they say a large number of indigenous people out in the streets last night seem to have vanished. There is also the fear of not knowing what side the neighbours are in or if they can leave the house.

The resistence is huge and grassroots and Indigenous, and community organisations are leading it. EveN doctors have taken to the streets. A the time of writing this, the Bolivian Workers Central (COB),who reject the coup, has pledged to call for a general strike and deploy all its affiliated workers to La Paz if consitunional order is not restored in 24 hours (13th of November 23.00 GMT) . 20 provinces are, I am told, going to La Paz to resist.

Unfortunately, today after midnight GMT, Jeanine Anez, a right wing senator proclaimed herself president of Bolivia, clutching a bible, with NO elections but standing by her side were Luis Camacho, and a leader of the UJC and was approved by the army, police and the elite. No indigenous people around despite them being 62% of the population. It must be stressed that this goes against articles 161, 169 and 420 that forbid this categorically.

Make no mistake. In words of Adriana Guzman, leader of Feminists of Abya Yala (The pre colonial name for what is now South America in Guna language) “The coup d’etat in Bolivia is racist, patriarchal, ecclesiastic and oligarch” A very Latin American coup, then.

Europe’s far right ‘International’ identitarians.

 Europe’s far right ‘International’ identitarians. 

V. Tais Yáñez. 11 Jan, 2022.



Contradictory as it may seem at first glance nationalists in Europe from all persuasions of the Right have been attempting to establish their own version of an Internationale for years. And it does make sense if we think about their similarities, what they all concur on, at least on principle, be it quietly or openly; and then examine their visible or invisible variety of fronts, tactics and strategies that overlap at times to achieve their goal: to create a Europe of nations, to bring about what France’s National Rally’s Marine Le Pen  calls “a new European harmony with European national parties joining forces” (Euractiv, 2019, np). A team effort to protect national sovereignty and borders, eradicate multiculturalism and fight against what they believe to be the ‘islamisation’ of Europe for the sole benefit of those whom they identify as real European, Das Volk, ‘The People’. 

Far-Right Party leaders from Italy, Hungary, France, Netherlands and Poland among others have had numerous attempts for many years to negotiate the establishment of a pan-European ethno-nationalist coalition “centred around a xenophobic nationalism that disapproves any interference with national authority from abroad or supra-national.” (Diermeier, nd), absurdly, within the European Parliament. These nativist politicians are supported by a loyal social movement of common people to defend culture and civilisation in the homeland: a white Christian Fortress Europe, the very core of their identity because as Lavin ( 2020, p. 145) argues “the idea of a racialised culture belonging to whiteness is a key engine of the far right” 

The objective of this paper is to briefly describe and critically analyse who are in this Far-Right Populist Identitarian family in their Central European strongholds: France, Austria and Germany, mainly. We’ll explore what they think and believe, what they propose, and how they plan to achieve it. In addition to this we will discuss how they have taken advantage of enablers like some well-meaning ordinary citizens or ‘closet’ racists, and how they have hijacked and essentialised the current political situation in Europe, and the world, to take the spotlight; to gain momentum translated into places in local, national and European parliaments. Both, the parliamentarian and the street Right, intelligently use political rights given by the democratic system they abhor and wish to abolish, such as,  freedom of movement, freedom of speech and assembly to mobilise violence and hateful political discourse in governmental institutions and across borders establishing a “transnational street militancy… to  disturb  or  disrupt  the prevailing  political  system,  thereby  compelling  a governmental  response” . (Ravndal, 2020, p.3) Titley (2020) warns against immediately accusing them of hypocrisy, however, because it has been productive for them and a success, especially when it comes to derogating the blame, claiming victimhood and passing the label of intolerant censorship to the anti-fascist opponents. 

So, are they fascists? Björn Höcke, a Member of the Reichstag for the Alternative für  Deutschland (AfD) who has campaigned to decriminalise Holocaust denial, in a speech reminiscent of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, said that their aim is to mobilise and attack a dying democracy in Germany -in his case- and the EU from all sides . (DW Documentary, 2019). In this sense they do know “the history of fascism: that democracy can be destroyed from within” (Traverso, 2019. p. 121) aided by a coordinated and structured militant street wing for which they can count on Europe-wide grassroots fringe organisations. This is a basic requirement for fascism and one of the many defining factors as Renton (2021. P. 145) explains how interwar fascism “combined reactionary goals with an aspiration to build a mass movement” 

The rise of the Far-Right in general is still downplayed in most sectors of society and the political establishment who seem to be either in agreement or following a ‘strategy of concealment… If the system is under a taboo and not being discussed, then the order of things is in order” (Meinhof, 2011). Dismissing Far-Right populist parties, Neo-Fascists and Identitarians as fringe clowns, vandals, delinquents is a common approach, yet it requires risky simplification and tunnel vision, especially when we have a historical precedent whose white supremacist slogans are being reclaimed in the 21st century: Race. Youth. Homeland. Ein  Volk. Therefore, a proper analysis is needed to understand who they are and the context in which they have been able to challenge the status quo in European democracies and succeeded in mobilising the underclass, the excluded and marginalised under the banner of pride in their identity and history, and ownership of their nation. Feffer (2021, p. 21) states that this new Right’s main points of contention are “the failure of economic globalisation to benefit the majority, the lack of political legitimacy of the parties that supported neoliberal reforms and the challenges that immigrants and minorities of all kinds represent to an enforced culture of homogeneity” 

