“NO A LA GUERRA” (“NO TO WAR")

Faced with the crude simplifications populists make about the problems of our society, the responses of progressives cannot be convoluted and incomprehensible speeches concocted from timidity and moderation. We must speak loudly, clearly, and firmly to yield results.

This is exactly what Pedro Sánchez, President of the Spanish Government, has done. His “No to war” began as a solitary and courageous cry from a European leader. For some – the Spanish right wing and others – it was a grave error to challenge the all-powerful Donald Trump. Today, except for Trump, Netanyahu, and their cronies, no one dares to defend war against Iran. Pedro Sánchez has given voice to what millions of people on five continents think. He is leading a political and values-based battle that will surely influence the ongoing political processes.

Antonio Gramsci frequently repeated the expression “a great and terrible world,” which he borrowed from Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. The world today is great and terrible.

Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, and others are part of this terrible world. The climate crisis, inequalities, wars, and global disorder are its corollaries. The existence of large countries under populist and authoritarian regimes is nothing new. What is new is the “Western crisis,” and more specifically the American crisis, of a cultural and political nature, which destabilizes the planet. Trump in the United States and the far right in Europe serve as examples.

The prevailing disorder and insecurity are a serious setback that affects us all. Throughout 2026 and 2027, political processes will unfold in the West, the results of which will indicate whether things worsen or begin to improve. Elections in Hungary have been the perfect starting point. Sweden is next. Then comes Israel, and midterm elections in the USA take place in 2026. And in 2027, we’ll see the outcome of votes in Spain, Greece, Finland, Italy, and Poland – along with France’s presidential elections. These are highly significant electoral events whose results will shape the present and the future. We will have to face political and electoral processes in which we are risking not only the alternation between right and left, but also the quality of our democratic systems and the maintenance of an international order currently convulsed by the policies of the Trump administration. The conflict in Iran is the latest and most serious example of this.

To make things better, citizens need to be mobilized. Political and electoral processes today are fundamentally ideological and cultural battles. We must recognize that the power of collective emotions holds decisive weight. We must understand and utilize the new channels and tools of communication offered by new technologies. Courage and conviction are essential when contrasting our discourse with that of the right and the far right, distinguishing our models of society from theirs. We must denounce those responsible for avoidable problems and remediable injustices. We must talk about the end of the world and the end of the month.

The far-right French philosopher Alain de Benoist is known for his aim to intellectually rearm the right wing to confront the cultural hegemony of the left. He is one of the fathers of "right-wing Gramscianism." His approach has been successful. The far right has understood that ideological victories precede electoral victories. The paradox is that Gramsci, who wrote his thoughts in a fascist prison, wrote them to combat fascism. We progressives are the intended audience for his work.

Gramsci challenges us to wage the ideological and cultural battle to win hegemony. He points out that to win, to achieve and consolidate power, we must convince. This is one of the main functions of political organizations, their leaders, and their members. This task is only possible through maximum participation and dialogue with citizens. This necessary broad reach is now possible if we use new technologies intelligently. And addressing, as the philosopher Nancy Fraser teaches us, the struggle for justice in its two areas: redistributive justice and the justice of recognition.