Taking-Off From The Wrong Wing

We are witnessing a wave of demonstrations around the world. From the middle east to Latin America and Caribbean, and from Europe to Africa and Asia. It is clear that there is a growing deficit of trust between the people and the political establishments, and rising threats to social contracts.

Right-wing populism, the leitmotiv of contemporary politics, is on the rise.

What is Right Wing Populism?

Right wing populism is a political ideology which combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. They are conservative groups who share a belief in "traditional" values – which include religious beliefs, anti-immigration, hostility towards minority groups and anti-globalization etc. And this is backed by the two core principles of populism which are:

1.it must claim to speak on behalf of ordinary people

2.these ordinary people must stand in opposition to an elite establishment which stops them from fulfilling their political preferences.

The ambiguity of the terms “the people” and “the elite” mean the core principles of people-centrism and anti-elitism can be used for very different ends.

How did Right Wing Populist capture the flag? The issue is two fold

Firstly, we must recognize that rise of these politicians is in sync with role of grassroots movements at the center. Around the world, conservative groups have been gaining influence, bolstering the power of right-wing leaders. This has been brought about by what is often described as "civil society" which are often dominated by conservative views and political opinions. They are usually made up of rural people like farmers, orthodox households, workers and so on.

Secondly, Populists not only claim to represent the will of the morally superior “ordinary people,” but also position themselves as uniquely capable of doing so. This way, populists reduce their political opponents, whom they often accuse of being a part of the elite, to enemy status. So the reason they are ‘popular’ is because they are able to appeal to a broad coalition of people who are united by the problems they face as opposed to the solutions which divide them. And in few cases, Right Wing Populists are also accused of manipulating election results. 

While it’s important to note that Right-wing populists are not necessarily extremists, and extremists are not necessarily populists, the latter, however, is very likely, as extremism lends itself to populism.

Why is Right Wing Populism problematic?

Right Wing Populists uniquely disenfranchises minorities. This is 2 fold:

Firstly, they take the anger the individuals i.e. the “ordinary” people have and direct it at minorities for political advantage. With their charismatic speeches they convince the people that migrants from El Salvador enter the country to take away their jobs and businesses while they are actually looking to free the gangs in their countries who threaten to take their daughters away for prostitution if they aren`t paid regularly!

Secondly, when these populists get into power, they legitimize sexist and racist views as mainstream views as they have considerable influence over the public and media houses which could be owned by their parties. So this means that you have news channels inherently biased towards the views and norms of a political party, taking that message to a wider audience in order to coerce the people on the fence to take a stance for them. It becomes legally difficult to bring about changes and the legal changes get no moral basis if the “representatives of the people” don’t accept it. Politicians now, can`t pass their policies without alienating and discriminating against a large segment of the voter base when they would rather pass policies favorable to the rich businessmen who have lent billions of dollars for their political campaigns, while conveniently turning a blind eye to the massacre in form of communal riots.

Since these politicians often portray their opposition parties as evil and as an opposition to common order, the center and the left begin to lose their bargaining power. So to compete in the political spectrum these parties are now forced to use short tricks.

And it doesn`t stop with this. There are various concerns of the modern era such as protectionist policies, climate change denial, poor conditions of immigrants and refugees and quite simply a majoritarian hegemony. 

These issues raise couple of questions- “Are we really living in a liberal democracy?” “Or is liberal democracy a modern myth?”

Right Wing Populism posts a threat to the very existence of liberal democracy. It is up to us to choose whether to get into the ring and fight them or sit down and choose to remain ignorant, scared and silent. To quote Harvey Specter “You do what they say or they will shoot you? Wrong! You take the gun. You pull out a bigger gun or you call their bluff or you do one of the other 146 things. You just have to look around!!”