 Populism is not an ideological or economic system to fix issues, but an approach based on, as (Mudde, C., 2017) explain, a clear division between a corrupted political elite and the disenfranchised common people who gravitate towards the charismatic populist leaders and parties such as the UK’s Farage, Hungary’s Orban; the AfD in Germany, and Lega Nord in Italy because they have been otherwise historically patronised, ignored and considered unable to think for themselves or understand politics and economics.  Populists act like they care and reach out to the communities in need even establishing food and clothes banks and basic health checks, with a side dish of pride in their national identity and anti-immigrant scapegoating, for impoverished compatriots as long as they are white and Greek (Golden Dawn), or Italian (Casa Pound/Lega Nord), or German (Neo-Nazis Die driette Weg -The Third Way) 

 Moreover, followers of Populist parties and groups often remark they became interested because only those speak the language of the commoner and understand their frustration at the decline of living standards due to cuts in welfare, austerity, high taxation and laws imposed by out of touch elites who, allegedly, seem more concerned about minorities and migrants. (Mudde, C., 2017). This is not to say people who gravitate towards totalitarian groups are always unaware of the ideology and nature of the organisations. In his 1950’s psychoanalytical study of the authoritarian character Adorno analysed the relationship between bureaucracy, high taxes, for instance, and prejudice and found that a majority of those he found to have what he termed ‘taxation complex…the irrational hatred against taxation of the individual by society’ (Adorno, T.W. 2016 p.717) already thought of politicians as highly paid idle burocrats, and held antisemitic or bigoted views and were prone to be on his ‘F’ scale whereby ‘F’ stands for ‘Fascist’. The Nazis, Adorno (2016) says, understood this well and used it to their advantage. 

But not all populists are fascists or viceversa. Indeed, as Mudde and Kaltwasser (2017) point out, Latin American progressives are prone to populism. Nonetheless, regarding the Right, the liberal use of descriptive terminology interchangeably, that is, the urge to dismiss all of them by using  the words ‘Nazi’ or ‘Fascist’ as mere pejoratives, tends to create a defensive formulaic response that, even if it fails to convince they are not neo-Nazis or neo-Fascists, undermines a thorough analysis of their diverse projects and the real danger they pose because, as previously stated, history tells us that, despite being ridiculed, fascists can grow, structure and mobilise very quickly and radicalise even more once they take power. (Renton, 2020).  Given that “the world had not experienced a similar growth of the radical right since the 1930s…the old question of the relationship between historiography and the public use of the past” (Traverso, 2019) needs to be addressed. 

Consequently, and although differentiations are to be made, the title is justifiable with actual neo-Nazi organisations such as Scandinavia’s Nordic Resistance Movement (Nordiska  motståndsrörelsen, NRM) whose Swedish branch is linked to three murders and countless attacks on gay men, Muslims and Jewish people (Counter Extremism Project -CEP-, 2022); the ‘transnational organised crime syndicate” (Koehler, 2016. P.142) Blood and Honour; the terrorist  Nationalsozialistische Untergrund (NSU) who murdered nine migrants in the 2000’s  in Germany over a period of seven years despite being in the police radar;  as well as the equally extreme Attomwaffen Division with cells in the USA and Europe “one of the most hardcore in the world, with AWD members in the United States suspected of having committed five murders” (Musharbash, 2021); and Golden Dawn in Greece which used to have over 50 parliamentarians, and it took the murder of  Greek antifascist artist Pavlos Fyssas in 2013 to be tried for collusion and get outlawed.  

 The label may also be given to the most openly extremist elements of organisations like the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA for the original German Patriotische Europäer Gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes), and France-born Europe-wide Generation Identititaire (GI), the latter being the original founders of the Identitarian Movement in France in 2012 and on whom we will put special focus in this paper. Generation Identity (GI) did not take long to branch out to Germany, Italy, the UK, and Austria, the latter being equally important numerically and in terms of Europe wide leadership. Equally, as we will see, France, Germany and Austria chapters have important links with Far-Right parties National Rally, AfD, and Freedom Party respectively. 

 GI became a real gamechanger for the transnational Far-Right youth force in Europe. In their ground-breaking manifesto filmed with the quality of a professional advertisement, we can see a version of neo-fascism that broke the stereotypes of the Neo-Nazi as a typically uneducated uniformed skinhead. In a disturbing way, it made fascism visually and socially acceptable, ‘hip’. The video acts as a clever façade of clean cut educated, middle class, concerned youth. Nevertheless, it actually is, as the title of the promotional advert itself says, ‘a declaration of war’.

