Paris Demetriades
Amidst many constructive and interesting discussions, speaking with Marina Economidou on the radio show “90 Minutes of Politics Otherwise,” the audio of which is republished in Kathimerini, Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Cyprus, Antonis Ellinas, pointed out the cultural divide between Europe and the United States concerning freedom of expression as both a concept and a way of life.
With the rise of the far right and populism across Europe, and with the absurd and tragic phenomenon of the Trump era dominating the discussion, Dr. Ellinas specifically mentioned that, due to its bloody and tragic history, Europe cannot adopt the “freedom of opinion” that prevails in America. A country where, especially recently, amid the paranoia of the alleged and imaginary anti-woke agenda, the nurturing aspect of political correctness has been ruthlessly butchered and almost definitively crushed, with all the consequences this brings for the current state of the once strongest democracy.
I am unsure whether the use of the term “freedom” of expression was a slip or deliberate by the Professor, as a theoretical scholar approaching events with sobriety. However, I am almost certain that he would agree that what has taken hold in the U.S. with the election of Trump, and which, with the support of social media, has spread like a cancer throughout Europe in recent years, is not freedom but the lawlessness of opinion.
An utterly diseased lawlessness, with clear signs of racist extremism, of the old-fashioned kind, if not primitive, where people are once again divided from the very start into black and white, men and women, straight and gay, rich and poor, and so on. That which was painstakingly achieved in the second half of the twentieth century, through decades of hard-fought struggles and iconic human rights movements, most of which, by the way, originated in the U.S., is now at risk of being obliterated by every type of populist, like Trump, leading Western civilization, and consequently humanity as a whole, centuries backward.
Perhaps the strongest ally of this cultural decay and, possibly, the elephant in the room is the multiple crisis of institutions we are currently experiencing. With citizens, justifiably or unjustifiably, I'm not sure, disillusioned, adopting nihilistic tendencies and lumping everything and everyone into worthlessness, politics, justice, the media, the education system, and the broader public service are all treated with the same dismissive attitude by a large portion of society, particularly those from the working-class strata.
There are, of course, reasons for this, but the burning issue lies in the fact that the way out cannot be the anti-systemic far-right. A quick glance at the history of the first half of the twentieth century loudly proclaims why.
*This article was translated from its Greek original.
