Forbidden to say “feminism”, “non -binary” and “immigrant”: how ultras governments prohibit democracy via phrases | Culture | EUROtoday

On January 20, Donald Trump stated in his inauguration as president of the United States: “We will only recognize two genres: female and masculine.” From that second on, the official coverage of that nation turned binary and was buried, at the least administratively, the id of, amongst others, trans individuals. Less than two months later, a number of federal companies printed a listing of greater than 100 phrases that might be utilized in any kind of official communication. Some examples: activism, anti -racism, black, gender, LGTB, latinxfeminism, multicultural, non -binary, immigrants, susceptible populations … It is straightforward to determine ladies, racialized individuals and the LGTBIQ+ collective in these phrases that might be erased from the language of US public establishments.

“The first thing that seeks an authoritarian regime is absolute and unquestionable power and to achieve it limit the dissent and then criminalize it,” says David I. Beaver, professor of linguistics and philosophy on the University of Texas in Austin. “Restricing freedom of expression is simply a way to crush dissent. By identifying words prohibited It is achieved in a simple way to mark the division between us y they”.

In the time Trump results in the entrance of the federal government, that demarcation of the linguistic professional is established by what he calls “the pug of what woke”. This time period, coined within the sixties to outline these individuals with consciousness of inequality and different types of social injustice, has been used for a decade as an insult and rise to the thought of ​​”tyranny of the politically correct”, amongst different meanings. On one aspect, all those that can determine with what in Spain is called “progress”; In the opposite, what a president as Trump defines as “patriots”, “defenders of freedom” and different labels related to people who progressively empty content material till leaving them legs and assign them a single definition.

“People and groups not only lose their right to freedom of expression, but they can live in fear of using essential words for their identity and narrative, in addition to losing the ability to defend themselves publicly against oppression,” Beaver provides on the teams that stay on the aspect of “The enemies” indicated by administrations equivalent to Trump’s. In this manner, the limitation of language shouldn’t be solely constrained to an administrative doc, however in a gradual approach it’s reaching different social spheres. “Knowing that the simple use of certain words on social networks or in a private message can be used against it creates an environment of self -censorship,” continues Austin’s instructor. “Silence not only restricts the rights they had, but prevents them from achieving the rights that others take for granted.”

In 2024, the federal government of Javier Milei prohibited inclusive language and “everything related to the gender perspective” within the Argentine public administration. “The letter is not going to be able to use –e, the arroba, the -xy [se va a] Avoid the unnecessary inclusion of the female in all documents, ”stated one of many spokesmen of the extremely -right -wing president, who considers that equality insurance policies are a part of the“ indoctrination of cultural Marxism ”.“ Gender ideology and inclusive language only destroy the values ​​of society, ”stated Milei on multiple event.

With this determination he tried to erase part of the conquests of the feminist motion. The -E, teaches of the impartial style, gained visibility through the mass demonstrations in favor of the legalization of abortion in 2018 in Argentina. He began in secondary faculties, six universities accepted as legitimate “the expressions of inclusive and non -sexist language in written and oral productions”; and the then recommendation of the Argentine magistracy enabled the judges to put in writing with the morpheme.

“This is not something so different from what has been done in France since 2023 when a bill to annul Fabra and co -editor of Public reasons (Ariel). “The University of Barcelona (UB), for instance, has determined to renew using generic male in its normative texts. It argues that as a grammatical style not marked ‘it doesn’t exclude ladies or non -binary individuals,” recalls the expert.

The Spanish Congress ceased to name “deputies” in 2024 to stay in “Congress”, dry, as a consequence of the rewriting of the Chamber’s regulations to adapt it to inclusive language. At that time, the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) criticized Recommendations for non -sexist use of language in parliamentary administration because this document did not meet “the present grammatical guidelines and the suggestions” published by the Academy in a January 2020 report. The “most conflicting level” for the SAR was “the inclusive male name, on which there are basic discrepancies.”

In Russia, another country commanded by an ultra leader although in appearance of the spectrum contrary to Milei and Trump, it has become risk sport to use the female. At the end of 2023 the Russian Supreme Court declared illegal what it called International LGBT movement. In its opinion, the Court mentioned the use of female gender in language as a practice to pursue. However, the use of these endings in female (-ka, -tsa, -Niya -sha) in the Russian, a language based on declines, such as Greek, is quite widespread. For example, the female actor (Aktior) is Aktrissa, and judge is feminine (Sudiá), as a man (Muzhina). It was not clear if the mention of Russian justice to the use of these words sat a legal precedent or not. According to the deputy of the State Dum Javier G. Cuesta reports From Moscow.

In January 2024, the Higher School of Economics, one of the main universities of Moscow, prohibited its students from using feminized nouns. The risk, says Russian activist Daria Sarenko, is to end up in jail, as happened to her, accused of “extremist” or “enemy of the individuals.” The feminist writer, exiled in Spain after fleeing from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine for the persecution of the regime to her dissent, spent 15 days in prison for cultural manifestations such as when she starred in “silent” protests: he was alone for the Moscow subway with political posters and feminist reflections.

“I believe it’s a totally different dialogue from the one which has to do with prohibiting ideas,” says Queralt. Already in 2017, during the previous Trump administration, something similar happened. “I found it especially worrying what concerns the prohibition of science and evidence as foundations of public policy. Evidence based It is no longer a standard, with what criteria do you make decisions in public health? If you prohibit a concept, you limit the production of data on it. How do we investigate fetuses if we can’t use this word? If they cannot be used in official reports or statistics, then what is not appointed is not measured, and what is not measured, is not managed, ”says Queralt.

The inhibitor effect

If what is not appointed is not managed or difficult to measure, does it cease to exist? Does the rights of certain groups, for example, are limited? “It is an extreme simplification,” says Beaver, which gives as an example a decision of his country: “In the financing of the National Science Foundation, using the phrase lady is restricted. This doesn’t imply that girls have ceased limiting data in regards to the results of gender in sure issues, lowering public consciousness about gender discrimination and pushing those that work on these theories outdoors visibility areas, equivalent to academy. ”

The selections in regards to the language that Trump, Milei and Putin have taken have a historical past in different ultras governments. “Mussolini restricted the use of foreign words and promoted terms with Latin roots. The Nazis not only created their own propaganda language, but also vilified words considered semitas, with the aim of building a new way of thought,” Beaver remembers. “Deepseek’s models [inteligencia artificial] They incorporate censorship mechanisms for issues considered sensitive by the Chinese government, limiting responses related to delicate political or social affairs. He reminded me of George Orwell’s neo -government in 1984, in which the systematic elimination of words prevents elaborating a speech contrary to the regime, “Queralt provides with a more moderen instance.” Once these governments finish, the establishments and the language of democracy should be rebuilt from scratch. The prohibition of phrases is barely one of many many instruments used to encourage ignorance on the functioning of democracy and the character of oppression, ”concludes the American specialist.