The tension between human rights and their capitalist framework disables the application of principles of the Universal declaration of Human Rights on all people. This left a space for cynical ideological instrumentalization of rights, which used to serve exclusively for the liberals and the left and now, with the pandemic, they serve well to the right as well. With the vast number of relevant illustrations, the author portrays the mechanisms through which the ideology of human rights functions as a means of political manipulation. Thereby, he opens up the space for discussion on the conditions under which “right-wing human rights” in the context of the struggle against epidemiological measures and vaccination have become possible.

In that sense, the author illuminates the processes that have followed the climate change crisis and profiling of science as an emerging political cleavage, as well as those that were part of the “migration crisis” which was misused by the right-wing for inducing a rise of general and political mistrust. With the vivid polemics on the linkage between these crises, conspiracy theories and the phenomenon of the “lesser evil”, the author convincingly argues that the pandemic was the “meeting point” of all these processes.

The participants are:

• Adriana Zaharijević (IFDT)
• Ivica Mladenović (IFDT)
• Aleksandar Pavlović (IFDT)
• Jelena Lončar (FPN)
• Igor Štiks (FMK)
• Vujo Ilić (IFDT)
• Nevena Mijatović (IFDT)
• Danilo Čurćić (A11)
• Filip Balunović (author)