Far-Right Movements Thrived During the Pandemic - A Case Study of Spain and India

Far-right protesters gather outside of the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021 (Flickr).

Democratic Disarray

Democracy is in danger around the world. 2021 marked the 15-year anniversary of a steady decline in global freedom, with 73 countries experiencing decreasing freedom scores since  2020. Currently, 38% of the world’s population live in countries designated as “Not Free.” Less than 20% live in a country designated as “Free”. 

This marked downturn in worldwide democracy has provoked inquiries into why people are losing their freedom. According to Freedom House, the organization that published the country-by-country assessment Freedom in the World 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted 42 freedom scores across 36 countries and territories. 

Another report, the Democracy Index, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), found that less than half of the world’s population (45.7%) lives in either a full or flawed democracy. By contrast, more than one third of the world’s population (37.1%)  lives under authoritarian regimes. The EIU has similarly attributed much of this democratic decline to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Operational Definition

Before delving too deeply into the relationship between the decline of global democracy and the rise of the fourth wave of the far-right movement, it is important to establish an operational definition for what the far-right actually is.

The far-right describes a spectrum of beliefs; each organization of the ideology manifests itself uniquely to the state and political environment in which it is found. Three ideological values, however, generally characterize far-right movements: populism, nativism, and authoritarianism. 

Populism refers to a belief that a society is made up of two different groups that are homogenous but ultimately antagonistic: the “pure” people and the aggressors. Nativism is the child of xenophobia and nationalism, a conception that considers non-natives “threats” to a homogenous nation. Finally, authoritarianism advocates for a form of government that removes  key democratic features– the right to vote, plurality in political parties, etc. – in order to assert national obedience, discipline, and security. The melange of these ideas forms the basis of most, if not all, far-right movements across the globe.

Surges and Waves

The 21st century — starting during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — has been a hotbed for what is referred to as the “fourth wave” of far-right politics. In contrast with its earlier iterations, the far-right is no longer a discrete, largely underground movement; instead, it has surfaced to what is known as “the mainstreaming of the far-right.” 

Do the recent decreases in overall world freedom and democracy have any relation to the mainstreaming of far-right beliefs? How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the far-right movement, and vice versa? Looking at Spain and India – two countries that experienced the pandemic differently and have unique relationships with democracy and authoritarianism – can help us to understand how far-right movements profited from the pandemic.

VOX: The Far-Right in Spain

A VOX rally in Madrid, Spain (Wikimedia).

The Spanish national-conservative party is known as VOX, which is Latin for “voice.” Support for VOX is currently trending upwards amongst the Spanish people, and the impact of the pandemic cannot be discounted. 

As a political party, VOX advocates for Catholic and native-Spanish homogeneity against a growing “Muslim alien” population, as well as a unitary and centralized Spain where all secessionist governments and political parties are banned. These key tenets can be traced to populist, nativist, and authoritarian sentiments. 

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic,  many Spanish citizens urged the government to take stronger, more decisive actions against the spread of the disease, meaning a loss of democratic privilege. At the same time, leaders and prominent figures of VOX publicly insinuated that the Spanish government was hiding information about the coronavirus from the public and deliberately spreading misinformation. Santiago Abascal, the leader of VOX, stated on April 9, 2020, that “[the Government is] hiding health information to the Spanish people.”

Political analysts have argued that VOX used the pandemic to fan the flames of public dissatisfaction with the government, thus drawing people into the supposed solution the party had to offer.

VOX has additionally suggested that several different groups – Muslims from abroad, separatists, and the people of China – were somehow responsible for the pandemic. General Secretary of VOX Ortega Smith tweeted after he contracted COVID-19, “my ‘Spanish antibodies’ fight against the damn Chinese viruses.” The party also advocated against lockdowns and urged the Spanish people to protest against any protective measures imposed by the government.

The Indian Response

Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, walks with Donald Trump, former president of the United States (Flickr).

India, thousands of miles away, handled the pandemic very differently than Spain. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who political scientists have called the mainstream faces of the far-right, govern the largest democracy in the world. Modi’s government has close ties to the extreme-right paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or the National Volunteer Organization. The RSS is part-cultural organization celebrating Hinduism, part-militia that is closely associated with the Hindu nationalist movement in India.
Known for Hindu-nationalist, anti-Islam rhetoric, Modi and his supporters were quick to scapegoat Muslims in India for the weight of the pandemic. Proponents of the same nationalist and islamophobic speech claimed that Muslims were intentionally superspreading the virus as a bio-political weapon against the Hindu majority. Called “Islamisation” or “corona terrorism”, misinformation became mainstream through reports of the alleged intentional spread on social media.

There are distinct parallels between India and Spain, with groups in both countries blaming Muslims and other foreigners for bringing or spreading the virus in their countries. The first divergence between far-right movements and their supporters in each country is found in the public response to the government measures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Unlike VOX officials, who encouraged anti-lockdown and anti-mask protests, the BJP and its allies weaponized actions taken to fight the pandemic as a way to target Muslims that did not adhere to them, continuing the trend of blaming them for the pandemic. The RSS began setting up checkpoints, inspecting and investigating those stopped for violating protective measures.

The RSS additionally launched a vaccination campaign. The group, which believes in India’s scientific superiority, used the country’s vaccination campaign to further scapegoat Muslims who had not received the vaccination.

In Summation

While every far-right movement across the globe shares certain attributes — and parallels can also be seen between their distinct ideologies - they are supremely unique to the country they represent. The responses of VOX and the BJP and RSS to the pandemic reveal that despite their similarities, the characteristics of the far-right movement as a whole cannot be easily generalized.  

Despite the contradictions in the response that each party had to the COVID-19 pandemic, both countries experienced weakening of their democracies. From the 2020 to 2021 Democracy Index reports, Spain was downgraded from a Full Democracy at 8.12/10 points to a Flawed Democracy at 7.94/10 points. While India’s Democracy Index score slightly improved by 0.3 points, the report included a warning that this may not be reflective of an actual improvement in democratic structures in the country - its government remains classified as a Flawed Democracy. Rather, the number represents a small increase after a massive and rapid 1.20 point decline in the preceding four years. In reality, the BJP and RSS tightened their hold on the country, anti-Muslim hate skyrocketed, and the same leaders remain in power.

Overall, far-right movements saw the pandemic as an opportunity to spur anti-government sentiment or dissatisfaction toward certain groups of the population. Using religious minorities and foreigners as scapegoats, they pushed the blame for the pandemic onto others, leading to  extreme practices. The deadly contagious disease exacerbated the dangerous spread of authoritarianism, nativism, and populism — a unique virus of its own.