Everybody look to their right’. In her popular song ‘Price Tag’, Jessie J was certainly not talking about political inclinations, but looking to their right is what a lot of societies are now doing.
Javier Milei’s victory in Argentina and Geert Wilders’ party winning the most seats in the House of Representatives in the Netherlands are not the only exhibitions of right-wing stances becoming popular. In the past week, the stabbing of three young children in the streets of Dublin sparked riots amongst the public, calling out ‘unchecked immigration’, despite no official comments on the nationality of the attacker. Following the arrest of 34 people, the sequence of events has been dubbed as ‘the end of the Irish welcome’.
In Portugal earlier this month, snap elections were called to be held in March 2024. This week, a group of far-right leaders gathered in Lisbon to show support for Andre Ventura, leader of Portugal’s far-right party Chega.
An anti-global, anti-secular movement appears to be on the rise across societies. Catch Confluence Consultants’ commentary on the impact of this shift to right-wing politics here: https://youtu.be/TU37s12w1-I
It is also an interesting time for leaders like Milei and Wilders to come into the limelight with their climate stances. Milei believes that human activity is not responsible for climate change and Wilders’ party seeks to leave the Paris Agreement and stop the production of wind turbines, extracting more oil and gas from the North Sea instead. With COP28 mere days away, global unity on climate change- and future execution of any agreed policies- will be worth watching. How impactful can global climate laws be when anti-global sentiment reigns?
It was also the week of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. As part of the deal, Hamas was set to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian detainees to be released from Israel and more aid to flow into Gaza. For the US, a pause in the violence was perhaps also needed to fix the public image of President Joe Biden who has been facing public backlash for their role in aiding the military effort in Gaza. Despite the truce, violence in the West Bank and in Lebanon continues. In the absence of a Hezbollah truce, the question of wider involvement of the Axis of Resistance still seems to be hanging by a thread. Whether this truce will lead to a more permanent solution is yet to be determined, but for the civilians of Gaza and Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas, the pause would have been welcomed.
The Middle East is not the only part of the world currently facing security distress. South and North Korea seem to be at a tricky stage in their relationship yet again as N. Korea builds up its military presence on the border and vows to launch more satellites to monitor the US and its allies.
Awaiting an election year in 2024, for American foreign policy and alliances, this seems like a time for all guards to be up to maintain their role as hegemon.