How Hitchens Can Save the Left by Matt Johnson

How Hitchens Can Save the Left by Matt Johnson

Author:Matt Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00


While Hitchens became increasingly suspicious of left-wing utopianism in his later years, he argued that the “worst crimes are still committed in the name of the old traditional rubbish: of loyalty to nation or ‘order’ or leadership or tribe or faith.”75 Though this is to some extent a false dichotomy (many of the most brutal utopians throughout history dutifully invoked nation, tribe, and faith), it indicates that Hitchens would have been well-equipped to diagnose and resist a threat like Trumpism. Authoritarian populism is nothing new in America—it’s a very traditional piece of rubbish. From the popularity of Father Charles Coughlin’s putrid anti-Semitic and pro-fascist broadcasts in the 1930s to the original America First movement led by Lindbergh to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to McCarthyism, the United States has had plenty of powerful demagogues and authoritarian moments.

Hitchens recognized that nationalism and authoritarianism are often symbiotic, a fact that’s particularly relevant in the context of the liberal democratic world’s drift toward both over the past decade. After Trump’s election, a cadre of intellectuals—such as the political theorist Yoram Hazony and the editor of National Review, Rich Lowry76—emerged to offer a positive vision of nationalism. In his 2018 book The Virtue of Nationalism, Hazony argues that “universal political ideals—of the kind that are so prominent, for example, in the European Union—seem invariably to generate hatred and bigotry to at least the same degree as nationalist movements.”77 Considering the fact that the unprecedented period of European integration since World War II coincided with a 75-year respite from large-scale interstate warfare on the continent—the Russian invasion of Ukraine was resisted by a reenergized European Union, an exception which proves the rule—it’s difficult to see how Hazony arrived at this conclusion.

Despite the best efforts of nationalist intellectuals to present a deodorized version of their movement, the resurrection of nationalism in Europe predictably led to surging authoritarianism and xenophobia. Beyond the devastating consequences of resurgent Russian nationalism, European democracies have faced an extended period of democratic decay driven by the return of nationalist politics across the continent. In Hungary, for instance, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s efforts to transform the country into what he affectionately describes as an “illiberal democracy” have included packing the Constitutional Court and flagrant encroachments on judicial independence; the politicization of regulations for media organizations, NGOs, and educational institutions; and government intrusions on the democratic process through politicized audits, controlled access to the media, and the appropriation of public resources for political purposes.78

In March 2019, Orbán’s party (Fidesz) was suspended from the European People’s Party in the European Parliament, which stated, “We cannot compromise on democracy, rule of law, freedom of press, academic freedom or minorities rights. And anti-EU rhetoric is unacceptable.”79 Orbán celebrated Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, and Hungary’s membership in the union is in question over its anti-democratic behavior. Orbán has also made xenophobia a central element of his political platform and rhetoric. In 2018, he told the German newspaper Bild that he regards



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