VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY GEORGE ORWELL: FARM RISING
“Citizens of the world, we are facing a global emergency. Never have we seen so many heads of state lacking personal integrity, capable of lying and abusing their powers with such impunity and so blindly backed by amoral and unscrupulous political parties”
Since 2006, democracy in the world has had a downward trend. Several liberal democracies are becoming less liberal, and authoritarian regimes are developing more repressive tendencies.
Democracies are dying at the hands of elected authoritarian populists, who are taking it upon themselves to dismantle the institutions that give democracy legitimacy.
Changes in the international environment, as well as technological developments and growing inequality, have contributed to this democratic depression. Yet mass pro-democracy protests in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian settings, from Armenia to Hong Kong to Latin America, underscore the continuing appeal of democracy.
Authoritarian populism has an Achilles' heel: the tendency of uncontrolled leaders to sink into banality, cronyism, and deviation.
There is still an opportunity to renew democratic progress, but it will require a return to first principles and renewed efforts on the part of advanced democracies.
Authoritarian regimes are led by "The Great Radish Society" and why the radish?
The populists who currently lead the destinies of several countries in the world, achieve their popularity by making the less favored and poor people believe that they are the solution to their economic problems and that they will save them, however, these populist leaders are looking to enrich themselves and their friends.
These populists who presume to be socialists, communists, or leftists, say that they know how to understand the less privileged masses, managing to stay in power through the gifts and alms they give to people in a state of economic poverty in exchange for their continuing voting for them.
At the end of the story, these pseudo leaders get rich and are called “Radish”, because they are Red on the outside and White on the inside, understanding that red represents communism or socialism and white capitalism or if you prefer Neoliberalism.
TARTUFFE, THE FLATTERERS AND THE TRIUMPH OF NEOLIBERALISM
Variations on "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
One day, a populist leader named Tartuffe (hypocritical character, impostor and populist and manipulative politician), addressed his followers and asked them "why do we live in this miserable condition?" To which he himself replied:
“Because almost all the product of our work is stolen from us. There, friends, is the answer to all our problems and it can be summed up in a single word: Entrepreneurs - Ambitious and he added, they are the only real enemy we have. Eliminate them and the root of hunger and overwork will be abolished forever."
Therefore, what we must do is workday and night, body, and soul, for the overthrow of Entrepreneurs - Ambitious!
Message to you, comrades, is the Transformation of our Country, eventually justice will be done. Fix your eyes on that, fellows, for the rest of your lives!
And pass on this message of mine to those who come after, so that future generations will continue the fight until it is victorious.
Never listen when they tell you that entrepreneurs and good and wise people have a common interest, that the prosperity of one is the prosperity of others. All is a lie.
The businessperson and the separationists do not serve the interests of the people, they serve their own interests; remember, they are enemies, the people and we are partners.
Those closest to Tartuffe, the Flatterers (1), revealed that during the last few months they had studied topics of high economics and convinced Tartuffe that Neoliberalism was bad.
(1) A flatterer is a person who, excessively and exaggeratedly, behaves in a flattering manner, paying numerous compliments and flattering someone with the intention of pleasing and gaining their favor and trust.
That was how the Flatterers told Tartuffe, that they had managed to reduce the principles of the new transformation of their country against Neoliberalism, into Seven Commandments, which would be inscribed in the political legacy of Tartuffe and would form an unalterable law by which all the people should live forever.
THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
1. All those who do not think like Tartuffe and the Flatterers are enemies.
2. All illiterate, ignorant and flattering are friends.
3. No Flatterer shall be ostentatious.
4. No Flatterer will be corrupt.
5. No Flatterer will have links with the organized underworld.
6. No Flatterer shall accuse or evince any other Flatterer.
7. All the Flatterer are like the good and wise people, that is to say equal.
After convincing the people that Tartuffe was the chosen one to direct their destinies, all the Flatterers held a general assembly that was known as the Morning Meeting. Here the work for the coming week was planned and resolutions were presented and debated. It was always the Flatterers who presented the resolutions. The people understood how to vote but could never think of any resolution of their own.
Over time, part of the town began to question the way Tartuffe and the Flatterers acted, so, at a Morning Meeting, Tartuffe made the following statement:
"Compatriots!" he yelled at her. “You are not thinking, I hope, that we are carrying out this Transformation of the Country, with a spirit of selfishness and privilege?
Many of us do not like money and live in austerity.
I don't like money, because it's bad and aspirational.
Our sole objective is to preserve the good of the people.
We work with the brain. All the management and organization of this Country depends on us. Day and night we watch over your well-being.
It is for HIS good that we have "certain privileges" because do you know what would happen if we failed in our duty? Neoliberalism would return! And surely there is no one among you who wants to see the neoliberals back, right?
Now, if there was one thing that the people were completely sure of, it was that they did not want Neoliberalism to return and, when this possibility was presented to them, they had nothing more to say. The importance of keeping Tartuffe and the Flatterers healthy and comfortable was all too obvious. Therefore, it was agreed without further argument that the privileges should be reserved only for Tartuffe and the Smoothies.
