The Popularity of Populism

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) holds a "Thank You Italy" sign during a press conference at the party electoral headquarters overnight in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 25, 2022. (Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

Commentary

Sweden held a general election for its legislature, the Riksdag, on Sept. 11. Unexpectedly, the election was won by a centre-right coalition, which includes the right-wing Sweden Democrats.

The Sweden Democrats—a small fringe party in the early part of this century—rose to prominence during the last couple of years because of its anti-immigration stance and opposition to changing ethnic demographics. It has been argued that the policies of the Sweden Democrats are rooted in Nazism—a view cultivated by its opponents—and that the party is a Eurosceptic populist grouping.

The Swedish development has been replicated by the election victory of Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party in the Italian elections held on Sept. 25. Meloni’s party has been portrayed in the media as a neo-fascist party opposing the EU’s immigration policies, favouring traditional family values, and stressing the Christian roots of Western civilisation.

Caroline Downey, reporting on the incoming prime minister—the first female prime minister of Italy—writes that YouTube appears to have removed a version of a 2019 speech in which Meloni “focused on the ongoing leftist assaults on the family unit, God, and national identity.”

In her speech, Meloni expressed her belief that progressive left-wing politicians find it “scandalous for people to defend the natural family founded on marriage, to want to increase the birth rate, to want to place the correct value on human life, to support freedom in education, and to say no to gender ideology.”

Predictably, Meloni has been criticised by the media and the European Commission. Specifically, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a speech delivered at Princeton University on Sept. 22, indicated that the Commission is willing to work with any elected government. But anticipating a Meloni victory, she reminded her audience that the Commission has “tools” if a government disregards the democratic principles fostered by the European Union (EU).

Such a statement is likely to infuriate conservatives whose views are routinely disregarded by the EU’s bureaucracy. Conservatives may well see it as an odious example of the progressive elites” discrediting of the electoral result.

Ursula von der Leyen speaks onstage during Global Citizen Festival 2022: New York at Central Park in New York City, on Sept. 24, 2022. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

Reasons Behind the Recent Success of Populism

Undoubtedly, these developments complicate the task of the European Commission, considering it also has to deal with the alleged violations of European democratic principles by Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary and the right-wing sympathies of the government of Poland.

It is expedient to impugn the EU’s immigration-friendly and disastrous climate change policies of Europe’s left-of-centre governments for the rise and recent successes of right-wing parties.

It is also convenient to castigate the enormous cost of the EU’s military and economic assistance to Ukraine to fight against Putin’s annexation of four Russian-speaking provinces.

Woke agenda or the bloated bureaucracy and failed economic policies steeped with radical climate change agenda may be attributed for the electoral successes of Sweden Democrats and the Brothers of Italy parties.

These developments are certainly contributing factors to the fortunes of centre-right coalitions, but they are merely visible expressions of Europe’s electoral discontent.

Instead, the recent successes of right-of-centre parties may be explained by the disembowelling of the concept of “democracy,” defined as a system that seeks to represent the will of the people.

The success of the right-of-centre parties is an expression of “populism,” a philosophy that aims to respect the views of the “silent majority”—the forgotten people.

The concept is often juxtaposed to the “elites” who rule regardless of the traditional views and expectations of the “silent majority,” who have suffered from oppressive governmental policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporters of then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hold signs during a campaign rally in Springfield, Ohio, in this file photo. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

“Populism” has been immortalised by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise to “drain the Washington swamp.”

The negative portrayal of the Swedish and Italian electoral developments by much of the media and ruling elites constitutes a denigration of the will of the people. This denigration assumes that the elites’ understanding of democracy must necessarily be compatible with the views of the progressive left-wing forces that have sought to refashion societies during the last two decades.

These views undermine the commendable work that sensible human rights legislation has achieved following the devastation of World War II because they weaken the values upon which that legislation is based.

Populism Has Yet to Reach Australia

It is, however, interesting to note that “populism” has not yet been a force in Australian politics. Indeed, the possibility of wall-to-wall left-of-centre governments in Australia is a real possibility. These progressive left-of-centre governments erode the human rights expectations of ordinary Australians.

For example, the expectation that “race” is an irrelevant characteristic has been unwisely eroded by attempts to enshrine the Voice in the Constitution—ostensibly to advise the government and parliament on the impact of proposed legislation on First Nations peoples. In reality, it constitutes an attempt by the enlightened elites to reintroduce race as a defining characteristic in the distribution of burdens and benefits in society.

In this context, it is useful to refer to Christopher F. Rufo’s disclosure that, in the United States, proponents of Critical Race Theory have proposed the creation of a permanent federal Department of Antiracism that would have “the power to nullify, veto, or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others who are deemed insufficiently ‘antiracist.’” Would the Voice be any different?

Australia is also overwhelmed with legislation providing for stiff penalties, in addition to ostracisation, for those who oppose gender transitioning laws, affirmative action policies, euthanasia, climate change and zero emissions phantasies, among other developments.

These Australian developments suggest that a sensible right-of-centre populist politician has not yet emerged and that the Australian polity is content to persevere with its comfortable middle-class lives, provided the progressive policies do not directly affect them.

But there can be little doubt that eventually, populism will reach the shores of Australia. The Swedish and Italian election results reveal that Australia also needs a populist leader.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.