Thread by @MarianaSeMendes

Thread 👇For those interested in the transnationationalization of the far right, VOX put together quite a show this weekend. Special guests to their popular fair #VIVA21 were Meloni (IT) and Ventura (PT), who held in-person speeches. Here’s what I found most interesting: (1)

The combination of speakers (via video). On one hand, the usual interlocutors from HU and PL (Orbán & PiS). On the other, many Latin American conservatives (e.g. ex-presidents of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Bolsonaro's son, the rising ‘stars’ J.A. Kast (CL) and Millei (AR), etc.)(2)

The combination seems at first odd. Orbán & co. are above all interested in the preservation of national sovereignty, immigration, EU skepticism. LA voices, on the other hand, are above all united by their opposition to the “totalitarian socialism that cripples the continent" (3)

What unites them? Besides obscure references to “Western enemies” and a general appeal to “shared values”, references to religion and the defense of the family are transversal. (4)

This is not an odd mix for Vox or Chega, though. They combine the anti-socialism rhetoric of Latin America – accusing the left-wing governments of SP and PT of wanting to implement a Venezuela-like regime – with the ethno-differentialism of their CEE counterparts. (5)

What is quite odd is the presence of many LA voices in an event where Vox’s leader did not shy away from extolling the “discovery of the new world” by Spain, who, he said, “put an end to the genocide of indigenous people” and created a "human rights empire” in the Americas. (6)

Most relevant is that the event revealed how much effort Vox is putting into the creation of what it calls the “Iberosphere”. This is meant as an opposite force to left-wing transnational groups (Foro de São Paulo, Grupo de Puebla). (7)

There’s a lot of conspiracy thinking around what these left-wing groups do in LA (drugs, corruption, financing of violent protests, etc). The intervention of Andrés Pastrana (ex-president of Colombia) was a good example of that. (8)

The "Iberosphere" is defined as a community of +700 million people sharing a common history and culture (PT and BR included). For Vox, to place Spain as the leader of the Iberosphere is to make Spain a centerpiece of transatlantic relations, a sort of “make Spain great again" (9)

Finally, this event was another demonstration of how stark the “anti-globalism” discourse has became for Vox. This was also clear in the guests’ speeches. Meloni defined “the globalist current” as the “main enemy”. (10)

Tellingly, the party put together a “falla” (see images) representing workers bearing the weight of the privileged. The privileged include feminists and ecologists. On top is the UN 2030 Agenda. This falla was meant to be burned (but Madrid's gvt did not allow). (11)

For a somewhat hallucinating view of how Vox is targeting the 2030 Agenda see the following video (with sound on!), a video shared by Eduardo Bolsonaro. (END)