By AorB
Three years after the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, the event continues to resonate deeply within American politics and society.
Initially perceived as a jarring contradiction to the optimism surrounding President Joe Biden’s election, the attack has since been contextualized as a broader symptom of systemic issues within liberal democracy.
Three years later, Donald Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Iowa caucuses, with a commanding 51% of the vote, heralds his formidable presence in the state’s political arena as a potential rematch with Joe Biden.
This development not only signifies his enduring influence but underscores the continued relevance of the issues that propelled the Capitol attack and how deeply embedded the far-right is as a force that is independent from the state or any single politician.
Trump’s recent triumph, alongside his promise of policies like rampant drilling and full immunity for police officers, signifies the sustained social-historical currents that run deep beneath the US political landscape and that the right-wing draws from.
The popular support for Trump’s presidential campaign corroborates our view. The Capitol riot, initially viewed through various analytical lenses—from Donald Trump’s incendiary rhetoric to the active role of far-right groups like the Proud Boys—has now evolved into a broader narrative.
These perspectives, transcending political alignments, contribute to a deeper understanding of the far-right as a manifestation of a larger crisis in liberal democracy.
To this end, we find Greek-French Philosopher and revolutionary Cornelius Castoriadis’s social-historical viewpoint, which merges societal and historical constructs as reflections of each other, particularly poignant.
The Social-Historical Context: A Castoriadis Perspective
Castoriadis’s concept of the social-historical challenges traditional Western views of history and society, suggesting that these entities are intrinsically intertwined through time.
This framework is crucial in understanding how the Trump administration’s actions, including the appointment of far-right figures and policies such as the controversial family separation initiative, reflect deeper societal undercurrents.
These policies didn’t emerge in a vacuum but were the result of an evolving political and social landscape that normalized extreme right-wing ideologies and movements. This normalization, in turn, led to an increase in far-right popularity, challenging the notion of these ideologies as mere political aberrations.
Long-Term Effects: Liberal Democracy in Crisis
Three years on, the repercussions of the Capitol attack are evident in the continued entrenchment of far-right ideologies within American society.
Trump’s significant voter base in the subsequent election, despite widespread criticism of his policies, signals a worrying trend towards accepting, if not endorsing, the right’s extremist views.
This phenomenon isn’t isolated to the U.S.; similar long-standing patterns of liberal backsliding and the rise of nationalist sentiments are observable globally, exemplified by the Wests continued war on immigrants and refugees as well as the West’s continued capitulation to the Israeli state’s bombardment of Gaza and total control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
These developments underscore a crisis in Western liberal democracy, demanding a reevaluation of traditional political structures and ideologies.
The Decisive Moment: A Call for Radical Imagination
As we confront these ongoing challenges, we are at a decisive juncture that calls for the activation of the radical imagination.
This crucial moment presents a choice between liberal democracy and the technical domination of nature which the state and capitalism represent or the emancipatory social movements of past and present—those struggling for autonomy, self-governance, and direct democracy. In this sense, it is a choice between autonomy or barbarism.
The Capitol attack, while initially shocking three years ago, was a manifestation of deeper fissures within the fabric of US liberal democracy.
Trump’s recent electoral gains signal that these deep fissures are not going away any time soon.
A social-historical understanding of these events recognizes their roots in larger societal dynamics past and present, beyond the presidents and states which help legitimize them and bring them to manifestation.
The implication of course is that protests, strikes, policy campaigns and petitions alone are not enough to address the far-right and the failings of liberal democracy: states, presidents, prime ministers, and all forms of representative democracy, must be abandoned.
This perspective is not only crucial for analyzing past and present events, but also for shaping a future that aligns with the autonomous project of genuine direct-democracy.