By FERNANDO LIONEL QUIROGA*
The “chainsaw” metaphor used by President Javier Milei to symbolize the confrontation with the “bloated state” turns out, in practice, to be a direct attack on the country’s social policies
Behind the disguise of eccentricity — a performative disguise, artificially designed by the new modus operandi of the global far right — hides the true project of the self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei. He takes advantage of the hope of the Argentine people, who are crying out for change in a country that, for decades, has been increasing its rates of extreme poverty and destitution, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC).
According to the Institute, Argentina has presented worrying data regarding poverty in the last decade. Although this scenario varies due to different economic contexts, the financial crises and economic models explain, to a large extent, the situation experienced by the country.
This is the context of an Argentina ruined by the extremely high rate of inflation and economic recession that, translated into social reality, means food insecurity, rising unemployment rates, indigence (people who do not have access to a food basket capable of meeting their daily energy and protein needs) and the exponential growth of poverty in the country's capital. In the second quarter of 2024, Buenos Aires reached the alarming number of 989 thousand people in poverty, representing approximately one third of its population, according to data from the Institute of Statistics and Census of the City of Buenos Aires (Idecba).
This scenario of total insecurity — no longer as something distant, found only in newspaper articles, but as a reality that invades people's lives every day — forces millions of Argentines to leave their homes because they are unable to pay their basic living expenses. Dignity is a word that is far removed from contemporary Argentine society.
It is in this environment of fear, hunger and humiliation that reason — undermined by the failures and crises accumulated in the country’s recent history — loses its legitimacy as a guide for making choices. Faced with brutal despair, all that remains is to rely on luck: the hope that, through a gap in history, a solution may emerge. This solution is often projected in the figure of a “savior” or “messiah,” as we have already seen in our brief look at Bolsonaro’s necropolitics.
The global far right is taking advantage of this crisis of reason to deepen it, discredit it and render it ineffective. This is why it is stifling science and universities. The refusal to accept knowledge and denialism are its main weapons. Ignorance as an ideology is the central tactic of the far right because, by denying reason, political decisions once again become a matter of luck or chance.
In a world where public debate is reduced to the logic of digital influencers and cynicism-filled memes, critical interpretations become even more marginalized. Governments like Javier Milei’s are exhaustively endorsed by a traditional media that, in many cases, reverses its critical function to support “big lies” — such as the unconditional support for the genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government. This narrative helps to consolidate the advancement of apocalyptic governance models throughout the world.
Today’s Argentina is no longer just the country of tango or soccer. It is the country of the destitute, the humiliated, the hungry, the homeless, and the malnourished. These aspects are aggravated in a scenario dominated by high inflation and shock policies, such as those proposed by Javier Milei, which lead the people to believe in a contradictory “official” narrative. While the cost of living increases, the prices of food, housing, and other essential goods soar.
The “chainsaw” metaphor used by President Javier Milei to symbolize the confrontation with the “bloated state” is, in practice, a direct attack on the country’s social policies. If in 2024, the situation is already one of pure disillusionment; in 2025, the imperialist war led by the economist fake, the project to destroy the fundamental rights of the Argentine people will continue to march. March towards the Argentine apocalypse.
The scenario does not offer many alternatives: either the people react en masse, taking to the streets of the country, or hunger and spreading dengue epidemic will only be the harbinger of a nation devastated by extreme poverty. If there is still a pedagogical meaning, despite the catastrophe faced by the Argentine people, it is that, in Brazil, we cannot miss the historic opportunity to expose to the world the anatomy of the extreme right, exemplarily punishing the main leader — Jair Bolsonaro — of the attempted coup against democracy.
*Fernando Lionel Quiroga is a professor of Fundamentals of Education at the State University of Goiás (UEG).
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