By Atilio Boron on December 8, 2024 from Buenos Aires
US National Anthem sung during the opening of CPAC in Buenos Aires, photo: Juan Mabromata / AFP
The title of this article summarizes with these few words the much publicized meeting of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, which took place in Buenos Aires this past Wednesday. Despite the efforts of the libertarian militancy and the support of the large legion of “ensobrados” that swarm in the media and political spheres, the main hall that was supposed to be filled by the supporters of the “New Order” proposed by the redeemer of the West was barely fifty percent occupied.
The quality of the speakers at what was billed as “the most important conservative summit in the world” was no less disappointing. The figures that were touted as illustrious figures of reactionary thought were conspicuous by their absence: neither Donald Trump nor Elon Musk saw fit to travel to Buenos Aires and take a stroll around Puerto Madero. On the other hand, Jair Bolsonaro and Steve Bannon, the “organic intellectual” and international articulator of the neo-fascist right, limited themselves to sending recorded messages. Santiago Abascal, the head of Vox, in love with Buenos Aires, a city to which he returned for the third time because it seems he is doing better here than in Madrid. Trump did not come or send a message, but he sent his daughter-in-law, Lara, (not his daughter as some press said), married to Eric Trump, one of the magnate’s sons.
In short, the intellectual and political density of the much talked about international event left much to be desired. It is fair to recognize that those conclaves that preceded them were not much more so because, after all, the poverty and backwardness of conservative thought are irremediable traits no matter how much propagandistic management of their contributions is done.
In any case, it is strictly fair to acknowledge that the horror of the CPAC conference held in National Harbor, Maryland, on February 23rd of this year, was not repeated in Argentina. On that occasion, a hothead named Jack Posobiec began his presentation by saying “Welcome to the end of democracy – we are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t go all the way on January 6 (he is referring to the takeover of the Capitol in 2021), but we will strive to get rid of it … because not all glory should go to the government but to God.” The media oligarchy, here and generally throughout the West, was careful to comment on this episode and draw the conclusions of the case. Posobiec, like Milei and most libertarians, does not believe in democracy. The former at least said so. Ours usually evades any comment on the subject.
The closing was in charge of the president, who, faithful to his style, dedicated himself to ranting against “shitty lefties” and “impoverishing communists”, theoretical categories that do not seem to come from the Austrian School or from the texts of the patriarch of “anarcho-capitalism”, Murray Rothbard, but rather that dubious Argentine contribution -did I say contribution?- to the political philosophy of the extreme right.
Apart from incurring in his usual cataract of insults and rudeness in very bad taste, unworthy of his position and which embarrass us before the world, Milei insisted on the fact that his administration’s goal is to achieve the destruction of the state and establish the reign of the markets, a dystopia that has never been seen on this planet and that only exists in his fevered imagination. All this allegedly justified by the need to ensure, for the inhabitants of this long-suffering country, the enjoyment of “life, liberty and private property.” A life that has become increasingly miserable for the vast majority of the population, except for the favorites of the regime whose pockets Milei insists on wanting to enlarge. A freedom curtailed by the repression of the “security forces” and the attack on critical journalism, and also curtailed because to enjoy the sweetness of freedom you need decent living conditions that today are denied to a growing proportion of Argentines. Not to mention private property, whose scandalous rates of concentration have only increased during the current government’s administration, demonstrating that our democracy has become a deplorable plutocracy where the rich rule exclusively for the rich. For them, all the help of the state; to take care of the poor and the vulnerable there are the forces of the market, which slowly but inexorably will practice the long-awaited euthanasia of the poor. And those who protest in the face of so much injustice, the presidential response eloquently illustrates the scope of our democratic involution: “I don’t give a fuck”, a phrase that Milei has used on more than one occasion to embellish his speech.
Sources: Pagina 12, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English