Postscripts to Paradise: Rise of the Radical Right in Iberia By Bruce H. Joffe Even before the international pandemic which set people against governments and governments against people, 2019 proved to be a pivotal year of critical political incidents and innuendo. “On the American continent, it seemed easy to understand (Jair) Bolsonaro and (Donald) Trump’s electoral success,” postulated Luís Gouveia Junior in a 5 March 2021 editorial published by DemocraciaAbierta, a Carnival float in the Spanish town of Campo de Criptana features uniforms of Nazis, concentration camp inmates, and crematoria trains, in February 2020. global platform that Source: YouTube screenshot via JTA publishes Spanish, is that the anti-system discourse alone seems to be enough Portuguese, and English voices which influence debates on for the far-Right to gain political ground.” democracy, justice, citizen participation and human rights. “Brazil and the USA both faced undeniable problems, and the two candidates provided simple, if racist and undemocratic answers. Bolsonaro was a strongman who proposed to crack down on the violence and crime that plagues Rio de Janeiro. Trump was a voice for the part of his country that blamed immigrants for taking their jobs.” Yet, how does that explain André Ventura in Portugal? “On the face of it, says Gouveia, “the social context would suggest that there’s little potential for a far-Right surge. Roma people, who are targeted by André Ventura’s rhetoric, represent less than 0.5% of the country’s population.” The question, then, is how does Ventura manage to make his pitch under such adverse conditions? “One possible explanation—that the far Right presents itself as the only anti-system voice and appeals to voters who are disillusioned with the system—brings the examples of Brazil, the USA, and Portugal together,” Gouveia proposes. “The anti-system argument is not new, with authors such as Boaventura de Sousa Santos having discussed it at length within the Portuguese context. What is interesting, however, 40 Portugal Living Magazine
Over the summer of 2019, Mamadou Ba, the head of an anti-racist organization in Lisbon, received a letter. “Our goal is to kill every foreigner and anti-fascist—and you are among our targets,” it read. A few weeks later, it was followed by a message telling him to leave Portugal or let his family face Mamadou Ba, an anti-racism activist, the consequences. received emails threatening his family That message was [Courtesy of Mamadou Ba] accompanied by a bullet casing. Ba’s experience is “one of a growing number of racist incidents perpetrated across Portugal that have led the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) to call for an urgent institutional response,” reported the UK’s The Guardian newspaper, which lists additional anecdotes and evidence of racism and growth of the far right in Portugal:
