Figure 1 – André Ventura, the president of Chega.
Portugal used to be one of the five countries in the European Union without a radical right representative in the National Parliament. This 'exceptionalism' ended in October 2019, with the election to the parliament of André Ventura, president of the populist radical right party Chega (which means ‘enough’ in Portuguese). As stated in Chega’s official political program, party patronage and ‘Cultural Marxism’ are the two chief enemies of western civilization. Recently, Chega’s revolt against the latter has been challenging Portuguese politics and generating social turmoil.
‘Cultural Marxism’ is a concept founded by right-wing proponents to define an alleged phenomenon in the West, which is supposed to be controlling the public debate, Academia, and State politics. According to those on the conservative right, this phenomenon, deemed by many as a right-wing conspiracy, is a result of the intellectual work developed by the twentieth century Philosophical Frankfurt School, constituted by theorists such as Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Jüger Habermas. These thinkers sought to deconstruct Western thought, which they considered a product of the scientific revolution, the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, mass culture, and capitalism. They interpreted these western thinking remnants as mere narratives that alienated the individual’s freedom of thought and promoted a meaningless perception of the world. One dominated by science, numbers, instrumental reason, and consumerism. In short, their philosophy asked for a restructure of western thinking and, consequently, western society.
At the centre of 'Cultural Marxism' and its supporters is the idea that the Marxist class struggle between the oppressor, the bourgeoisie, and the oppressed, the proletarian, has persisted to survive. Now, the oppressors are the white misogynist straight men, and the oppressed are the marginalized ethnic and social minorities. In short, these right-wing theorists consider the current cultural and social transformation a weapon against freedom of speech through ‘political correctness’, and a step forward towards moral relativism. Their main worry seems to be the possibility of a reconstruction of western civilization.
Figure 2 - Green Left
Founded in 2018, the populist party Chega is growing in number, and its founder, André Ventura, claims to be the voice of the Portuguese people's discontentment and an ‘anti-establishment’ force determined to fight against ‘Cultural Marxism’. As reported by the historian Riccardo Marchi, specialized in the study of the radical right in Portuguese democracy, Chega can be defined as a populist party of the new radical right, which intends to disrupt the system constitutionally and not through violence. Its followers do not constitute a monolithic group, but instead a plurality of ideologies that share the same enemies. Even though the party claims not to be racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or fascist, its enemies include gender ideology, abortion, gay marriage, LGBT adoption, trans activism, euthanasia, and multiculturalism pro-immigration. According to Chega, these ‘disruptors’ are attacking the cultural, philosophical, and religious pillars of Judaeo-Christian western society, regarded as transcendent, stagnant, truthful, and incompatible with the current cultural revolution.
Figure 3 - TVI24. Portugal International Amnesty manifestation against racism, as a reaction to Chega's claims that Portugal is not a racist country.
One can summarise Chega’s fight against ‘Cultural Marxism’ in three main points presented in its political program and the party’s official document “O Marxismo Cultural, a Escola de Frankfurt, o ‘Politicamente Correto’, e a Destruição da Civilização Ocidental” (The Cultural Marxism, the Frankfurt School, ‘Political Correctness’ and the destruction of the Western Civilization). These are the preservation of the sacred institution of family, based on Judaeo-Christian tradition and biological determinism; the restructuring of the education system; and the reorganization of the immigration policies.
Firstly, Chega considers 'family' a sacred institution formed by a man and a woman who marry in consonance with the Christian tradition. Hence, gay couples should not be allowed to get married, and LGBT should not be permitted to adopt. At the same time, Ventura denies any sort of homophobia and justifies these stances solely on the basis of respecting the legal institution of marriage between a man and a woman and acknowledging the lack of studies on LGBT adoption's psychological effects on children.
Secondly, the restructuring of the education system by Chega supports the dismantlement of the Ministry of Education. According to the populist party, this institution is a leftist entity that ideologizes future generations by promoting 'dubious' values such as inclusiveness, gender ideology, internationalism, and globalism. Chega claims to be against any kind of ideologization, and yet it advocates that schools should propagate and cultivate Judaeo-Christian values, such as respect for the elderly and authority, which is a type of indoctrination. One that is attached to the past and unwilling to rethink the present. Furthermore, Chega's fight against ‘Cultural Marxism’ goes far beyond this. It seeks to attack the Universities, especially the Social and Human Sciences, held as the main perpetrators of this alleged phenomenon. Chega plans to privilege the technical degrees, such as engineering or computer science, by gradually reducing their fees to zero, whereas Social and Human Sciences’ fees should remain the same to avoid any disruptive idea that might challenge tradition and encourage cultural transformation.
Finally, Chega rejects multiculturalism on the basis that people are inherently different, and that homogenization is a threat to nativism (a core value of the party). The argument presented is that the natural sciences of the last hundred years demonstrate how life is structured according to a crescent principle of complexity and differentiation. Therefore, any attempt to globalize the world is pointless and dangerous. Contradictorily, this party wants to maintain the tradition and core values of an ancient civilization such as the Judaeo-Christian, to which the 'scientific' argument of increased differentiation and higher complexity of life is not applied to. Although affirming not to be against legal immigration, Chega clearly states its objection to welcoming refugees from Syria, and Islamic from Maghreb, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
Although Chega is still a minority in the Portuguese political realm, André Ventura achieved third place in the last presidential elections with 12% support. Considering that the party was founded in 2018, it is a substantial percentage that can grow at unexpected rates, particularly in such turbulent times, when critical thinking is so easily blurred by fear. The COVID 19 pandemic has been a constant weapon used by this populist party to antagonize people against ‘the establishment’. Likewise, the theory of ‘Cultural Marxism’, even though acknowledged by some as a right-wing conspiracy theory, might appeal to many who feel angry and discontent with the current state politics and for whom Chega’s persuasive voice seems the only way out. In short, if this hostile and conflicting reality in Portuguese politics continues, it can easily lead to serious social repercussions and cultural regressions.
Sources:
Marchi, Riccardo. A Nova Direita Anti-sistema: O Caso do Chega. Lisboa: Edições Almedina, 2020
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