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| The resistible rise of the far right and populism | The resistible rise of the far right and populism |
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| Your article (Revealed: One in four Europeans vote populist, 21 November) appeared hampered by the lack of any coherent definition of the term “populism”. Any term that can be stretched to incorporate Syriza and Fidesz is probably meaningless. “Populism” appears to in fact mean simply something popular that the liberal mainstream dislikes. | Your article (Revealed: One in four Europeans vote populist, 21 November) appeared hampered by the lack of any coherent definition of the term “populism”. Any term that can be stretched to incorporate Syriza and Fidesz is probably meaningless. “Populism” appears to in fact mean simply something popular that the liberal mainstream dislikes. |
| There are obvious reasons for the growth in support for the far right. In almost all cases, the failure of social democracy to protect its working-class base is at the root. The use of racism by parties of the mainstream, as a means to distract from class issues, is then picked up and given an anti-systemic orientation by far-right groups. These, though, only make use of a racist politics already in place, so as to establish within the body politic a “war of the poor against the poor”. There is also a too-often disregarded existential element to all this – that those fleeing poverty elsewhere serve to signal to the settled working class that they have nowhere to flee to. In the absence of coherent class-based alternatives, this becomes pitched as a battle for resources within the working class. | There are obvious reasons for the growth in support for the far right. In almost all cases, the failure of social democracy to protect its working-class base is at the root. The use of racism by parties of the mainstream, as a means to distract from class issues, is then picked up and given an anti-systemic orientation by far-right groups. These, though, only make use of a racist politics already in place, so as to establish within the body politic a “war of the poor against the poor”. There is also a too-often disregarded existential element to all this – that those fleeing poverty elsewhere serve to signal to the settled working class that they have nowhere to flee to. In the absence of coherent class-based alternatives, this becomes pitched as a battle for resources within the working class. |
| The solution to this, though, cannot be a retreat to the liberal status quo. Defending what Richard Alston recognised as a “punitive …callous” system rooted in deliberate immiseration can only be strategic surrender to the far right.Nick MossLondon | The solution to this, though, cannot be a retreat to the liberal status quo. Defending what Richard Alston recognised as a “punitive …callous” system rooted in deliberate immiseration can only be strategic surrender to the far right.Nick MossLondon |
| • Remainers might yet have cause to celebrate the UK’s severance from the EU. For some years now – a speculation hastened by the fall of Angela Merkel and encouraged by far-right successes in Italy, Hungary and elsewhere, with the spectre of a Le Pen France ever on the horizon – it has been far from impossible to imagine a fascist Europe that Britons might be profoundly glad to be separate from. This Europe could easily legislate in favour of deporting anyone that its politicians might deem not properly European. | • Remainers might yet have cause to celebrate the UK’s severance from the EU. For some years now – a speculation hastened by the fall of Angela Merkel and encouraged by far-right successes in Italy, Hungary and elsewhere, with the spectre of a Le Pen France ever on the horizon – it has been far from impossible to imagine a fascist Europe that Britons might be profoundly glad to be separate from. This Europe could easily legislate in favour of deporting anyone that its politicians might deem not properly European. |
| The far right’s appeal is based on scapegoating, a timeless means of foiling proper thought, and there is never a limit to what and who can be scapegoated. It would be ironic if the tireless efforts of scapegoaters in Britain, such as Nigel Farage, led to a situation where the UK were to end up outside the jurisdiction of fellow scapegoaters in a Europe owned and dominated by the boneheaded simplicities and falsehoods of the far right.Nigel PollittLondon | The far right’s appeal is based on scapegoating, a timeless means of foiling proper thought, and there is never a limit to what and who can be scapegoated. It would be ironic if the tireless efforts of scapegoaters in Britain, such as Nigel Farage, led to a situation where the UK were to end up outside the jurisdiction of fellow scapegoaters in a Europe owned and dominated by the boneheaded simplicities and falsehoods of the far right.Nigel PollittLondon |
