And Attila rides on | profile

If you cannot defeat your enemy, join him.” As with many proverbs, the origin of this proverb is uncertain. There are those who, like the Spanish historian Fernando Prado in the digital newspaper El Debate, place it in an episode that took place in the French city of Troyes in the 5th century. Attila’s invading army was in retreat but was not yet completely defeated and threatened to attack Troyes in search of supplies and the reaction was not only negative but also violent and as soon as one person survived, he agreed to deliver the supplies he needed and accompany Attila and his army until they left the region left, whatever he did. He destroyed the fields he crossed, causing numerous casualties and looting. The Roman general who had to fight the invader was considered a traitor, even though he was one step away from defeating Attila.

Throughout history, this strategy has been repeated many times and in a variety of ways, almost none of them honorable. There’s even Groucho Marx’s famous comical variation: “These are my principles, and if you don’t like them, I have others.” Argentine history in particular is rich in pirouettes that respond to this attitude. In national politics, but not only there, it is common for today’s enemy to be tomorrow’s partner, no matter how much he is detested by speeches and threats. The latest version refers to Javier Milei’s promise to put an end to the political “caste” responsible for all the ills that the country and its inhabitants (not all, it is worth clarifying) have suffered for a century, according to the presidential version. This week marked two years of libertarian management in government and the “caste” is in excellent health, having lost neither privileges nor territory and, if you look closely, it is likely that it has even increased them. Its members do not suffer the oppressive economic hardships of a broad section of society, do not have their sources of work or income blocked, as is the case with a high percentage of workers and small business owners, and do not suffer the economic and labor disadvantages of health, education and cultural professionals and others. There are examples of “caste” in crucial positions in ministries, in key positions in government, in the official ranks of Parliament, in the judiciary, and they do not stop joining. If anyone is excluded from this perverse game, it is by their own hand, as happens in the frequent political suicides practiced in Peronism. Strange coincidence. Just as Mileism does not dare to deal with “caste,” so in Peronism no one dares to deal with the increasingly pathetic and ghostly figure of its imprisoned boss. And in short, no matter how you look at it, everything stays the same in the grotesque national version of “The Leopard”. Perhaps the most worrying thing is that in this situation society no longer reacts with satiety, which is a vital energy, but rather with apathy. A resigned society is anesthetized with very little: low inflation and the failure to deliver on other promises. Troyes is saved, but Attila rides on.

*Author and journalist.