 The online video was followed by a book by one of Austria’s GI’s spokespersons Markus Willingner called “Generation Identity: A Declaration of War Against the '68ers” In this book, in odd resemblance to the style of the first line of Marx’s ‘Communist Manifesto’ , but perhaps hoping to be this generation's 'Mein Kampf', Willingner announces that “A new political current is sweeping through Europe. It has one goal, one symbol, and one thought: Identity” (Willingner, 2013, p.14). Here he mourns the loss of pride in European history and the homeland; complains about the destruction of the traditional family and gender roles; condemns women’s liberation, the LGBTQIA struggle, environmental activism, economic crisis and the rejection of the Christian Church; and summarises the basis of Identitarian ideology stating that they “don’t want a multicultural society where (their) own culture is left to burn in the melting pot.” (Willingner, 2013, p.17)

Andreas Penham, who has investigated GI and the Austrian chapter leader Martin Sellner for years for the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance, explains that “all the leaders come from a militant extremist right wing which we call neo-Nazism in Austria’.(Gopalakrishnan, 2017).  Sellner, as it is common with neo-Nazis or Far-Right extremists, denies that GI’s slogans like ‘Islamisation Kills’ is racist, claims they are neither Nazis nor liberals but propose a ‘Third Way’,  and turns it around claiming they are the real victims of anti-white racism and repression for their patriotism and anti-Islam views that, he believes, are shared by a majority of Austrians.  (Strickland, 2018)

Identitarians are very media savvy and carry out big stunts not just for propaganda but as racist and Islamophobic direct actions such as the 2012 occupation of a Mosque and the failed attempt to sabotage Sea Rescue efforts, and to stop migrants physically from crossing borders in the Alps. (Ball, 2017) However they are also secretive about their real ideas and actions, their training camps; and their indulgence and promotion of what Sellner himself calls ‘info wars’, and racist attacks. GI tactics can be said to fit the description of “Accelerationist terrorism as theater (which) disrupts the political discourse to specifically concentrate attention on highly polarizing subjects.” (Parker, 2020) In this case, the subject is mass immigration, refugees, and islamophobia. 

 In terms of their politics, Identitarians, like Far-Right parties like the National Rally and Alternative für Deutschland, are ethno-nationalists, with a pan-European ‘Völkism’ approach that means protecting national sovereignty whilst working together in a whites-only Europe. They are openly racist, Islamophobic white supremacists with a nativist vision of blood and soil, language and culture only to be shared by them. They despise multiculturalism and even reject assimilation. Interestingly, their Antisemitism, at first glance, seems vague, as even they are conscious of historically charged boundaries. Nevertheless, the Anti-Zionist progressive organisation Jewish Voice for Peace states that the Right “celebrate Israel as a front-line defender of Western civilization in its crusade against radical Islam… and use the Jewish state as a canvas to project their own fantasies of nationalist chauvinism, Christian redemption, white pride, and antisemitic conspiracism.” (Lorber, 2021). The idea of the State of Israel as the opportunity to make the Jewish people leave Europe, remigrate, is also something to consider. 

 Their whole ideology is based on Renaurd Camus’ ‘Great replacement’ theory drawn out on his 2010 book of the same name where he laments “the prospect of a France and Europe transformed by immigration.”(Feffer, 2021, p.48) . Aware as they are of propaganda tools, this mantra is something they repeat constantly: the imminent ‘white genocide’, white peoples are dying off and governments are conspiring to bring non-white migrants to Europe to have more children to replace the ‘real’ Europeans. Their true antisemitic nature can be seen here as well as with Hungary’s Far-Right party in power Fidesz who denounced George “Soros as a Jew… on a mission to ‘breed out’ white people until they were a minority in Europe” (Renton, 2019. p.146)

Unlike the original Nazis and extreme neo-Nazi terrorists, they do not openly advocate extermination. Their main policy demand against multiculturalism is what Camus called ‘remigration’, “maintaining cultural walls between different ethnic groups”,(Feffer, 2021, p.49) whereby all people with a migrant background regardless of place of birth, citizenship status or length of stay must be deported to what GI thinks is their home country. This fundamental principle emanates from their belief in division of the world's population by ethno-states, that is, the notion that each ‘race’ belongs to, and must stay in, the physical geographical space natural to them, “a nation that does not need to be the nation in a strict sense, but can be another imagined ethnic community (such as the ‘Aryan’ race, white people worldwide” (Wilhelmsen, 2021, p 277-301)

The Identitarians fancy themselves as ancient warriors of the European homeland, “a patriotic army defending its native soil (sporting their symbol) LAMBDA which was used by the Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC” (Midlands Police, 2019). Interestingly, this mythical glorious past and their almost divine purpose (something Franco, Mussolini and Hitler insisted on having) can be summed up in one of their slogans: ‘Reconquista’, in Spanish. They believe in the right of their white European ancestors to colonise every other continent; and yet, when it comes to immigration to Europe now, they consider it an invasion and see it as their duty as patriots is to reconquer their land. An outline on their ideas on how to repatriate millions of migrants was mentioned in an interview for a sympathetic news website given by Clément Martin of the French Generation Identity, which, incidentally is taking legal action against their proscription last year: 

 “the expulsion of foreigners identified on the “S” list of people posing a potential threat to public security for Islamism, the expulsion of foreigners who have committed a crime or an offense, the loss of nationality for jihadists with dual nationality and their deportation to their country of origin, and some other measures of the same type which are entirely feasible and which should be implemented as a matter of urgency, such as, of course, the expulsion of all illegal immigrants” (Bault, 2021)

Although, as noted before, Generation Identitaire has just been banned in France in 2021, it seems too little too late, and it does not mean they will disappear.  Despite their use of media to spread hate speech, carry out ‘stunt’ attacks, and even links to more openly extreme neo-Nazi groups, as well as their influence in terrorist attacks like Christchurch whose perpetrator had donated directly to Austrian GI, Martin Sellner a year prior to the massacre, these organisations and parties don't get disbanded right away not just due to the authorities laxity, or indeed the discovery of many police and army personnel linked to far-right groups, but because, ironically, they are protected by the democratic rights any political party enjoys even if they think of democracy as a corrupt system that silences them. 