| • I am beginning to think the Guardian is living in two parallel universes. You reveal that one in four Europeans now vote for populist parties while continually and strongly advocating for the UK to remain in the EU. You must see that the two are connected. One of the main reasons that citizens all over Europe are deserting traditional centrist parties is the democratic deficit they feel as a result of the increasingly undemocratic liberalism that is at the heart of the EU. There is a cause and effect dynamic involved here that the Guardian should recognise and comment on.Lawrence VincentPoole, Dorset | • I am beginning to think the Guardian is living in two parallel universes. You reveal that one in four Europeans now vote for populist parties while continually and strongly advocating for the UK to remain in the EU. You must see that the two are connected. One of the main reasons that citizens all over Europe are deserting traditional centrist parties is the democratic deficit they feel as a result of the increasingly undemocratic liberalism that is at the heart of the EU. There is a cause and effect dynamic involved here that the Guardian should recognise and comment on.Lawrence VincentPoole, Dorset |
| • Your front-page lead on the new populism is excellent. The rise of mostly rightwing populist governments is truly alarming. It also shows no signs of ebbing. However, I must take issue with your inclusion of India in the countries further afield. I don’t think Modi fits in well with the others. He has a lifelong track record of being a party man in a political party that has been active since independence, and he has held senior positions in the Gujarat state government before becoming PM. In fact, he is not even the first prime minister from the BJP. His popularity rests on what the electorate perceived as his successful track record in power. The BJP is very much part of the elite, and although all political parties in India accuse the others, often with cause, of being corrupt, his campaign was against the dynasty that runs Congress and not against a national elite. I may add I am no supporter of the BJP and come from an opposite direction but the inclusion of India while excluding China makes little sense to me.Vinay ChandLondon | • Your front-page lead on the new populism is excellent. The rise of mostly rightwing populist governments is truly alarming. It also shows no signs of ebbing. However, I must take issue with your inclusion of India in the countries further afield. I don’t think Modi fits in well with the others. He has a lifelong track record of being a party man in a political party that has been active since independence, and he has held senior positions in the Gujarat state government before becoming PM. In fact, he is not even the first prime minister from the BJP. His popularity rests on what the electorate perceived as his successful track record in power. The BJP is very much part of the elite, and although all political parties in India accuse the others, often with cause, of being corrupt, his campaign was against the dynasty that runs Congress and not against a national elite. I may add I am no supporter of the BJP and come from an opposite direction but the inclusion of India while excluding China makes little sense to me.Vinay ChandLondon |
| • Your article on the growth of populism has a fundamental problem of definition. A recent Penguin primer on What is Populism? by a professor of politics at Princeton at least had the honesty to start by saying “We simply do not have anything like a theory of populism.” | • Your article on the growth of populism has a fundamental problem of definition. A recent Penguin primer on What is Populism? by a professor of politics at Princeton at least had the honesty to start by saying “We simply do not have anything like a theory of populism.” |
| Get five political scientists in a room and you will get five different definitions of populism. Your article says “Populists tend to frame politics as a simple battle between overlooked ‘ordinary’ people and a corrupt, self-serving elite.” This is such a broad definition that it is little wonder you find 25% voted populist in Europe. | Get five political scientists in a room and you will get five different definitions of populism. Your article says “Populists tend to frame politics as a simple battle between overlooked ‘ordinary’ people and a corrupt, self-serving elite.” This is such a broad definition that it is little wonder you find 25% voted populist in Europe. |
| Many would wonder at Silvio Berlusconi and Forza Italia, four times leading the government of Italy, being described as “populist”. And why is Marine Le Pen’s National Rally described as “populist”, while Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche is not? Macron stood as an “outsider” to the main parties in 2017, with a party founded a few months earlier. And why is Syriza, a left social democratic party, described as “populist” yet Jeremy Corbyn’s massively expanded and transformed Labour party isn’t? Wouldn’t every self-respecting Corbynista agree with battling for the ordinary people against a self-serving elite? | Many would wonder at Silvio Berlusconi and Forza Italia, four times leading the government of Italy, being described as “populist”. And why is Marine Le Pen’s National Rally described as “populist”, while Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche is not? Macron stood as an “outsider” to the main parties in 2017, with a party founded a few months earlier. And why is Syriza, a left social democratic party, described as “populist” yet Jeremy Corbyn’s massively expanded and transformed Labour party isn’t? Wouldn’t every self-respecting Corbynista agree with battling for the ordinary people against a self-serving elite? |
