Idiot Wind: On the Rise of Right-Wing Populism in the US and Europe

[pampango]

http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/206

The global financial crisis that began in 2008 continues to impoverish countries by exposing them to punishing economic forces that seem neither controllable nor accountable to the sociality from which they spring. And, like clockwork, right-wing populist movements in the US and Europe step onto the social stage to reassert the will of “The People” in these great times.

These populist movements reconceptualize real fears about deteriorating social and economic conditions as an imaginary loss of an “original” commonality at the center of society that must be renewed at the expense of those living at the circumference. Xenophobia, racism, nationalism, and homophobia fill the void left by the loss of lives and livelihoods ungrounded by the downturn. Government austerity measures meant to contain the economic fallout further erode the interconnections between classes, races, and ethnicities that make up contemporary life, adding to the growing sense of social isolation, which in turn reinforces the desire to forge a common country by punishing what is considered most foreign from within.

And while American libertarianism, which forms the historical core of the Tea Party, favors a weak central government, many of the right-wing movements in Europe favor a comparatively strong state—even while attacking immigrants and “benefit scroungers,” promising that they take a stand for “the hard-working citizen.” ... Ultimately, perhaps it is irrelevant which narrative is being embraced: that of a fight of the Enlightenment and secular democracy against Islam or that of Christianity against Islam. In both cases, history is relentlessly turned into myth.

Populism lays claim to channeling the vox populi; this is its strength against established political orders mired in compromise and careerism. Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin is famous for her public gaffes like “refudiate,” but they only increase her political capital as someone who is “of the people.” ... populism is class warfare from above—waged by upper and middle classes, along with a beleaguered white working class, against minorities, immigrants, the poor, and the unemployed. It is telling that populist rage focuses on political and cultural elites, while remaining suspiciously silent on economic and financial elites. In a stagnant economy, the redistribution of wealth from bottom to top comes to function as an alternative to the logic of expansion. Promising to safeguard pensions and tax deductions while bashing welfare and various threats to the nation, populists deflect attention from—or actively collude with—this ongoing redistribution of wealth.

[Hannah Bell]

1. and typically encouraged & funded by elites to deflect from them. as are religious revivals.

[Drale]

2. I'm convinced the only reason we saw this so called

"rise of conservatism" is because to many people are at home and have to much time on their hands, so they watch faux news.

[leftstreet]

3. K&R

Interesting read

Thanks for posting

[Terry in Austin]

4. "Right-wing populism" Aaaurghh!

Right up there with "military intelligence" and "jumbo shrimp."

The right wing is about hierarchy, dominance by an elite. Populism is the opposite. The very fact that this oxymoron even appears is so Stockholm-syndrome-whatsamatter-with-Kansas it's pathetic.

:banghead: