Who is drawn to right-wing populism and why is it so dangerous?
- The real danger of right-wing populism lies in its ability to forge broad societal alliances
In the United Kingdom, United States, Hungary, and Poland, right-wing
populist alliances have shown that they can win majorities. This mass
appeal is built upon a platform which is, however, not extremist.
Right-wing populists accuse the corrupt, globalist establishment of
exploiting the people. The naïve and delusional elite is blamed for
exposing the people to Islamist terror and floods of immigrants.
Right-wing populism pledges to give back to the people the power usurped
by this oligarchic elite, and defend the defenceless against the forces
of globalization. The alliance of Alt-right, white supremacists,
globalization losers, and status quo conservatives has little in common
in real terms, hence the populist agenda needs to stay deliberately
vague. What brings this heterogeneous coalition together is the feeling
of being forgotten in public discourse and excluded from social life. In
the current atmosphere this message resonates both among those who fear
social decline as well as all those who feel unrecognized by a
libertarian society.
- The role of white supremacists is to shock the elite
For the right-wing populist alliance, the importance of white
supremacists does not lie in their numbers. A recent study in Germany
has shown that the number of right-wing extremists has not gone up, nor
are their positions any more acceptable to the majority. The real
function of right-wing extremists is to unsettle the elite consensus by
saying the unsayable. Against the ‘cartel of political correctness’,
they insist that there is an alternative, even if it exhausts itself in
sabotage of the liberal order. It is this ability to upset the elite
that attracts many protest voters who see no other way of being heard.
- The Alt-right offers reassurance in a world seemingly out of control
Intellectually, the right-wing populist alliance is led by the
Alt-right. It aims at restoring governability (order and control) of an
increasingly complex world by homogenizing society. Its dream is to
reduce disorientation and uncertainty by offering simplistic solutions
for complex problems. Contrary to “blood and earth” racists, the
Alt-right insists that it does not reject the Other in itself but simply
seeks to separate irreconcilable cultures into clearly delineated
spaces. What this “privileging one’s own over the foreign” really means
is, of course, the restoration of a white, heterosexual and patriarchal
society through the aggressive exclusion of everyone who can be blamed
for the alienation from modern society. The Alt-right gives a home to
all those up in arms against what they perceive as moral decay.
Why is right-wing populism so successful in almost every Western society?
- Right-wing populism gives reassurance in the vertigo of change.
Reactionary backlashes are fairly common in situations of
overwhelming social change. In this vertigo, old certainties are shaken
up, traditional values transvalued. Modernization drives the
pluralization of values, the fragmentation of society and the
diversification of lifestyles. Social transformation erodes traditional
communities which used to give security and a sense of purpose.
Authoritarians perceive diversity and disorder as a normative threat to
the integrity of the moral order which they seek to remedy by kicking
out foreigners and non-conformists. The right-wing populist narrative
thereby attracts all those who yearn for security, search for identity,
and desire (false) certainties.
- Right-wing populism promises to restore lost privileges
The reactionary call for the restoration of the „good old order“
resonates with traditional elites and established middle classes who
feel put at risk by social change. In industrializing economies, the
middle classes feel threatened by the aspirations for social mobility
and demands of political participation by millions of migrant workers
flooding into the cities. In post-industrial countries, the digital
revolution with its intelligent robots threatens to wipe out middle
class jobs. Fear of social decline drives racist vitriol and cultural
resentment. The shifting relationship between the sexes is undermining
the predominance of men in their families or at the workplace. Here lies
the root cause for the resurgence of sexism and homophobia. Right-wing
populism promises these “old, white men” they will get back their
privileges.
- Right-wing populism promises protection for the losers of globalization
Right-wing populism gains support where fear of economic and social
decline meets anger over social inequality. Globalisation and automation
have wiped out jobs and depressed wages. In the deindustrialized
rust-belts, with their jobs gone people lose not only income and social
security, but meaning, dignity and social involvement. Neoliberalism
increases the pressure on individuals by introducing competition into
all aspects of social life, cutting back on social security. Tax cuts
for the rich combined with austerity for the poor have brought back the
extreme social inequality of the gilded age. Attempts to tackle the
resulting consumer demand problem through public or private debt
frequently trigger financial crises, which in turn are addressed by
socializing the losses.
How can we wage a more successful struggle against right-wing populism?
- End the lack of alternatives through a political paradigm shift
Right-wing populism is dangerous because it is widely seen as the
only alternative to the liberal mainstream. This is why the struggle
against it cannot be won by targeting right-wing extremism. To counter
its ability to win majorities, the millions without a consolidated
right-wing extremist worldview will have to be brought back into the
democratic flock. Too many people are drawn to right-wing populism
because they see no other way of being heard. Taking their fears
seriously does not mean abandoning the rights of sexual, religious or
ethnic minorities but answering legitimate calls for social security,
political participation and cultural recognition with concrete policies.