| To ask these questions shows that these broad definitions of “populism” are largely useless to analyse actual parties and movements. Worse, by throwing all these parties into one “populist” basket, it masks the really dangerous far-right and proto-fascist groupings growing across Europe. It is these that should be causing alarm.Stuart KingLondon | To ask these questions shows that these broad definitions of “populism” are largely useless to analyse actual parties and movements. Worse, by throwing all these parties into one “populist” basket, it masks the really dangerous far-right and proto-fascist groupings growing across Europe. It is these that should be causing alarm.Stuart KingLondon |
| • Your chilling, but hardly surprising, front-page revelation that one in four Europeans vote populist was long on excellent analysis, but lacked any solutions. Reversing this trend and its fallout, including Brexit, will require tackling the reasons for its rise, such as widespread concerns about inadequately controlled migration and the economic insecurity now rife among both the employed and unemployed. Tackling the latter will require spelling out a “project hope” agenda which reverses austerity and instead invests in the rebuilding of Europe’s social infrastructure, while also funding a massive green infrastructure programme for transforming the energy, energy-saving and transport systems continent-wide. Europeans should take inspiration from the US, where progressive new congresswomen and men are now pushing the Democrats into adopting just such a “Green New Deal”. They realise that a “jobs in every part of the country” programme is central to defeating Trump. | • Your chilling, but hardly surprising, front-page revelation that one in four Europeans vote populist was long on excellent analysis, but lacked any solutions. Reversing this trend and its fallout, including Brexit, will require tackling the reasons for its rise, such as widespread concerns about inadequately controlled migration and the economic insecurity now rife among both the employed and unemployed. Tackling the latter will require spelling out a “project hope” agenda which reverses austerity and instead invests in the rebuilding of Europe’s social infrastructure, while also funding a massive green infrastructure programme for transforming the energy, energy-saving and transport systems continent-wide. Europeans should take inspiration from the US, where progressive new congresswomen and men are now pushing the Democrats into adopting just such a “Green New Deal”. They realise that a “jobs in every part of the country” programme is central to defeating Trump. |
| Here, Jeremy Corbyn could play a central role by capitalising on the present parliamentary chaos and asserting that Labour supports a people’s vote, but with the “remain and reform” agenda for Europe, similar to that he “campaigned” for in the run up to the referendum. Putting rebuilding local economies at the heart of such reform would gain support from leave-voting areas and could be a rallying call for those fighting rightwing populism across Europe. It could also have the domestic payoff of forming the core of Labour’s next and hopefully successful election manifesto, whenever required.Colin HinesTwickenham, Middlesex | Here, Jeremy Corbyn could play a central role by capitalising on the present parliamentary chaos and asserting that Labour supports a people’s vote, but with the “remain and reform” agenda for Europe, similar to that he “campaigned” for in the run up to the referendum. Putting rebuilding local economies at the heart of such reform would gain support from leave-voting areas and could be a rallying call for those fighting rightwing populism across Europe. It could also have the domestic payoff of forming the core of Labour’s next and hopefully successful election manifesto, whenever required.Colin HinesTwickenham, Middlesex |
| • So the Belgian far-right politician Michael Modrikamen “would have loved to have a godfather” in the person of Steve Bannon to help fund the forthcoming campaign in the EU parliament elections (Bannon plan for far right in Europe in disarray, 22 November). He could hardly have a chosen a better epithet.Jeremy BeechamLabour, House of Lords | • So the Belgian far-right politician Michael Modrikamen “would have loved to have a godfather” in the person of Steve Bannon to help fund the forthcoming campaign in the EU parliament elections (Bannon plan for far right in Europe in disarray, 22 November). He could hardly have a chosen a better epithet.Jeremy BeechamLabour, House of Lords |
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