Europe in Crisis Mode
Europe is infected by a “crisis virus”. The related propaganda battle is unparalleled in recent history. People's fear of the invisible enemy, people's fear for their health and life is the ideal resonating body for indoctrination of all kind. The collective fear makes citizens blind and deaf to all those measures that are taken in the slipstream of this massive propaganda machine and which will have a far more lasting and negative impact on their lives than they can currently imagine.
State of Emergency
One state after another is taking drastic measures to restrict its citizens’ basic rights and liberties. At the moment, it seems that political leaders realise what the constitution authorises them to realise in exceptional cases: they constrain people's freedom of movement, they override budget rules, they massively encroach on property rights, they analyse movement patterns and other personal data without the consent of those affected. Political leaders themselves have paved the way for the state of emergency that they need for taking such drastic measures. Whether these drastic measures make sense, whether they are appropriate, has neither been part of a democratic decision-making-process nor been based upon rule of law.
For the critical observer it is shocking to see how the political leadership, for example in Austria, risks a state crisis that bears no relation to the current problem. Like in a domino reaction, one state after another is entering the crisis mode. This is not only endangering the economic basis of people but also the young generations’ future.
Promise of Salvation
For the past years, the political elite in the European Union as well as in different member states have been primarily concerned with finding and coping with assumed causes of a supposed political crisis. For the past years, it has become obvious that the representatives of the political leadership less and less take a perspective that is determined by institutional and normative conditions but more and more intended to protect the Status Quo. This limited perspective, however, has led to a lack of viability resulting in a lack of political ideas and solutions, especially in the case of highly complex challenges. Political leaders in Europe therefore often tend to irrational behaviour, where questions of faith and moral judgments take precedence over rational arguments.
Also in these days, this leadership crisis at national, but also at EU level, is concealed by shaping new beliefs and appealing to people's morals. The media support this pathetic orchestration to the best of their ability. What is missing is a rational view, a cool head and a steady hand of the state drivers. Instead, fears are stirred up, calls for perseverance are issued and empty promises are made.
As always in times of crises, promises of salvation are easy at hand, winging people’s hope for social and economic catharsis, triggered by "the crisis" that everyone has already spoken of and that is - finally - here. This reminds of eschatological promises of salvation. No wonder, that it is mainly conservative governments, often with a relevant ideological background, using such methods.
German futurologist Matthias Horx writes: “One of the strongest visions that the corona virus leaves behind are the Italians playing music on the balconies. The second vision is sent to us by satellite images that suddenly show the industrial areas of China and Italy free of smog. In 2020, the CO2 emissions of mankind will fall for the first time. That fact will do something to us. If the virus can do that - can we possibly do that? Maybe the virus was just a messenger from the future. Its drastic message is: human civilization has become too dense, too fast, too overheated. It races too much in a certain direction where there is no future. But it can reinvent itself.”[1]
Call for a Strong State
The political and media elites’ propaganda machine also relies on the principle of hope: “If we get through this crisis together, if we firmly trust in our leaders’ decisions, we will be invigorated and face a better future.” Promises of salvation in times of fear and worry have always led people to place themselves uncritically and willingly into the hands of their leaders. Also now, people seek protection by the State. The State empowers itself to proclaim the state of emergency. The parliaments, if they are still involved at all, let drastic constraints of civil rights and liberties through on the nod.
Fundamental rights are intended to protect the individual from state intervention and encroachment. They have constitutional rank. Fundamental rights include, for example, equality of all citizens before the law; the right to free movement of persons and property; the right to inviolability of property; the right to freedom of expression; the right to data protection; and the right to freedom of association and assembly. All these fundamental rights are relevant in the context of the corona epidemic – if they have not already been restricted. The fact, that many European states have constrained people’s freedom of movement without emergency damages democracy in its core (think of the long tradition of people’s assembly, “ecclesia” in ancient Greece or “comitia” in ancient Rome).
Creating precedents
The experience of recent years has shown that crises and the associated fear of the people have indeed led to the restriction of fundamental rights and liberties - almost without contradiction.
Following the terror attacks of 2015 and 2017, the state of emergency in France, for instance, was extended not less than six times before finally coming to an end in November 2017. However, within this time period, France enacted laws making the state of emergency, or at least parts of it, the normal condition.
It is to be feared that the corona pandemic will be misused by political leaders and elites in Europe to create new facts. It is to be feared that people's rights will be further restricted. It is to be feared that people's fear will be misused to establish police-state and authoritarian structures through the back door.
The greatest threat to civil rights and liberties in Europe at present is posed by the unholy alliance between the “guild of writing politicians”, namely the media elites, and the political elites in their interaction. Little is left of the so-called “fifth power" – the media have immediately and uncritically made themselves the compliant voice of the governments. It is the same media that, at the beginning of the crisis in China, accused the Chinese leadership of taking drastic measures only to continue to control and oppress the Chinese people. This assessment was silenced overnight in Western media with comparable measures being taken in Europe.
Undoubtedly, this pandemic is a global crisis and not a national one. Undoubtedly, this crisis can only be mastered globally with the assistance of the available international institutions. This requires international cooperation and not national measures determined by the interests of individual political elites.
[1] https://www.horx.com/48-die-welt-nach-corona/