A Wrong Turn
The numerous summaries of 2024 in the media have predictably been far from joyful or optimistic. Evil grows bolder and more powerful, while good, as ever, hesitates, deliberating over proportional responses to evil and the threat of escalation. Yet, the mere fact that there are still those capable of drawing these conclusions inspires hope that humanity may yet learn lessons and survive. One of the main takeaways of the year, in our view, is the complete discrediting of leftist ideology and, hopefully, its gradual decline.
In principle, there is nothing inherently wrong with either leftist or rightist perspectives, as long as they are not prefixed by “ultra.” However, even moderate leftist positions, burdened by the mantra of “everything good against everything bad,” often lead their adherents to dubious logical and ethical conclusions. Examples abound, from the Black Lives Matter movement—already tarnished by corruption scandals and linked to a series of culturally opportunistic and failed decisions—to the frenzy called “Free Palestine,” which has captivated the intellectual and cultural elites of Europe and the United States.
Celebrities, activists, and students from prestigious European and American institutions, bolstered by left-liberal media and corresponding human rights organisations, have suddenly embraced old Soviet narratives about the “aggressive Israeli military,” whose actions supposedly victimise Palestinian civilians. Simultaneously, selective blindness, deafness, and memory lapses have erased from these sympathisers' minds the Hamas invasion of Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent escalation. What can be said of students when even the Pope in recent years has propagated such nonsensical peacekeeping agendas that it seems miraculous the walls of the Vatican have not yet been adorned with frescoes depicting the leading ideologues of 20th-century communism?
How one and the same person can unreservedly support Ukraine in its fight against Russian occupiers while displaying near-antisemitic backing for terrorist organisations like Hamas and Iranian proxy armies attacking the state of Israel—engaged in a similar existential struggle for survival as Ukraine—is easily explained by two words: “leftist ideas.”
This sharp turn to the left, cloaked in tolerance, selective humanitarianism, and performative pacifism, explains the systemic crisis (or perhaps the deadlock) of modern European-style liberal democracy. The ideological pendulum's extreme leftward swing and the resulting fatigue and revulsion have already set the stage for a right-wing backlash in 2025 and the years to come. Signs of this reversal were evident in both 2023 and 2024, with the rising popularity of European right-wing politicians and parties and the triumph of Donald Trump as the chief favourite of the right-wing electorate.
The year 2024, a year of elections worldwide, put a definitive end to the era of leftist sentiment dominating societies. In most elections, right-wing candidates either won outright or secured the majority of votes, while leftists and liberal democrats suffered defeats almost everywhere. Hungary, Slovakia, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and other European nations have shifted to the right, and in the coming years, Europe will inevitably face both the positive and negative consequences of this pivot.
As for Donald Trump’s return to the White House, German publication Der Spiegel’s editor Dirk Kurbjuweit, in his article “The End of the West”, argues that liberal democracy has failed, with Trump symbolising the end of one era and the beginning of another.
“The West has lost its dominance, and the already shaky common foundation of values is now crumbling. The West, as a bloc of liberal democracies, no longer exists. Liberal democrats underestimated how important the concept of the nation remains. Western countries united their forces in NATO, and individual nations became less significant than the alliance as a whole. National borders became porous and, in some cases, disappeared entirely. Despite some shortcomings, it was a good era. Unfortunately, it is now over.”
In his once-popular late-1990s book “The End of History and the Last Man,” American philosopher and political scientist Francis Fukuyama asserted that the global spread of Western-style liberal democracy marked the ultimate point of humanity’s sociocultural evolution and the formation of its final form of government. Fukuyama envisioned the end of history as the conclusion of ideological struggles, global revolutions, and wars—and with them, the end of art and philosophy. Naturally, Fukuyama was mistaken, as was pointed out to him even in the late 20th century. Humanity has not managed to remain for long on the sunlit plateau of universal prosperity and peace.
It’s a pity, as a few centuries of living in a calm and contented utopia would have done no harm. But there is good news—great new philosophical treatises and artistic works lie ahead of us.