Time passed and there began to be differences between the Flatterers, so Tartuffe decided to "expel" from his group the Flatterers who had apparently been disloyal to him but who, in reality, no longer thought like him; This "Comrades", said Tartuffe, "These are very difficult decisions that I must make for the good of all and, I trust that all the people, appreciate my sacrifice that implies extra work"
And Tartufo added, do not imagine, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility.
No one believes more firmly than I do that we are all equal. I would be very happy to allow you all to make decisions for yourselves. But sometimes, you can make the wrong decisions, folks, and then where would we be?
And addressing the Smoothies, he emphasized: "Bravery is not enough", "Loyalty and obedience are more important". Discipline, comrades, iron discipline! That is the slogan for today. One false step, and our enemies would be upon us. Certainly, comrades, you do not want Neoliberalism to return.
It was then that the Flatterers concluded: "If Tartuffe says so, it must be correct." And from then on, the maxim was adopted, "Tartuffe is always right".
It was around this time that Tartuffe suddenly moved into a large mansion, and some remembered that this was against one of the previously mentioned commandments, however, the Flatterers
said that it was necessary for Tartuffe to live there, because he was the brain of the Country, so he had the right to have a quiet place to work.
It was also more suitable for the dignity of the Leader to live in a place like said mansion. However, some of the Flatterers got upset and tried to decipher the Seven Commandments that had been written, one of which read "No Flatterer shall be ostentatious"…however it seems that additional text had been added and it now read: No Flatterer shall be ostentatious, but, if their safety is at stake, ostentation will be allowed as a means of protection.
Over the years, Tartuffe and the Flatterers and without the Good and Wise People realizing it, they were modifying the seven commandments, remaining as follows: (in red the original text, in blue the corrected text).
THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS REVISED BY TARTUFFE AND THE FLATTERERS
1. All those who do not think like Tartuffe and the Flatterers are enemies, except those who make economic contributions, whether they are opportunistic businesspeople or drug traffickers.
2. All the illiterate, ignorant and flattering are friends, except those who do not think like the leader Tartuffe, who is always right.
3. No Flatterers shall be ostentatious, but if his safety is at stake, ostentation will be permitted as a means of protection.
4. No Flatterers will be corrupt, except those who share with Tartuffe and the Flatterers the result of their "special" operations.
5. No Flatterers will have links with the organized underworld, but they will be able to rely financially on them, for the support of the good and wise people.
6. No Flatterers shall accuse or expose any other Flatterers, unless approved by the Tartuffe leader.
7. All the Flatterers are like the good and wise people, that is to say equal, but some are more equal than others, Tartuffe and the authentic Flatterers are the brain of the Country and are not necessarily equal to all.
It is said that, over the years, some members of the international community began to question Tartuffe and the Flatterers, so the Country of Tartuffe was visited, to inspect every inch with their own eyes, and what had they found?
Not only the most modern methods, but a discipline and an order that should serve as an example for the entire world. Some of the visitors believed that they were right in saying that there were in the Country of Tartuffe, "inferior workers" (cheaper) who did more work and received less pay than any other worker in the world.
Tartuffe was so pleased with the visitors' comments that he left his place and came around the table to clink his glass with the group of foreigners. Tartuffe, who had remained standing, hinted that he had a few words to say and so he said that he was glad the period of misunderstanding was over.
For a long time there were rumors about Tartufo and the Flatterers, and they came to think that they were propagated by some evil enemy, that there was something subversive and even revolutionary.
They had been credited with trying to cause a mad transformation, but Tartuffe claimed, nothing could be further from the truth! my only desire, now and in the past, was to live in peace and normal trade relations with my neighbors. And he added "This Country that I had the honor to control, is Free and Sovereign, but from now on guarded by the Flatterers"
There was a great cheer at Tartuffe's words, and the glasses were emptied in one gulp.
But while the good and wise people looked at the scene from afar, it seemed to them that something strange was happening.
What was it that had altered in the faces of Tartuffe and the Flatterers? What was it that seemed to be melting and changing?
When the applause came to an end, Tartuffe, the Flatterers and the foreign visitors happily continued their meeting, however, the good and wise people noticed that the faces of the foreigners resembled those of Tartuffe and the Flatterers and, vice versa, in such a way that it was impossible to tell which was which.
FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY?
Everyone in a country is the same, except Tartufo and the Flatterers, who over time became Neoliberals, being like radishes "Red on the Outside (Socialists) and White on the inside (Capitalists).
Sources:
1) George Orwell. Rebelion on the farm.
2) The Child, the Youth and the Dragon: https://www.eabc.website/post/el-niño-el-joven-y-el-dragón
3) Politician or mobster? https://www.eabc.website/post/político-o-mafioso
4) Ignorance, Manipulation and Lack of Innovation, Mexico 1970? https://www.eabc.website/post/la-ignorancia-la-manipulación-y-la-carencia-de-innovación-méxico-1970
5) Those Who Whisper in the Dark: https://www.eabc.website/post/los-que-murmuran-en-la-oscuridad
6) Today's Public Opinion: Permissive and Disoriented: https://www.eabc.website/post/el-síndrome-mega-mito-xxi
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