By LISZT VIEIRA*
Donald Trump wants to destroy international collective decision-making bodies, such as the UN and the European Union, for example.
1.
On February 18, diplomatic delegations from the United States and Russia held a meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine and the future world order. They decided to “lay the foundations for future negotiations.” Everything indicates that this was the beginning of a negotiation process, without the presence of Ukraine and the European Union.
Donald Trump wants to destroy international decision-making bodies, such as the UN and the European Union, for example. Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin directly to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. He ignored Europe, which followed US foreign policy under the terms of the transatlantic treaties.
And he ignored the UN, which has become ineffective in the face of recent international conflicts. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have a common goal: they both want to weaken Europe and replace democracy with tyranny.
Historically, modern democracy emerged in opposition to authoritarian and despotic regimes, such as absolute monarchies whose power derived from the divine right of kings. In democracy, “power derives from the people and shall be exercised in their name,” a principle contained in the Constitutions of democratic countries.
2.
There are other, more subtle concepts of democracy that are not limited to political regimes, but to a mode of social existence. In any case, the basic principles of freedom, equality, diversity, human rights, both individual and collective rights, civil, social and political rights, are an integral part of the modern concept of democracy.
But democracy remained stuck in its formal attire. It announced rights, but did not guarantee the conditions for exercising these rights. It would be like telling a beggar that he has the right to travel when he is barely surviving. A large part of the population – in some countries the majority – does not realize the benefits of democracy because, in dictatorial regimes, their lives are the same, their struggle for survival is the same. They often use “survival strategies” by mixing the legal with the illegal, when they do not fall directly into criminality.
Liberal capitalist democracies have concentrated income in the hands of a minority and increased social inequalities. Social democracy, as a more humane and social version of capitalism, has been swallowed up by neoliberalism in most Western countries. Public resources have been captured by the market and the State has been demonized, often prevented from investing in infrastructure to ensure the country's development. The myth of fiscal austerity, defended as a dogma by the media, blocks public investment and calls resources applied to social areas, such as health, education, housing, transportation, the environment, etc., expenditure.
This model of formal democracy that marginalized the majority of the population entered a crisis. The far right, with a strong presence on social media and the support of much of the mainstream media, began to attack the “system,” gaining support from much of the poor and destitute population that wants change without knowing exactly which way. They want “radical” solutions and not the rhetoric of defending democracy that does not benefit them. When they come to power, this far right begins to destroy the institutions that guarantee the functioning of democracy. They attack democracy, human rights, cultural diversity, the independence of the judiciary and, in the case of Europe and the United States, immigrants.
This is the case now with the criminal president of the United States (a criminal according to the American justice system itself). He is destroying democracy and paving the way for a dictatorship from within. In other words, coups against democracy no longer come only from the outside in, like classic military coups. Often, it is elected presidents who corrode democratic institutions from within with the aim of establishing a despotic authoritarian government.
In addition to Donald Trump, we also have the example of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Vladimir Putin in Russia, etc. This is what Jair Bolsonaro tried in Brazil, without success. Capitalism, in its dominant neoliberal version, does not seem interested in coexisting with democratic regimes.
Of course, situations vary from case to case. But they all point to the twilight of democracy in the West and the return of brute force with few or no limits. It is the language of power for power's sake. Brute force prevails against the achievements of civilization. And a large part of the population, which has not benefited from democracy, begins to support it, seeing the tyrant as a savior father, someone sent by God to solve the nation's problems.
3.
The exclusive use of force breaks traditions, whether good or bad. A recent example occurred at the recent Munich Security Conference, which concluded on February 16, 2, when US Vice President JD Vance criticized the European countries present for “suppression of freedom of expression” and “lack of democracy.”
Following Donald Trump’s lead, he humiliated Europe as he had already done in Paris on January 20, when he lectured the European Union about its “excessive regulation” of artificial intelligence. The highlight of the Munich Conference was the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, who quoted Vladimir Lenin, to whom he attributed the following phrase: “There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.” The fact that stands out is that a solid transatlantic relationship, a pillar of the international system since World War II, suddenly seems deeply fractured (Le Monde, 17/2/2025).
The situation is serious. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has declared that he rejects a “peace dictated” by Washington and Moscow. And Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has declared that “the transatlantic relationship, the North Atlantic Alliance and our friendship with the United States have entered a new phase.” Europe has begun to pay the price for its subservience to the interests of the United States and its armed wing, NATO. The United States has about 800 military bases, on land, at sea and in the air, most of them outside its territory. Europe has adopted as its own the declared enemy of the United States: Russia, an old enemy from the Cold War. And it has ignored common interests.
French General Vincent Desportes, former director of the French War College, giving a lecture a few years ago at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, better known as Science Po, advocated rapprochement between Europe and Russia, in view of common interests. This is what Germany can say, whose industry and households depended on gas imported from Russia, now interrupted after the attack that destroyed the Nord Stream gas pipeline that connected Russia to Germany. And from Germany, a large part of the gas was redistributed to other countries in Europe. After that, Germany entered an economic and political crisis.
Realizing the advance of multipolarity in the world and feeling the weakening of the unilateral hegemony of the United States, Donald Trump began to destroy democratic institutions and practically declared war on democracy, already threatened by the advance of the extreme right in several Western countries. Called a “populist” by the corporate media that calls Javier Milei a “libertarian”, Donald Trump is laying the foundations of a new tyranny based on a neo-fascist ideology. This brings to mind the famous phrase by Tocqueville who, when fighting tyranny, stated that anarchy is not the greatest evil that a democracy should fear, but the least.
Donald Trump has begun to attack some important symbols of civilization, such as human rights, as well as environmental protection measures against climate change that threaten the survival of humanity, whether through the destruction of biodiversity or global warming caused by the emission of greenhouse gases and deforestation.
History takes turns, has advances and setbacks, and is not a linear path toward a grand future. In this current third decade of the 21st century, the specter that haunts the world is not communism, but the return of tyranny, reinforcing the destruction of the values of civilization and the ecological conditions that sustain the life of humanity on the planet.
*Liszt scallop is a retired professor of sociology at PUC-Rio. He was a deputy (PT-RJ) and coordinator of the Global Forum of the Rio 92 Conference. Author, among other books, of Democracy reactsGaramond). [https://amzn.to/3sQ7Qn3]
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