This is why we need to be alert when the success of right-wing
populism is explained solely by blaming diehard racists, xenophobes,
sexists and homophobes. Red herrings (“The aloof middle classes must
learn again to show empathy for white workers”) divert attention from
overdue policy shifts by explaining away fears of social decline and
rage over inequality as the cultural ignorance of a hopeless few. On the
contrary, it has been the neoliberal policies of enriching the elite,
eroding the middle classes and excluding the “redundant” that have
provided the fertile ground for right-wing populism. A truly
transformative agenda, on the other hand, has the potential to rob
right-wing populists of their greatest asset: to be the only alternative
to the neoliberal mainstream.
- Don’t step into the framing traps of the Right
A flawed understanding of right-wing populism can lead to blunders in
political communication which may involuntarily reinforce reactionary
frames. A ‘democratic firewall’ against the Right can only work as long
as right-wing populism is not on the verge of winning majorities. By
taking over leftist protest forms (comedy guerrilla, pop culture,
fashion), narratives (“99% against 1%”, “The People against The
Establishment”) and concepts (struggle for hegemony, community
organising, solidarity networks), the Alt -right has successfully
reinvented itself as the real force of change against the alleged
structural conservatism of “progressive privilege” and the political
correctness of the “corrupt elites”. As a consequence, calling out
right-wing populists for failing to uphold standards of decency can
backfire when their supporters joyfully cheer on the self-declared
“defenders of freedom of speech” against the political correctness
imposed by the “cartel of lamestream media and system parties”.
Insulting the “deplorables” can quickly make you a target of
anti-establishment rage. Peddling fears in the hope of outdoing
right-wing populists may involuntarily activate predisposed
authoritarians, who in turn are more than happy to start an arms race of
ever more reactionary messages.
A promising communication strategy needs to establish proper counter
frames. This means first to stop telling right-wing populist supporters
what they want to hear, as this will only reinforce the “Strict Father”
frame underlying much of right-wing populist communication. Second, by
using “Nurturant Parent” frames which emphasize communalities, stir up
empathy for the weak and awaken hope for a better tomorrow. Progressive
communication needs to rediscover its utopian heritage, and again offer
alternative visions for a better future.
- Progressives need to offer a collective identity narrative
Winning back angry citizens can only work if progressives offer them
an identity narrative to keep them grounded in the vertigo of change. In
the tradition of the old labor lifeworld, symbols, myths, rituals and
institutions are needed to give meaning and bolster self-assurance. To
counter the Alt-Right obsession with homogeneity, this narrative should
emphasize the strength of plurality (
ex pluribus unum).
Different from the identity politics promoted by the libertarian Left,
the communality of “Us” needs to be given more emphasis. What is needed
is a progressive patriotism.Whether that patriotism should be
constructed around the loaded term of the nation, however, is one of the
hottest debates on the Left. Those who warn against a new nationalism
should remember that the nation was invented by the French Revolution.
Today, from the Scottish National Party to Podemos and Nuit Debout,
progressives are reclaiming this heritage. They have realized that the
“99%” have very little in common except their opposition to the “1%”.
The People, as a subject, first needs to be constructed before
individuals become capable of collective action. Critics have warned
that, in the age of globalized capitalism, the retreat into a national
corral is a fallacy. Another debate has sprung up around the question
whether “us” and “them” are inseparable by definition.”.
Multiculturalists bemoan this as a slippery slope towards racism.
Anthropology, however, suggests that human groups need the Other to
understand themselves as a collective. This of course begs the question
where the boundaries of this collective are drawn. To build a broad
democratic alliance, it would be best if the identity narrative
resonates as widely as possible. As these preliminary discussions
reveal, this debate will be an enormous challenge for progressives.
However, the price is too high for them to walk away from this battle.
Those who will define the boundaries of solidarity will determine who is
part, and who is not part, of the social contract.
- Only a broad societal alliance can stop right-wing populism
Be it Russian donors and bot armies, or the robber barons surrounding
Trump, right-wing populism has powerful supporters with vast resources.
Only a broad societal alliance can counter this power base. Such a
coalition of different interests can only be built around a narrative
which fosters identity, provides orientation, and points to a better
future. Building such a narrative in the post-factual age with all its
fake news, bots, trolls, click farms, filter bubbles is difficult.
Right-wing populists’ effective use of social media has caught
democratic actors ill-prepared. A counter strategy is required to stop
the infiltration of society by right-wing opinion warriors. People
warning against curbs on freedom of expression need to wake up to this
new threat. Having learnt the lessons from Weimar, in Germany’s militant
democracy the state has the constitutional responsibility to defend the
liberal democratic order. It would, however, be preferable if civil
society waged the struggle against right-wing populism. Again, the
German constitution guarantees the Right to Resistance: „All Germans
shall have the right to resist any person seeking to abolish this
constitutional order, if no other remedy is available“.
source URL:
https://tinyurl.com/js4cxrt