Here, it is important to point out that Identitarian youth groups like GI and Pegida benefit from connections to, and influence in, far-right parties, especially the French National Rally (which has notably employed GI leaders as parliamentarian advisors despite denying even knowing them); the AfD and the Austrian Freedom Party, albeit in secrecy for image and PR purposes. 

They may be outlawed for now but their social media skills have made ultranationalism and bigotry acceptable again. They have succeeded by co-opting progressive ideas such as women’s rights (just for protection against Muslim abusers), and freedom of speech to further their agenda. They even have achieved that those so-called liberal sectors support the new ‘trendy’ Right’s demand of respect for their right to spread hate and organise.   However, as Titley warns “the respect demanded is…not that of demonstrating respect for political freedom, but that of displaying the correct attitude toward ‘our’ democracy” (Titley, 2020, p. 23), which involves acceptance for the adoption of Right wing rhetoric by parties in all the political spectrum and even the “the institutionalisation of anti-foreigner racism (xeno-racism) and anti-Muslim principles within European immigration asylum” (Fekete, 2018, p. 91). One could argue that the UK’s Brexit, the Hostile Environment, the Windrush deportations; and Clause 9 of the New Nationality and Borders Bill being currently discussed in the British Parliament (which would give the government the right to strip any person of their citizenship without warning), has uncanny resemblance to the Identitarian principle of remigration. Equally noteworthy, Angela Merkel had to go back on her ‘welcoming’ immigration and asylum policies after the AfD won 13% of the votes. (Traverso, 2019)

 And yet, in terms of societal change and governance, what lies behind the populist Far-Right politicians and GI’s  stunts; calls to action and pretence to be ‘one of us’ , the only politicians who  understand the common person’s needs and how to meet them, is a mirage. There are not holistic realistic durable solutions to improve the lives of even those they consider their own blood in their programme but just demagogic “policies of national preference and the politics of fear (of invasion by immigrants, of domination by fanatical Muslims, of the violence of the underclass or the human filth of the global poor) represent the only solution the right holds out to communities fragmented by industrial decline and neoliberal abandonment.” (Fekete, 2018. p. 117)

Finally, it may be concluded that the seemingly quick and unexpected rise of the new Far-Right, not just in France, Austria and Germany, or Europe for that matter, in all their forms: Identitarians, Neo-Nazis, Populist parties, aided by liberal classism, the constant press coverage, and a friendly social media algorithm,  is not a surprise for those they target and oppose, and it is a direct consequence of the alienation and disenchantment with the political establishment, left, right and centre whose prohibitive economic measures that increase inequality and lack of opportunities have accelerated the ability of these groups to reach out the marginalised communities neglected by every other sector and political force, and they have widened the existing divisions in society that governments have been unable, or unwilling, to address as they work as a distraction.

 History teaches us what can happen when fascism is mocked, dismissed and allowed to grow, and that it is the work of a united community to use and protect the democratic rights it has to defend itself “against the nihilistic forces of violence, to build a better world by keeping (them) at bay” (Lavin, 2020. p.235)


REFERENCES

Adorno, T. (2016) The Authoritarian Personality. Vol. II. Kindle.

Ball, S. (2017) Generation Identity: France’s direct-action, far-right youth group - France 24, France24. Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/video/20190711-generation-identity-france-direct-action-far-right-youth-group (Accessed: 4 January 2022).

Bault, O. Exclusive interview: ‘Remigration is the only solution to the problem posed by mass immigration,’ says Clément Martin, of banned Generation Identity, Remix News. Available at: https://rmx.news/article/exclusive-remigration-is-the-only-solution-to-the-problem-posed-by-mass-immigration-says-spokesperson-of-banned-generation-identity/ (Accessed: 6 January 2022).

Counter Extremism Project (CEP) (2022) Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) | Counter Extremism Project. Available at: https://www.counterextremism.com/threat/nordic-resistance-movement-nrm (Accessed: 7 January 2022).

Diermeier, M. (no date) ‘One for one and none for all-The Radical Right in the European Parliament European Capital Market Union View project Die erschöpfte Globalisierung View project’. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350581279 (Accessed: 7 January 2022).

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Euractiv (2019) Europe’s far-right touts ‘new European harmony’ in EU vote – EURACTIV.com, Euractiv. Available at: https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-elections-2019/news/europes-far-right-touts-new-european-harmony-in-eu-vote/ (Accessed: 5 January 2022).

Feffer, J. (2021) Right across the world. The global networking of the Far-Right and the Left response. London: Pluto Press.

Fekete, L. (2018) Europe’s Fault Lines: Racism and the Rise of the Right. London: Verso.

Gopalakrishnan, M. (2017) Identitarian Movement wants to change European mindset - InfoMigrants, Infomigrants. Available at: https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/4346/identitarian-movement-wants-to-change-european-mindset (Accessed: 4 January 2022).

Koehler, D. (2016) Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century: The ‘National Socialist Underground’ and the History of Terror from the Far-Right in Germany. London. Taylor and Francis. 

