How do you recognise populists? They never think about the future

What you need to know:

  • Zurich is a ‘wow’ city: clean, neat, beautiful and extremely wealthy.
  • Populists undermine checks and balances and silence dissenting views. They cannot understand how anyone should want to oppose such charisma and in the end, they become the worst oppressors.
  • Populists don’t need military artillery because they have a more effective and subtle weapon of mass destruction that most people are not aware of: their sharp tongues and their reckless pens. 

A few days ago, I was strolling along the shores of Lake Zurich with a large group of Kenyan law students.

We were making use of our last hours in Europe and it was a beautiful sunny, warm day, uncommon for the otherwise rainy April.

Zurich is a ‘wow’ city: clean, neat, beautiful and extremely wealthy. Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche abound in Zurich, just like Toyota, Nissan and manyangas do in Nairobi.

As we walked through the park and animatedly exchanged our recent experiences from the visits to international institutions and courts, one very observant student interjected, saying there was something strange in Europe.

First, we had seen very few children, almost none. Second, there were only scattered smiles on the faces of the locals walking around the park. Why don’t Europeans smile?

After explaining that generalisations are unfair and inaccurate, I made the silent personal effort to test the veracity of those two observations, and lo and behold, it was true! People in the park and along the streets did not smile.

EVERLASTING CARRIERS

Discomfort, selfishness and sadness are the perfect recipe for the success of a pseudo-messiah. This is how political messiahs appear on stage; they come to save us all. They emerge as rebels, non-conformists, saviours and populists.  

Populism is a cancer in our modern governance systems. It first attacks young democracies and then permeates the core of mature democracies slowly and insidiously, until they turn into tyrannies.

A populist is a Machiavellian politician who promises to deliver heaven without explaining how it will come about. 

Populists thrive on two pillars; division of society based on hatred and the promise of paradise without a clear path on how to achieve it. They always pitch a tough, bitter and abusive speech. 

Populists believe themselves to be everlasting carriers of their people’s favour and fervour and are unhappy with followers; they want fanatics. Populists undermine checks and balances and silence dissenting views.

They cannot understand how anyone should want to oppose such charisma and in the end, they become the worst oppressors.

Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Italy, Chile, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Mexico, North Korea, South Africa, China, Zimbabwe, Libya, Turkey, Russia and the United Sates have had their share of populism.

ANNOYANCE AT A FAILED RIGHT

Perhaps the most iconic populist figure of the 20th century was Adolf Hitler, a man elected by popular vote. The Germans voted Hitler in for his hard talk, loud mouth and exotic, daring demeanour.

They thought that anything would be better than the clowns who had driven the nation into a disastrous war, the First World War. Germany lost the war, its honour and more than 2 million soldiers.

Hitler began by turning Germany's deplorable economy into a rising star. The more popular he became, the more powers he accumulated. Hitler promised heaven and delivered hell. He destroyed a great nation.

France, Spain and Britain have been facing their own populist dilemmas and the Netherlands too had a dangerously close shave with populism a few weeks ago.

I believe that populist societies have one common denominator and two joint vices. The common denominator is their dissatisfaction with the status quo, annoyance at a failed right or left, liberals or conservatives. The two vices are selfishness and hatred.

Selfishness, a deep-seated egoism, has taken root in most Western societies, where only “my life, my comfort, my future and my wealth” matters. The West has become individualistic and inward looking.

The West has gone from the outward-looking Europe, out to conquer the world and market its culture, trade, faith, and customs out there, to the inward-looking and defensive Europe and the mean and egocentric “America First” or “Make America Great Again”.

FOCUS ON RIGHTS

Harvard Professor, Charles Fried, justifies the roots of this modern attitude in one poignant definition: “Liberty is individuality made normative.” This attitude explains the emergence of the second vice, hatred for neighbours, for immigrants, for the other, for anyone who seems to threaten “my life, my comfort, my future and my wealth.”

Populists don’t need military artillery because they have a more effective subtle weapon of mass destruction that most people are not aware of: their sharp tongues and their reckless pens. Tongues and pens can destroy a civilisation and populists master their use. 

Populists thrive on separation, hatred, racism and tribalism. They focus on rights but forget the corresponding duties. They are unable to plan for development because their primary goal is the destruction of the status quo. They do not have a sustainable plan and spend more than they earn.

For the populist, the presence of an enemy is essential. The enemy may be the immigrant in Europe, the wealthy in Cuba, the Empire in Venezuela, the rest of the world in North Korea, and Mexicans in the United States.

CRITICAL TEST TO DEMOCRACY

A populist speech is easy to identify, for there is a “versus” and an “anti”. This is how populist clichés appear and they usually focus on "elite vs people".

In Ecuador, for example, Correa spoke always of “pelucones vs. pueblo”. In Venezuela it was “esqualidos vs pueblo”, in Argentina it was “gorillas vs pueblo”, while in Hitler’s Germany it was “Jews versus us, the people”.

Hatred goes beyond identifying the enemy, but must annihilate it through a destructive agenda, the “anti”. This is how they talk freely about anti-immigrant policies, anti-Muslim, anti-Christian and anti-trade, always in negative, apocalyptic tones.

The resurgence of populism throughout the world is of great concern. It will be the most critical test to democracy and if democracy fails, we may be getting closer to the end of an era.

In this election year, we should vote conscientiously and prudently. Reject any populist appeal by any candidate. Reject anyone who uses tribe, religion, social status or skin colour to gain political advantage. Reject anyone who promises heaven without a clear path to reach it.

Not every change is for the better.

Dr Franceschi is the dean of Strathmore Law School. [email protected]; Twitter: @lgfranceschi