Alternative media training (Challenges of media literacy in times of Bukelism)

Understanding the Rise of Authoritarian Popularity: The Case of Bukele

We will explore the different narratives that allow fascist leaders like Nayib Bukele to gain incredible popularity among their people, despite systematically stripping away basic rights.

Key Narratives That Sustain Authoritarian Popularity

1. Religious Narratives
These assign a divine or messianic role to the political leader. By focusing on a single, emotionally charged issue—such as security in Bukele’s case—they rapidly gain symbolic significance and legitimacy.

2. Ostentation and Image Control
Leaders distance themselves from ordinary people by adopting extravagant, almost royal aesthetics. Bukele, for example, has significantly transformed his public image, emulating monarchical symbols to elevate himself above the population. This creates fans and followers rather than critical citizens.

3. Mainstreaming Militarization
The militarization of society is normalized through media and policy. Mass incarceration is framed as essential for public safety. The theatrical presentation of mega-prisons helps install a culture of fear and self-censorship.

4. Suppression of Journalism
Any journalist who questions the government is discredited, persecuted, or silenced. Journalism is replaced by content creators—many of whom are aligned with, or funded by, governments and corporations.

5. Troll Factories and Narrative Control
Digital troll factories are used to flood online spaces, redirect political debates, and shift the dominant narrative away from uncomfortable truths.

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How to Resist the Rise of Manufactured Consent

1. Enact Laws Against Disinformation
Disinformation campaigns must be identified, penalized, and dismantled through clear legal frameworks.

2. Use Humor as a Tool
Humor can generate viral content that authoritarian regimes and their manipulation centers cannot easily control.

3. Meet Emotion With Emotion
Emotional propaganda must be countered not only with facts, but with emotional narratives rooted in solidarity and justice.

4. Promote Longer-Form Content
Short content is easier to manipulate. Longer content (>15 seconds) allows for more depth and resistance to superficial messaging.

5. Foster Positive Polarization
We must repoliticize debate and create safe spaces that challenge the “neutrality” imposed by hegemonic narratives.

6. Build Emotional Trust
Reach out to audiences by fostering emotional connection and trust—humor is an especially powerful tool for this.

7. Embrace Uncertainty with Community

Strengthen public confidence in communities and public institutions to help people feel secure in times of uncertainty.

Fascismo y democracia: el gusano en la manzana (Eva Illouz)

"Although fascism had officially collapsed, the conditions for fascist movements," he claimed, "remained active within society. The main culprit was the tendency toward the concentration of capital—a still-dominant trend that continues to create 'the possibility of declassing, of degradation.’”

"Fascism, for him, is not an accident of history, nor is it an aberration; rather, it functions within democracy and is adjacent to it. It is, to use a worn metaphor, a worm inside the apple, rotting the fruit from within, invisible to the naked eye.”

"The loss of privilege thus appears to be a key motivation for supporting anti-democratic leaders.”

"The degraded bourgeois class will not blame the capitalist system itself for the economic concentration that undermines its status and privileges. Instead, it will shift the blame to those who criticize that very system.”

"Following Adorno’s thinking, fascism continues to operate at the heart of democratic societies because those harmed by the logic of economic concentration cannot connect the dots of its causal chain—and may, in fact, oppose those who try to expose it. This creates a curious antagonism between those who seek to denounce inequality and injustice and those who suffer from it.”

"Only emotions have the multifaceted power to deny empirical evidence, shape motivation, overflow self-interest, and respond to concrete social situations. Thus, I follow the suggestion of Swedish sociologist Helena Flam to investigate the influence of emotions in macro-politics and 'map the emotions that sustain social structures and relationships of domination.' Politics is charged with affective structures, without which we would not be able to understand how corrupted ideologies slip into social experiences and shape their meaning."