Lavin, T. (2020) Culture Warlords. My journey into the dark web of white supremacy. London: Monoray, Octopus Books.

Lorber, B. (2021) How the Israeli flag became a symbol for white nationalists, 972 Magazine. Available at: https://www.972mag.com/israeli-flag-white-nationalism-symbol/ (Accessed: 5 January 2022).

Meinhof, U. (2011) Everybody Talks About the Weather . . . We Don’t: The Writings of Ulrike Meinhof. Kindle edi. Edited by E. Jelinek. Seven Stories Press.

Midlands Police (2019) The Identitarian Movement Briefing Document. Birmingham. Available at: https://policeandschools.org.uk/onewebmedia/IDENTITARIAN MOVEMENT- Partner Briefing Document v1.pdf (Accessed: 6 January 2022).

Mudde, C., K. C. R. (2017) Populism. A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Musharbash, Y. (2021) ‘The Globalization of Far-Right Extremism: An Investigative Report – Combating Terrorism Center at West Point’, Combating Terrorism Center, 14(6). Available at: https://ctc.usma.edu/the-globalization-of-far-right-extremism-an-investigative-report/ (Accessed: 6 January 2022).

Parker, J. (2020) Accelerationism in America: Threat Perceptions – GNET, Global Network on Extremism and Technology. Available at: https://gnet-research.org/2020/02/04/accelerationism-in-america-threat-perceptions/ (Accessed: 5 January 2022).

Ravndal, J. A. (2020) ‘View of The Emergence of Transnational Street Militancy: A Comparative Case Study of the Nordic Resistance Movement and Generation Identity’, Journal for Deradicalization, 25, pp. 1–34. Available at: https://journals.sfu.ca/jd/index.php/jd/article/view/407/249 (Accessed: 5 January 2022).

Renton, D. (2019) The New Authoritarians: Convergence on the Right. Kindle Edi. London: Pluto Press.

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Strickland, P. (2018) Austria cracks down on far-right Identitarian Movement | The Far Right News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/5/22/austria-cracks-down-on-far-right-identitarian-movement (Accessed: 6 January 2022).

Title, G. (2020) Is free speech racist? Cambridge: Polity Press.

Traverso, E. (2019) The new faces of fascism. Populism and the Far Right. London: Verso.

Wilhelmsen, F. (2021) ‘Heroic Pasts and Anticipated Futures: A Comparative Analysis of the Conceptions of History of the Nordic Resistance Movement and Generation Identity’, https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2021.1968842, 22(3–4), pp. 277–301. doi: 10.1080/21567689.2021.1968842.

 






 




CONFLICT, HISTORICAL NARRATIVES AND RECONCILATION.

 

CONFLICT, HISTORICAL NARRATIVES AND RECONCILATION. 

V. Tais Yáñez. 02 Jan, 2022

 

Hegel (2012, p.6) states that "people and governments have never learned from history or acted upon what they learned".  Is this true, or is it not the case that, rather, we learn from experience, and not only do we do it again but we, in fact, improve it? Failure to learn from experience does “not only serve the purpose of protection (and preservation) of social and personal identity but also may reinforce the commission of further atrocities.” (Cehajic-Clancey, 2012, p.236)

 

In this paper I will discuss the ideas that what we learn depends on the narrative we are exposed to, how it should change from a single biased one to a more honest and inclusive history not only in the interest of truth, but also because that is what is required for a holistic process of reconciliation to succeed in due time and taking into account different cultures have particular views and approaches to healing.

 

Controlled historical narratives are the prerogative of dominant groups and victors. The infamous Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, perfected political advertising as an effective tool to spread hate and justify genocide.  His dark legacy prevailed and has been learned. Nowadays technological advances improves access to  the way the media defines conflicts and their history “ in line with ideological discourses, which direct dealing with the war past, determining responsibility, and punishing war crimes, and are exploited by the political elites’ interests’’, (Erjavec, 2011 p.42) And its power and reach do not stop there. It is also an important component in education worldwide especially when it comes to historical narrative. In Europe glorification of one people and reinvention or usurpation of a mythical past to spread hatred, encourage division and fuel tensions in times of crisis or war was , for instance, utilised in World War One posters and newspapers on all sides. The same was later exploited by fascist Italy and Spain and perfected by the Nazis, and used by all belligerant countries before, during and after World War Two. Following their footsteps, fifty years after the Holocaust, ultra nationalist in the former Yugoslavia used the press to redirect the formerly repressed nationalistic sentiment to exacerbate tensions. Serbia, specifically, created their own narrative to promote Serb supremacy, incite war, dehumanise and exclude Bosnian Muslims, Bosniaks, in order to justify their extermination. 

 

Here it must be said that “it is obvious that the Serbs were the main aggressors in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, there is no doubt that Croats, Kosovar Albanians, and Bosnian Muslims set up defence forces and were not simply innocent bystanders, waiting to be ‘ethnically cleansed’’ (MacDonald, 2002, p.3). Nevertheless, Serbian propaganda has ever since used that to downplay the extent of the atrocities committed or to paint themselves as innocent victims of historical injustice and international anti-Serb sentiment. In the context of their trial at The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Radovan Karadžić bluntly declared that nothing happened in Srebrenica, and Slobodan Milošević blamed Bosniaks for carrying out their own genocide for which, he alleged, they received French aid. (ITCY, 2018). Two decades later, in a speech at the Fourth International Conference: Stop Genocide and Holocaust Denial Sarajevo in 2018, the President of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Judge Carmel Agius condemned the leaders of the Serbian part of Bosnia Herzegovina, the Republic of Sprska, for “seeking to annul the 2004 report on the Srebrenica genocide…with the aim of rewriting the history” (Aigus, 2019) and he called on all countries to not only criminalise and persecute Holocaust denial but also that of the 1990’s Rwandan and the Bosnian genocides. 

