A world of bullies

Suddenly, almost without realizing it, we find ourselves in a world of bullies. It's a well-known fact: it's that state of affairs where the strongest, the one who shouts the loudest, the one who has the power, the upper hand (and the handle too). That state of affairs where there's no need to convince or be right, where arguing is unnecessary. All you need is the strength and the audacity to prevail.

And when wasn't this the case? would be a logical reaction to the previous paragraph, and those who pose the question will be quite right. The history of the world could be told as a long series of conflicts , ambitions, and violence. What else were the Roman Empire, the conquest of America, and the world wars of the 20th century? The history of the world could be told by the millions of victims left behind by those events we now read about in books or on Wikipedia.

But in this more recent history, we also find attempts to establish a consensual world order through the creation of organizations for civilized conflict resolution. This was a response to the more than 70 million deaths left by World War II (1939-1945), considered the deadliest conflict in human history.

Thus, the United Nations (1945), the Organization of American States (1948), and the European Union (1991) emerged. Three cases that, at least for about 70 years, could be considered "successful," despite the focalized conflicts resulting from the Cold War in Korea (1950), Vietnam (1955), the Latin American guerrillas since the mid-1960s, and the ever-flammable Middle East.

Precisely these organizations, once respected and respected, are the main victims of this new era of thugs, in which there is increasingly less respect for the institutions and rules agreed upon in these spheres. The most powerful seem to be unleashed, aware that brute force is what counts.

What else has happened but Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine, which sparked a war that has raged for more than two years? Or Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack, which has already caused some 60,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip? The same goes for the US bombing of the Iranian regime's nuclear facilities. Force prevails over any reason, even disregarding any humanitarian motivation.

The world of thugs is once again developing as a more or less silent tug-of-war between the West (the United States and Europe) and the East (China and Russia), both seeking to extend their political, economic, and cultural influence globally. For China and Russia, for example, Western values of democracy and human rights are relative, applicable according to the idiosyncrasies of each society.

Disenchantment with the results of liberal democracy, resentment at the inequalities of globalization , the impact of the technological revolution on more traditional jobs, and the growing demands of multiple sectors of society have led to the emergence of messianic-like leaderships that have altered political culture.

For respected Venezuelan analyst Moisés Naim, we live in times of collective anxiety and distrust in the institutions that create the ideal conditions for charlatans to thrive. “ They have always existed. They are the influencers of history, but now they are empowered by technology,” he says. They are what Italian Giuliano da Empoli calls “the engineers of chaos.”

Naim, then, warns about the rise and expansion of populisms of various kinds at a time when failure is a fundamental characteristic of governability. In fact, it is the governments themselves that, in order to maintain political and economic stability, resort to the three Ps: "populism, polarization, and post-truth."

Often, anything that happens at the OAS or the UN seems distant, having little to do with our daily lives. In fact, we are increasingly distrustful of anything that emerges from these spheres. However, Europe can boast of experiencing one of its longest periods of peace, prosperity, and stability since the end of the 20th century.

We must therefore be vigilant about the European drift, where nationalism, anti-Europeanism, and a version of the current battle for people's minds lurk, which could shake that unity that began as economic but slowly transformed into a continental way of being.

Perhaps it is the last frontier of bullies and charlatans.

* The author is a journalist. [email protected]