The real danger is that the resistance is not to the changes but to reality.
A segment of the UK population had to go through Brexit to realize that their country is not an empire. Trump prays the Make America Great Again (MAGA) prayer every day to sell the past to the dissatisfied of the present; López Obrador governs with 20th century dogmas and dictates his truth in media celebrations every morning.
Climate change and artificial intelligence were electives in the 20th century, but today’s presidents are required to take them. It is the problem for the nostalgic. Their models are not linked to the future.
Erdogan does not fit in Türkiye. For this reason, he ordered the construction of a palace with 1,150 rooms in 300,000 square meters. He is a caliph who for 20 years has sold the idea that society can think about the Ottoman Empire without having to live in it. It is a constant fight. Day to day. There is no better sales success than living entelequias.
The true revolutionaries are the publicists, Frédéric Beigbeder would tell us.
In an interesting article by the writer Zulfu Livaneli on Sunday in El País, he recalled an apt description of Turkey: the easternmost of the western countries and the westernmost of the eastern countries.
Livaneli recalls that during the first decade of this century, George W. Bush’s team decided that Turkey needed to become an Islamic republic that would defend US interests in the region. In other words, Washington preferred that Turkey not enter the European Union to subdue Atatürk’s secular and Western legacy.
Thus was born Erdogan’s party: Justice and Development (AKP). Erdogan sells the idea that the Ottoman Empire will return.
Meanwhile, Erdogan has undermined his country’s democracy. He controls judges, legislators and the military. The press, as nostalgic autocrats often are, is the enemy.
Corruption is familiar to Erdogan’s circle. The audios with the voices of Erdogan’s sons collecting favors and filling suitcases with money are known. It happened 10 years ago. Erdogan was enraged, but nothing happened against him.
In March 2021, the Turkish president decided to withdraw his country from the European convention against violence against women. He did it to please the more Islamist factions of his government.
Paradoxically, it is the Istanbul agreement. Signed in 2011. Despite this, millions of women voted for Erdogan last Sunday.
The time has come when the concept of democracy has ceased to be rational. Fear and passion for nostalgia have gone global.
@faustopretelin