 

Far-right revisionists and ideologues have constantly tried to intelectualise denial or use pseudo science to discredit evidence, survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust despite the fact that they may face criminal charges in countries like Germany. Other countries still refuse to acknowledge the 1915 Armenian genocide or have written favourable narratives of their own historical crimes.  Some individual perpetrators like Felicien Kabuga, accused of single-handedly inciting and financing the Rwandan genocide in 1994, or Ratko Mladic, believed to be the mastermind of the Srbrenica genocide, managed to evade international arrest warrants for years, and denied the events, which, even with their subsequent capture, trials and convictions, jeopardised the reconciliation processes.

 

Reconciliation and healing for all are, at the very least, challenging whilst having a single master narrative because it creates a hierarchy of oppression and solidarity, as well. We know the annihilation of six million Jews was systematic and driven specifically by antisemitism and white supremacist ideology, that is not in dispute, nonetheless,  there is a certain degree of lack of real recognition of non Jewish victims of the Nazi Regime in general, and, specifically, those likewise persecuted on the grounds of ethnicity, which, according to the 1946 United Nations Genocide Convention, is a basis for charges of genocide to be pressed. Half million to three million Roma and Sinti people (accounts still vary) were murdered in the Samundaripen (meaning ‘mass killing’ in Romani cultures) however, this is still, more often than not,  sidelined on Holocaust Memorial Day, commemorative events or dedicated museums.  The Roma community campaigns for the official international recognition of their genocide, and of the prevalent Antsiganism or Romaphobia. Their struggle tends to be ignored partly because of accusations of appropriating the Holocaust. (Popov, 2013)

 

In like manner, master narratives of the colonisation of the American Continent justify or plainly deny the genocides of Indigenous Peoples or First Nations, what is known as the Native American Holocaust which in words of he late Lakota elder, and activist for Indigenous Rights, Russell Means is “probably the most sophisticated form of genocide invented” (Russell Means, 2010, min.1.10) since invasion by Europeans began in 1492. This genocide is widely unacknowledged or denied despite the colonisers’ own accounts of events such as the very comprehensive story of exploitation, slavery and genocide written by Fray Bartolomeo De Las Casas from his arrival in 1502, and which he the aptly named  “Tears of the Indies” with it "Being an Historical and true Account of the Cruel Massacres and Slaughters of above Twenty Millions of innocent people ; Committed by the Spaniards in the Islands of Hispaniola , Cuba , Jamaica , etc. Also, in the Continent of Mexico, Peru, and Other Places of the West Indies, to the Total Destruction of those Countries"(De Las Casas, Phillips, 1953)

 

The status quo narrative of history, however, perpetuates the Columbus-era myth of discovery which legally and philosophically gives the European colonists the right to Native Land (Dunbar-Ortiz, 2006) Independence processes did not stop the violence shared by the many hundreds of distinct Indigenous Peoples, from Greenland to Patagonia and the Caribbean islands. One example is the decimation of Mexico's Yaqui people in the first decades of the 20th century. The Yaqui tribe, with a proud history of resistance to colonisation and pogroms, were forcibly displaced from Sonora in the far North to Yucatan in the unfamiliar hot Southeast to be enslaved and exterminated in henequen plantations. As slavery was technically illegal, the rich plantation owners and the government created a system that would indebt the Indigenous person to the estate so they had to work for their freedom, often to death. (Turner, 1911). The Yaqui genocide of an estimated 150 000, half of the tribe then, remains mainly unacknowledged in education, culture, and public discourse. This exclusion from the official narrative of the history of the period means no justice has ever been made, on the contrary, the killings, repression and indifference continue to this day, albeit differently, but so does their resistance.

 

These examples assist in finding solutions and answers to complex relevant questions. What happens when war ends but conflict doesn't?  Do all conflicts have a clearly defined winner and loser, perpetrator and victim, or can some have more than two sides? Do all perpetrators participate in physical violence? Can we judge them all equally? What happens to those Dona (2019, p.2) calls “The subaltern, marginalised from historiographies of violence” , the ‘other’ victims, or the silently compliant onlookers who, in a Kantian sense, may claim they have kept their high moral ground by not taking active part in atrocities even though they chose to  not help victims either but to conform to a newly created law making violence whereby they sacrifice freedom for state security, or as Benjamin (2007)  said a 'mythic violence’,

 

The classic binary discourse of us and them, of one victim and one perpetrator “has contributed to fix such identities as essential, natural and homogenous’’(Montenegro, Piper, 2009) and creates a discourse where particular cases and "individuals are sacrificed to the severe demands of the national objects”  Hegel (2012, p.9) whereby the system has the monopoly to draw and enforce legal violence  (Nazi racial laws were legal, for instance)  and each group focuses on creating their own narrative (Bar-Tal and Cehajic-Clancey, 2014) with the most powerful sector dominating the widely accepted discourse. Therefore, as Butler (2006) suggests, in order to address violence we must first examine who is establishing the framework and for what reasons, what their aims are, and, in cases of genocide and crimes against humanity, how they use those parameters to claim obedience, innocence, justification, and self-defence. Serbia in this case opted for issuing contradictory accounts, doctoring statistics, banning lessons on Srebrenica in schools, and claiming they have never attacked other countries at the same time that Croatia claims to have just defended herself against Serbian aggression. 

