“The monsters are on the loose”
CLACSO premiered on November 5, 2024, the first two episodes of a podcast series about new right-wing movements in Latin America and the Caribbean, produced in partnership with elDiarioAR , grouped under the title "The monsters are on the loose" , with content and narration by the Argentine journalist and documentary filmmaker Ana Cacopardo.
Each episode – available on Spotify, YouTube and all podcast platforms – lasts half an hour and features one or more interviews with the voices and reflections of intellectuals, researchers, and activists from Argentina, Latin America and Spain.
The first, called " The Argentine Laboratory ", is built around the reflections of the writer Martín Kohan and the sociologist Daniel Feierstein , director of the Center for Studies on Genocides of the University of Tres de Febrero.
The second episode – “ The Triumphant Narratives ” – brings into dialogue Claudia Albornoz, an activist from the social organization La Poderosa, and political scientist Esperanza Casullo.
In episode 3 – “The wounds of politics” – Mexican anthropologist Rossana Reguillo analyzes the impact of techno-digital change, new political subjectivities, and social networks as spaces of resistance.
In episode 4 – “Rightward Shift or Neoliberal Subjectivity?” – we address the right-wing politicization of youth that emerged during the pandemic. Argentine sociologist, researcher, and professor Melina Vázquez shares some key insights for understanding this generational experience, which oscillates between disillusioned voting and intense, aggressive digital activism. Meanwhile, anthropologist and sociologist Pablo Semán analyzes the “neoliberalism from below” that fueled the Millennium Movement and questions why, in Argentina, the worst form of right-wing politics won with the best possible results.
What are the reasons behind the programmatic antifeminism of the new right? Is it just a culture war? In episode 5 – “State Antifeminism” – Verónica Gago , philosopher, feminist activist, and leading figure in the “Ni una menos” movement, reflects on the scope of the conservative restoration embodied by Javier Milei’s government in Argentina.
Was the pandemic a missed opportunity, or perhaps within that extraordinary time lie the keys to shaping a different world? Was the rapid return to normalcy truly normal, or a form of forgetting? Why didn't we see the serpent's egg that is now corroding democracies? An episode to reflect, from our continent's perspective, on the threats and challenges of the post-pandemic order. Episode 6: " The Serpent's Egg of the Pandemic ," Maristella Svampa , sociologist, researcher, and socio-environmental activist.
Victoria De Masi (journalist and writer) and Natalia Aruguete (researcher at CONICET) reflect in episode 7, " The Trojan Horse of Freedom ," on the world of social media and a contemporary climate marked by emotions, individualism, and ideological and affective polarization. Why was freedom the Trojan horse of the millennial generation? In a digital territory that seems immune to data, arguments, and facts, are there conditions for democratic dialogue?
March 8th: International Antifascist Movement. Racist, antifeminist, and transphobic rhetoric has intensified globally with Trump's rise to power, while feminist internationalism raises the banners of antifascism. How can we move beyond a purely reactive agenda? What challenges does the masculinization of institutional politics and the silencing of feminist voices pose? How can we re-establish a narrative of transformation? On this March 8th, Cristina Fallarás , journalist and one of the most influential voices in Spanish feminist activism, and Karina Batthyány , Executive Director of CLACSO, analyze the current context and raise crucial questions within feminism.
Narrating our time. How do we tell this historical moment? What is the role of critical discourse? What narrative approach do we take to distance ourselves from the agendas and provocations put forth by the far right in the ecosystem of social media and online platforms? What fictional narratives illuminate our understanding of our time? An analysis by writer Teresa Andruetto , writer and screenwriter Claudia Piñeiro , and journalist Sergio Ciancaglini.
Ana Cacopardo interviewed by Gustavo Lema at InfoCLACSO on October 30, 2024
“We were interested in focusing on the social conditions that help us understand the emergence of the new right wing. More than what happens in government palaces, we were interested in examining the profound social and political transformations that accelerated with the pandemic,” Ana Cacopardo explains.
He added: “The new right wing is the emerging phenomenon of this historical moment, which has something of a liminal feel about it. We are crossing a threshold, and this becomes evident when we feel perplexed or the sense that we have never lived through a moment like this before.”
The conversations raise questions and address local and global agendas: Are we inhabiting a new phase of neoliberalism? Is digital territoriality a condition for the expansion of fascism? Why are the far right programmatically antifeminist? Are democracies collapsing? Rightward shift or unbridled neoliberal subjectivity? How do we broaden the conversation in a polarized public sphere co-opted by the logic of networks?
The podcast's structure plays with scenes from social and political life that encapsulate a part of the time we live in. "We recreate these scenes using archival footage and narrative. They are often brief scenes that we bring ourselves, but our interviewees also suggest them, and they function as mirrors for us to see ourselves and as a trigger for the thematic axes proposed in each episode," Cacopardo explains.
The podcast's other defining feature is a sort of question-survey that closes each episode, evoking Antonio Gramsci's words when he described the dilemmas of mid-20th-century Europe: "In the chiaroscuro of an old world that is dying and a new one that is slow to appear, monsters emerge." This statement continues to resonate, prompting us to reflect on our times and ask ourselves: What monsters are on the loose? Do they perhaps dwell within us?
“This time has something apocalyptic about it. It seems easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of this predatory capitalism. The podcast's narrative focuses on understanding, not on feeding the apocalyptic fatigue that distresses us. Feminisms taught us to reclaim the monstrous as a way to break free from the mold. That's the perspective that interests us,” Cacopardo points out. At the beginning of each episode, Manuel Callau's voice affirms this quest: “In this podcast you will find monsters but also glimmers of hope in the darkness.”
The third episode, which will premiere on Tuesday, November 12, brings a relevant voice from Latin American critical thought: Mexican anthropologist and chronicler Rossana Reguillo.
Along with the episodes, as a sort of bonus track, extended versions of some of the interviews conducted by Ana Cacopardo for this podcast series will be published in elDiarioAR and on CLACSO's networks.
Narration and content: Ana Cacopardo
Voiceover: Manuel Callau
Production by CLACSO: Eric Domergue
Sound editing and original music: Fermín Irigoyen
Director of Communication and Information at CLACSO: Gustavo Lema
Executive Director of CLACSO: Karina Batthyány