 

 For this purpose it is necessary to broaden our analysis by using Dona’s (2019, p.3) “framework of constellation of narratives (which she) reconceptualised and adapted… to analyse ethnic and political violence.” Her framework aids in the reconciliation process more effectively inasmuch as it breaks with this binary to assign responsibility or recognition, blame or victimhood, to heretofore sidelined sectors and contributes to reparations and healing of all society, including groups who have also been affected but are often sacrificed in the name of national unity, simplification or to mantain the dominant historiography to silence calls for reparations. However, as Franovic (2008, p.17) clarifies “This is certainly not to say that all sides have to be blamed (or compensated) equally. But it is to say that all suffering has to be acknowledged, no matter whose responsibility it was”. Neglecting and othering minority groups or collaborators, and failing to hold a just accountability process that includes the silently compliant part of society who may not necessarily have taken active part in violence or a genocide but, nonetheless, did nothing to stop it, only damages trust in social relationships and risks making reconciliation so superficial that ‘Never again’, a phrase  linked to the Holocaust, becomes a meaningless slogan and not a call to prevent it from repeating. And, indeed it keeps happening.  The Srebrenica genocide, which claimed the lives of over 8 000 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995, is being referred to throughout this paper to illustrate how propaganda and education impedes reconciliation and peace building as Serbian perpetrators of this genocide have since preferred to forget, deny, or create an alternative reality.


With this in mind we now must ask what we mean by reconciliation. Many questions emerge. What does it involve? Why is it not always achieved after conflict, especially after great loss of life and freedoms as it happens during dictatorships, and genocide? For whose benefit is it? Whose responsibility is it to start, lead and mediate negotiations? Which groups should sit at the table?  Does everybody always strive to achieve it?  Does it require the victims’ forgiveness? Can there always be justice for all the parties? What are the obstacles? Can reconciliation bring lasting peace? 


Reconciliation defined simplistically is “the act of causing two people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement” It is clear this basic and utopic definition does not fit complex conflicts that involve historical feuds, crimes against humanity, sexual violence or, indeed, genocide, nor does it fit with long and brutal dictatorships as the past becomes taboo, and oppressive ideas and structures are kept to hinder true reconciliation and pave the way for further conflict to happen like in Spain or Chile because their transitions to democracy which were approved and overseen by the dictators Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet, respectively, to ensure some sort of continuity, promote a ‘forget and forgive’ approach, and ensure amnesty for perpetrators. 

 

Fonovic (2008) summarises what other known scholars define as reconciliation as a process to amend and restore relationships to heal the community and build justice and peace. Reconciliation processes sometimes do not give much consideration to  “the types of relationships pertaining prior to the fracture…, the nature of the process of fracture itself” (Rigby, 2012, p.236). They tend to be pragmatic and seek a quick end to conflict, prioritising a focus on the future.  They avoid dwelling in the past and solving the original issue thus risking repetition.  Rigby ( 2012, p. 13) states that “Theorists and practitioners within this approach have focused on the primacy of institution-building and infrastructural reconstruction, and have paid very little overt attention to the ‘subjective’ dimension of peace-building… They fail to take account of the emotional challenges faced by those seeking to come to terms with loss in the context of post-conflict life”.  

 

Therefore the kind of reconciliation to work towards must have a “ holistic perspective by combining the three phenomenon types (political, social, and economic) with its three levels (individual, communal, and national)” (Strupinskiene, 2017, p. 3). It ought to allow for emotions to be shared in a safe space and in a non-exploitative or condescending manner, as a reckoning with the truth and building trust between former enemies, victims and perpetrators, onlookers and neglected survivors, because “without the full truth, the society could continue coexisting but would be stuck in the cycle of superficial trust resulting from necessity” (Strupinskiene, 2017, p.12). Tellingly, peace accords tend to be mediated and guided by outside agents who may also bear responsibility for the escalation or continuation of conflict by supporting coup d’etats,  selling weapons, training troops like the CIA has done globally, or simply, by failing to act to stop it like in the case of NATO and the UN in the Bosnian genocide. 

 

Narratives and reconciliation correlate inasmuch as they both have different meanings and desired outcomes for opposing sides, they have a symbiotic relationship. They both tend to be marred by power imbalance, the “privilege of constituent parts to act for themselves … above the interest of the whole, the greater good” (Hegel), Signed agreements provide a false sense of peace which has been achieved by glossing over crimes and human rights abuses, or “excluding any data of reference to the past or to theories about the future” (Galtong, 1969, p. 167), and expecting victims to relive their trauma and, yet, forgive and move on in the name of unity. A successful honest peaceful post-conflict society’s historical accounts require the inclusion of all the parties involved  as well as reassurance that the process shall encompass the five factors of reconciliation suggested by Rigby (2012): Security, justice, time, justice, culture.

 

Indeed, different cultures on opposing sides of the narratives and negotiation tables, and in very different contexts of violence approach reconciliation or, even, coexistence according to their community values or suffering. For instance, First Nations in Canada, and in most territories in the American Continent, promote the idea that reconciliation is more than coexistence and inquiries. Acknowledging, changing, and educating old and new generations truthfully about the many crimes against Indigenous peoples is necessary to achieve culturally respectful justice, reparations, inclusion, cohesion and healing. This is in reference to colonisation, and,  specifically just for the purpose of this paper, to the Canadian Indian Residential Schools programme which, until the 1980’s took Native children away from their families to intern them in so-called ‘boarding schools’ so as to force them to assimilate into colonial white European settler culture. The specific aim was “to destroy aboriginal language and culture, ‘to take the Indian out of the child.’ ” (Jung, 2009, p.6) Although most crimes committed against Indigenous Peoples in the whole American Continent fit in the UN definition of genocide, such as displacements, forced sterilisations and mass murder, MacDonald and Hudson (2012, p428), refer to the IRS system as “cultural genocide as a “ground floor” and a means to legally and morally interpret (it).”. 

 

The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established to investigate the IRS in Canada states “education caused this mess, and education will also get us out” (Waterfall, 2018, p.9) . His quote is often referred to by Indigenous people in Canada to express how they approach the path to reconciliation. In addition to this, Campell (2020) makes clear that reconciliation does not require survivors to relive their trauma to educate the public, and it is not tokenistic, charitable or a performative act. In this context reconciliation is political and personal, individual and collective and involves “openness and communication among community members, without blaming or shame; clear role expectations and people taking responsibility; and a sense of connectedness and sensitivity to one another which promotes healthy partnerships and collective action.” (Krawl, 1994. p.2). For Lamouraoux (2020), reconciliation is a gift from First Nations survivors to the whole community so that everyone can heal and live together. 

 

In heavy contrast to the Indigenous culture-based approach to healing, the path of reconciliation in Bosnia Herzegovina and the other five former Yugoslav republics after the 1990’s wars and the Srebrenica genocide is as complex as the culture and history of ancient rivalry of the peoples of the Balkans itself. Josip Broz, Tito, who united and ruled Yugoslavia for 35 years, created a multicultural education system where sectarian nationalism was strongly discouraged, and which focused on uniting the federation’s many ethnic groups to build a strong Yugoslavia.  (Georgeoff, 1966). However, after his death, repressed hostility was evident in all sectors and by the time war broke the Serbian leaders had fed the myth of replacement of Serbs by Bosnian and Kosovan Muslims, to justify genocide (Sells, 1996)

 

The unity broken by the Yugoslav War resulted in the formation of six new countries with prevalent strong post-war geopolitical and religious divisions, government structures, and reformed education systems that reflect, propagate, perpetuate and, even, exacerbate prejudices, power imbalance. and distorted biased versions of truth (Bacevic, 2014). Nowhere is this more visible than in Bosnia Herzegovina. Twenty six years after the Srebrenica genocide, the three prominent ethic groups: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, and the Kosovan Albanians and Roma minorities, have what Rigby (2012) calls ‘surface coexistence of separate lives’ with little or no contact.  The Dayton Agreement after the war restructured Bosnia as a  two part federation, one side shared by Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks , and over 50% of territory given to the Republic of Srpska in Bosnian Serb control (Franovic, 2008). Further segregation within Bosnia Herzegovina means the country has councils, cities, and parliaments divided into ethnic groups as well. 

 

Controversially, schools also divide Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croat students and staff into so-called ‘Two schools under one roof’, two curriculums in two languages with two narratives of history and geography in one building where children of different faiths and ethnicities seldom cross paths. Thus, schools act as recruitment ground for nationalist parties which helps preserve the state of  cold peace where there is neither aggression nor friendship and the risk of a conflict restarting is ever present.  (Miller, 2000). Young people grow up within their own “ethno-national group and learn from a mono-ethnic curriculum that does not foster understanding or tolerance of others, but breeds suspicion” (Swimlear, 2013, p2) which endangers even surface coexistence and makes talks of reconciliation at this stage infeasible. 

 

Optimistically, however, students in some towns like Jajce have taken action to demand  integration of the schools and have allowed themselves to socialise with peers outside their own  ethnic and religious group. Cities like Monstar already have integrated schools that promote values of openness, tolerance, unity,  and some community leaders campaign to build bridges to unite people, as opposed to as physical, political and philosophical marks of separation. 

 

On the whole master narratives create a black and white picture of “almost totalising violence exposed in the public domain of the single story” (Dona, 2019, p. 13) with two sides: beginning and end, victory and defeat, bravery and cowardice, central victimhood and prioritised criminal acts. A new history demands that the world also hears the voices of the sidelined victims, such as the, family members of the children, now adults, forcibly taken to Indian Residential Schools in North America, or the, mainly Bosniak, women raped by Serbian forces during the Yugoslav Wars, and the outcast children born as a consequence.

 

 In conclusion, the healing of lasting personal and inter-generational trauma and reconciliation require an all inclusive narrative, honest conversations and acknowledgment of historical and sociopolitical truths, and educating everyone on the painful past lest we forget and continue on a path of self-destruction and incessant  antagonism and war. In the famous words of Santayana (2017, p.182) “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

 

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